Birthwork: A compassionate guide to being with birth
by Jenny Blyth

[2005, Australia: Queensland Complete Printing Service; 460 pages, paperback.]

“Inherently, we have the ability to use our positive human qualities skillfully.”

Birthwork is about what we are, how we react and wise ways of being with birth.

Jenny’s unique concepts thread this book together. Her idea is to fast-track the exploration of awareness during the childbearing year, keeping up with the continual fast pace at which life moves. She delves into the issues confronting care providers and mothers: how to face these issues and work toward better understanding and better birth. Helping mothers feel prepared and ready spiritually, emotionally and physically creates a whole way of caring for birth. This book does a thorough job while encouraging readers to search themselves for new awareness.

The book has four parts. Part 1 concerns preparation. The author explores how we communicate, the art of language, the middle way of care that helps prevent burnout, and relationship factors such as dynamics within teamwork, conflict and weaving in and out of birthing families’ lives.

Part 2 concerns birthing. How we work with labor instinctively and intuitively. Breath work, freeing up “stuck-ness” body structure and inherited attitudes are just a few of the ideas revealed.

Part 3 involves the bigger picture. How we work within the birthing field. Reflections on safety issues, responsibility, birth culture and crossing cultural paradigms. Looking at the whole picture of birth through holism and spirituality, along with the sacredness of birth.

Finally, part 4 rounds out the book with further considerations. Using bodywork, vaginal preparation, working with water and nurturing breastfeeding are examples of what is presented.

I loved this book. The way it is written, the layout of the book and the content all resonate with what birthwork is all about. Jenny does a fantastic job of presenting her experience and insights in a well-rounded manner. I drank up the information and felt satisfied and contented.

Reviewer Jill Cohen lives in Gates, Oregon, with her husband and two of her four beautiful children. After being a lay midwife for over 20 years she has now returned to school to obtain a nursing degree.

Order this book from Amazon today!


The fallout from the entry of Palestine into UNESCO continues. In addition to the US, bound by statute, removing their funds for UNESCO, Canada canceled its voluntary funding. The organization’s budget is probably close to 1/4 smaller than it was just a few days ago. And that can’t help but impact UNESCO’s work around the world.

What’s more, Israel has responded, not by targeting the member states that voted for Palestine’s entry, but by thumbing their nose at Palestine:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the accelerated construction of some 2,000 housing units in areas in the West Bank and around Jerusalem, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The statement came after Netanyahu called a special cabinet session to discuss the granting of full membership to the Palestinians by UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, a move opposed by Israel and the United States.

A senior government official said after the meeting that the cabinet had also decided to halt money transfers to the Palestinians Authority as a temporary measure until a final decision was made.

“You can’t demand from the Israeli public to continue to show restraint when the Palestinian leadership continues to slam the door in their face,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

I think he has that the other way around. The door is being slammed in the Palestinian’s face, and has been for over 60 years. Faced with no hope and continued statelessness, the Palestinian Authority embarked on the only leverage they had left. And the result has been more anger and provocation. These are vengeful actions that reflect a pattern of abuse. Juan Cole adds:

As for the fall-out for the United States, an informed reader wrote to remind me that if the Palestinians are welcomed into other UN bodies, the US could well lose substantial influence and have its interests adversely affected. He notes that the International Telecommunication Union allocates radio spectrum usage globally, “including the spectrum reserved for military and commercial use.” The World Health Organization is clearly important to the US for combating epidemics. The World Meteorological Organization is a matrix of information about weather that has agricultural and military implications. The World Intellectual Property Organization recognizes patents and copyrights worldwide.

These sorts of UN organizations, which are, whether Americans want to recognize it or not, important to the United States, could be forced to expel the US and cease sharing information with it if it does not pay its dues. Congress in the 1990s, under the influence of the Israel lobbies, passed a law forbidding the US government from giving money to bodies that recognize Palestine.

If Israel wants to go down the road of an apartheid state, and the attendant global outcry that is sure to follow, they’re doing a good job, and the US is cheering them as they follow that path.


Depth on different levels is so important to me. You look at a band like The Beatles, all their material has so much depth to it. And I want people to be able to run away with my melodies and get lost in them and take the lyrics and be able to relate to them.

Haley Reinhart


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Do Your Lipstick Right

"Lipstick makes such a difference — never leave the house without it," says makeup genius Mally Roncal. Start with a soft rose, peach, or berry shade, then follow her how-tos so it lasts for hours.

Step 3

Blot your mouth with a tissue, then dab on a second coat of lipstick (don't swipe or you'll smudge your liner). To finish, pat your lips together several times like you're saying "ma, ma, ma" to distribute the shade evenly.

