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Our Changing World headlines with summaries.
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Terbium - turns up in old TVs & new Euro notes
15 Nov 2019A discovery from the chemically prolific Swedish village of Ytterby, terbium produced the green on old TV sets & adds security to Euro notes, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 83 of Elemental.
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Making Wellington a predator-free city
14 Nov 2019By the end of this year Predator-Free Wellington hopes that the eastern suburbs on the Miramar Peninsula will be free from rat and stoats.
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Tellurium - usually associated with gold
11 Nov 2019Tellurium is a metalloid often found with gold and the US town Telluride is named after it, says Prof Allan Blackman, in ep 82 of Elemental.
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Technetium - the first synthetic element
8 Nov 2019Technetium was the first element on the periodic table to be synthesised. It is rare, radioactive and has only a few uses, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 81 of Elemental.
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Tracking inner city rats
7 Nov 2019Victoria University researchers are radio-tracking urban rats in Wellington city suburbs to find out how large their home ranges are, to help improve predator-free trapping efforts.
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Tantalum - a tantalising chemical element
4 Nov 2019The metal tantalum is usually found with the element niobium, has a very high melting point but is a 'conflict mineral', says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 80 of Elemental.
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Sulfur - king of bad smells
1 Nov 2019Sulfur is responsible for some very bad smells, is the number one industrial chemical and is also an essential element, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 79 of Elemental.
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Kākā TV - teaching smart parrots new tricks
31 Oct 2019Kākā and kea are well-known for being intelligent, and PhD student Daniel Donoghue is interested in how they learn new things.
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Strontium - from sensitive teeth toothpaste to nuclear fission
28 Oct 2019Named after a Scottish town, strontium can be highly radioactive & glow-in-the-dark, but also used in toothpaste, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 78 of Elemental.
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Sodium - a salt of the earth spectator
25 Oct 2019Sodium is vital for life & usually found in combinaton with other more interesting elements, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 77 of Elemental.
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Enemy #1 - brown marmorated stink bug
Italy is suffering from a brown marmorated stink bug invasion. Damian Christie heads there to find out what New Zealand learn from their experiences.
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Silver - a popular noble metal
23 Oct 2019Silver is widely used in jewellery, has interesting light sensitive abilities and has antimicrobial properties, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 76 of Elemental.
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Silicon - a ubiquitous part of modern life
21 Oct 2019Silicon is a blockbuster metalloid with many uses, from glass to computer chips & bathroom sealants, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 75 of Elemental.
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Selenium - good reason to eat seafood & Brazil nuts
18 Oct 2019New Zealand soils lack the vital element selenium, which also used to be important in photocopiers and bathroom plumbing, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 74 of Elemental.
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2019 research winners a diverse bunch
The Royal Society – Te Apārangi has celebrated the achievements & contributions of New Zealand’s top researchers at its 2019 award ceremony.
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Top award for making a difference in babies' lives
Prof Jane Harding has won New Zealand's top science award, the Rutherford Medal, for ground-breaking research that has improved the lives of countless babies and mothers.
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A bridge between science & mātauranga Māori
17 Oct 2019Dr Ocean Mercier's work bridging the worlds of science and traditional Māori knowledge has been recognised with the 2019 Callaghan Medal for science communication.
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Honour a sweet reward for sugar research
Dr Lisa Te Morenga has won the 2019 Hamilton Award for her internationally significant research on sugar and its impacts on health.
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Scandium - the scandal of the scandium cricket bat
16 Oct 2019Predicted by Mendeleev & useful for alloying with aluminium, scandium was involved in a famous cricket scandal, says AUT's Allan Blackman in ep 73 of Elemental.
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Samarium - magnets for making & listening to music
14 Oct 2019Samarium magnets are used in headphones & guitar pickups, and samarium was the first element named after a real person, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 72 of Elemental.
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Ruthenium - a 'sort of' precious metal
11 Oct 2019Ruthenium is a 'sort of' precious metal that is a useful catalyst and alloy. It is toxic and smells like ozone, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 71 of Elemental.
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Older men lose ability to recognise emotions
University of Otago psychology professor Ted Ruffman says ageing brains means older men become less able to recognise emotions in other people.
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Rubidium - expensive and not very useful
7 Oct 2019Rubidium is a reactive metal with few uses, named 'deepest red' due to its beautiful red spectral lines, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 70 of Elemental.
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Rhodium - used in cars, drugs ... and aftershave
4 Oct 2019Rhodium is an expensive precious metal that is used in catalytic convertors, to make the Parkinson's drug L-DOPA, create shiny jewellery and add the menthol taste to toothpaste, says Allan Blackman…
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