Chemistry

New Zealanders make take it for granted that we live in a clean, green part of the world but just how fresh is the air we breathe? Many Kiwis would be surprised by what we're breathing in, says… Video, Audio

Using light to activate or deactivate drugs, photopharmacology, is a relatively new area of medicinal chemistry, with a key advantage being the high degree of control over the time and place where… Audio

Nobel prize-winning geneticist Sir Paul Nurse's latest book, What Is Life?, explores the question of what we as humans share with all other living things on this planet.  Audio

Associate Professor in Physics at the Faculty of Science, University of Auckland, JJ Eldridge gives us her scientific take on Neutronium - a material widely written about in fiction - including Star… Audio

New research has revealed that music could be prescribed to help us focus, feel happier, relax and overcome sadness. Lyz Cooper is the founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy and conducted the… Audio

When Winnipeg Free Press writer Ryan Thorpe saw flyers recruiting for white nationalist group The Base, he had two choices: write a bog-standard reaction piece or take a more drastic approach and go… Audio

Zirconium is a shape-shifting tough cookie, that is a tale of gemstones, medical implants and nuclear reactors, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 96 of Elemental. Audio

Zinc is a very useful metal that turns up in everything from sunscreen to paint, & galvanised metals to cereals, as well as brass instruments, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 95 of Elemental. Audio

Yttrium is yet another element named after the village of Ytterby and is important in the development of high temperature superconductors, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 94 of Elemental. Audio

Ytterbium is yet another lanthanoid named after the Swedish village of Ytterby, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 93 of Elemental. Audio

Xenon is a noble gas that turns up in various lights, gets used in xenon ion propulsion systems for spacecraft & plays a key role in the search for dark matter, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep… Audio

Vanadium makes steel stronger & lighter, is being used in what will be the world's largest battery, and sea squirts are full of it, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 91 of Elemental. Audio

Professor Matthew Kanan from Stanford University is the scientist who can show us part of our future, perhaps, in the age of global warming - catalytically converting CO2 into fuels and chemical… Audio