Tip: This (pictured) is the right way to tissue-blot (not between your lips).


The latest headlines are awash with news of security breaches at major companies, including the likes of Morrisons, Target and Kickstarter.

We spoke to Catalin Cosoi, Chief Security Strategist at Bitdefender, about whether businesses can better educate their staff to be security aware, and how security strategies can be simplified..

TechRadar Pro: Could the enterprise do better when it comes to the education of staff as far as IT security is concerned?

Catalin Cosoi: The average enterprise does not train general staff in IT security matters and this is more or less as it should be. Training should be restricted to familiarisation with job-relevant security procedures, of which the fewer there are, the fewer there are to get wrong. IT staff on the other hand really should be more security-aware.

TRP: How should training differ at different levels of the business? Should all employees receive the same level of education?

CC: Generally speaking, an attacker will aim for the 'low-hanging fruit' first and will look to spear-phish the director's secretary, not the director himself – at least not initially. One of the jobs of IT security is to ensure that the gains are similarly low and that "privilege escalation" attacks are hard.

That being said, a small dose of operational paranoia instilled into key personnel can work wonders. To give an example of why education at all levels is so important, the HBGary "hack" was only possible because an administrator was a bit too trusting and accepting.

TRP: What would Bitdefender consider to be best practice when it comes to IT security education for businesses and their staff?

CC: Identify who needs to be educated and then think long and hard about what you want to teach. For example, training people to change their passwords often is pretty useless, while showing them how spear phishing works might be useful.

Keep in mind that normally there is a tension between security and convenience and a harried middle manager will always choose convenience, unless training has convinced him or her that it is necessary to make such decisions in a conscious manner and that taking on security risks is not "free".

TRP: Should network security now be reliant on more than just passwords following the recent news that researchers in Liverpool have created a computer virus that can spread via Wifi?

CC: The Chameleon virus' potential to spread through networks "like a common cold" highlights the importance of having robust administrative security procedures in place; an area that is overlooked by many.

Organisations should take steps to ensure that critical infrastructure and routers are protected from this, and similar, virus threats and technology should be the element that makes the difference.

Home routers and networks are actually beyond most people's IT administration skills, and as such the need to secure them doesn't even register. This is why passwords are often not secure enough.

In order to achieve true protection, security and maintenance should be simplified and automated as much as humanly possible. Things should just work securely out of the box, because most people don't have the time, inclination or indeed motivation to become network security professionals.

TRP: What are considered industry gold standards in today's cloud security industry?

CC: Despite industry efforts, cloud providers have yet to establish a standard framework to guide the interactions between enterprises and cloud service providers.

There are a number of organisations that ratify proposals for open standards and develop cloud security guidelines. Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) provides one of the industry's most comprehensible set of best practices for secure cloud computing.

The CSA has developed a compliance standard known as the CCM or Cloud Control Matrix, which describes various areas of cloud infrastructure including risk management and security threats.


XLR8R - logo

Canto 6

Mon.-Fri., 7:30a-6:30p; Sat.-Sun., 8a-5p

On weekends, Jamaica Plain residents line up out the door for this French-style bakery's special end-of-the-week treats, which have been known to include a blue-cheese-and-ham biscuit and specialty croissants, like pear and chocolate almond. During the week, it's a hotspot for breakfast coffee and pastries, and fancy lunchtime sandwiches are worth a mention, though its few tables can be occupied by the mom 'n' stroller set. Best to roll solo, or picnic in a nearby park.

3346 Washington St., Jamaica Plain
(617) 983-8688

Have corrections or suggestions? Please email cityguide@xlr8r.com.


The Daniel Plan Day 40: The Final Weigh In

crossroadsFeb 14 2014, 13 views

The 100 Huntley hosts did their final weigh in individually and we would say it's been a success! Collectively, we have lost 63lbs! Let's continue on and live strong for Jesus!

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[Xylo-SDR] The Poop

Here is a little more information. It does require a computer restart. The virus program exploiting this is pretty bad as it will install a number of Trojans. Microsoft has been updating 1 time per month, and tomorrow is the next critical update release. They released this as a ‘single’ today due to the seriousness of the vulnerability.

Security Update for Windows XP (KB912919)

Typical download size: 196 KB , less than 1 minute
A remote code execution security issue has been identified in the Graphics Rendering Engine that could allow an attacker to remotely compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.  Details...


Leviathan Quiz

Directions: Click on the correct answer.

Questions 1-5 of 25:

What does Hobbes say is the first of four causes of spiritual darkness? (from Part 4 Chapter 44)

What did the Jews do with the concept of demons they got from the Greeks? (from Part 4 Chapter 45)

What does Hobbes say the goal of the Bible is? (from Part 3 Chapter 32 & 33)

How does Hobbes suggest the idea of philosophy began to grow? (from Part 4 Chapter 46 & 47)

What do counsels for the aristocracy generally do? (from Part 2 Chapter 19)


In general, the objects in the universe that are very high-energy objects, or the processes that are high-energy processes, will radiate more in the short wavelength range towards the gamma rays or the x-rays.

Claude Nicollier


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Blended Wing Body – A potential new aircraft design

NASA and its industry partners are investigating a blended wing aircraft concept for potential use as a future air transport for both civilian and military applications. The concept is called the blended wing body (BWB). The BWB is a hybrid shape that resembles a flying wing, but also incorporates features from conventional transport aircraft. This combination offers several advantages over conventional tube-and wing airframes. The BWB airframe merges efficient high-lift wings with a wide airfoil-shaped body, allowing the entire aircraft to generate lift and minimize drag. This shape helps to increase fuel economy and creates larger payload (cargo or passenger) areas in the center body portion of the aircraft.

The basic concept for a blended wing body was first developed decades ago and variations of it have been used in the famous B-2 bomber (a blended wing) and the lesser-known YB-49 (a pure flying wing from the 1940’s). Like the B-2, the BWB design uses composite materials that are stronger and lighter than conventional metal construction. The BWB also has several control surfaces on the trailing edge, like the B-2, instead of the conventional tail assembly.

BWB artist concept
Image above is artist concept of one version of the blended wing body aircraft.

The BWB shape allows unique interior designs. Cargo can be loaded or passengers can board from the front or rear of the aircraft. The cargo or passenger area is distributed across the wide fuselage, providing a large usable volume. For passengers in the interior of the craft, real-time video at every seat would take the place of window seats.

NASA and industry studies suggest that a large commercial BWB aircraft could be developed. Because of its efficient configuration, the BWB would consume over 20 percent less fuel than a comparable conventional aircraft flying at high subsonic cruise speeds over a 7,000 nautical-mile range. An aircraft of this type would have a wingspan slightly greater than a Boeing 747 and could operate from existing airport terminals. The BWB would also weigh less, generate less noise and emissions, and cost less to operate than an equally advanced conventional transport aircraft.

NASA BWB Research

NASA is studying the flying characteristics of the BWB. Because it is a configuration that has only been used in military missions, there are a number of critical questions that researchers must address before a BWB can be commercially certified. The primary goals of the research are to study the flight and handling characteristics of the BWB design, match the vehicle's performance with engineering predictions based on computer and wind tunnel studies, develop and evaluate digital flight controls, and assess the integration of the propulsion system to the airframe. Future research must also address the wide, flat pressurized payload bay of the BWB.

Over the past several years, wind tunnel and freeflight model tests have been conducted to study particular aerodynamic characteristics of the BWB design. At the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, researchers tested five wind tunnel models of three versions of the BWB to evaluate the concept's aerodynamic, noise, stability and control, and spin and tumble characteristics. Data obtained during these tests were used to develop computer performance models and flight control laws. The researchers will incorporate all wind tunnel (and later flight) data into simulations of a full-scale BWB to evaluate the flying characteristics.

BWB scale model tests
A scale model of an early blended wing body design was tested in one of the NASA Langley wind tunnels.

Research and Test Team

The NASA BWB Project is managed by Langley Research Center.

The BWB shape, called the outer mold line, was developed by The Boeing Phantom Works of Huntington Beach, California.

The Langley Full Scale Tunnel operated by Old Dominion University will be used for free-flight model tests of the BWB.


Secondhand smoke remains unfiltered threat

While many smokers take precautions like only lighting up in an isolated room, on a porch or in the yard, those steps seldom eliminate the dangers that nicotine and other chemicals from burning tobacco pose to infants and children. These range from increased risks for respiratory infections and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome to higher lifetime risks for cancer.

But short of setting up an array of lab sensors in the home, there's no way to tell how much smoke residue is entering a particular space.

Now, researchers at Dartmouth University report they've come up with a prototype sensor sensitive and compact enough to use just about anywhere.

Smaller and lighter than a cell phone, the prototype -- developed in the lab of chemistry professor Joseph BelBruno -- can fit in the palm of the hand. It uses polymer films to collect, trap and measure nicotine levels in the air. The project was described in the March issue of the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

While a patent is pending for the first device, BelBruno expects that a consumer version will eventually be available featuring a computer processor, a rechargeable battery and perhaps a screen to show immediate readouts.

Outside of the home, the devices could be used commercially in places where smoking is banned, such as hotel rooms, rental cars and restaurants.

Secondhand smoke combines smoke from the burning end of a cigarette and the smoke exhaled by tobacco users. Thirdhand smoke is the tobacco residue left behind after smoking that can build up on clothing, walls, curtains, furniture and other surfaces. The residue can return to the air and cause harm long after active smoking has stopped.

There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds of these are toxic and about 70 cause cancer. Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke face a 20 to 30 percent increased risk of developing lung cancer.

Significant exposure to toxic chemicals from secondhand smoke can happen in as little as 10 to 20 minutes.

Simply breathing in a smoky bar or car can constrict a healthy adult's airway in as little as 20 minutes, researchers at the University of Athens in Greece found. They tested subjects in a chamber simulating the exposure to smoke particulates, and reported their findings at the American College of Chest Physicians' annual meeting in October.

Spending just 10 minutes in the back seat of a car with a smoker in front boosts a child's daily exposure to harmful pollutants by up to 30 percent, another study found. The study, published in November by the journal Tobacco, measured pollutant levels in 22 tests inside a stationary vehicle and found levels higher than those found in bars, restaurants and casinos.

Tests were done with front car windows all the way down and partially open. In both cases, pollutant levels were three times as high as those measured outside the car, taking into account both tobacco and vehicle emissions.

The CDC recommends that parents forbid smoking around their children, particularly in the home or car, and avoid restaurants or other indoor spaces that allow smoking.


Chemistry: A Volatile History

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Chemistry: A Volatile History
Genre History of science
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Starring Andrea Sella
Narrated by Jim Al-Khalili
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 3
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s) BBC
Original channel BBC Four
Original airing 21 January 2010 (2010-01-21)
External links

Episode 1: Discovering the Elements[edit]

Only in the last 200 years have we known what an element is – a substance that cannot be broken down further by chemical reaction.

The Ancient Greeks, with no way of breaking open substances, could only base their ideas of the elements on what they could see: Earth, Fire, Water and Air.

In the 16th century alchemists were busy trying to turn base metals like lead, into gold.

Paracelsus and the Tri Prima[edit]

It was the Swiss alchemist and surgeon Paracelsus who first challenged the Ancient Greek idea of four elements.

In 1526 Paracelsus was in Basel, when the famous printer Frobenius was told he would have to have his leg amputated in a life-saving operation. Instead of accepting the received wisdom, he called upon Paracelsus who cured him in the unconventional way of using his alchemical knowledge. This established him as a radical thinker, giving weight to his ideas, principal amongst which was the idea that the world was actually made of three elements: the tria prima comprising salt, sulphur and mercury.

Paracelsus did not succeed in convincing the establishment – instead he managed to enrage them by burning their established medical texts, and eventually had to flee Switzerland for Germany.

It was, however, the alchemical pursuit for gold that led to the first breakthrough in the hunt for new elements.

Hennig Brand and the Icy Noctiluca[edit]

In 1669 Brand was looking for a way of extracting gold from the human body, and struck upon the idea of using urine, thinking that urine might contain some part of the ‘life force’ vital to sustaining human life. To get rid of the unimportant parts, primarily water, Brand boiled the urine for several days until he was left with a thick paste. Finally, fragments of a substance emerged which burned brighter than any Medieval candle available at the time, but which left the vessel it burnt in cold: Brand named this new substance icy noctiluca – ‘cold night light’.

Soon after its discovery, icy noctiluca toured the Royal Houses of Europe and in 1677 it came before the Royal Society in London, then under the chairmanship of Charles II, where one of its members decided to investigate.

In his book New Experiments and Observations Made Upon the Icy Noctiluca Robert Boyle describes an experiment in which sulphur and phosphorus powders are mixed causing them to burn fiercely. This discovery was the basis for the invention of the match.

Phosphorus, as icy noctiluca is now known, is used in everything from match heads to toothpaste and ultimately in the Second World War bombs which destroyed the very city in which Brand discovered it – Hamburg.

Whilst Brand never discovered gold, his accidental discovery of the element now known as phosphorus gave rise to the idea that elements could be hidden inside other substances.

Robert Boyle and The Sceptical Chemist[edit]

More than a decade earlier in 1661, a year after the Royal Society opened, Boyle deposited The Sceptical Chemist in its vaults. This book is usually regarded as the turning point that signalled the transition from alchemy to chemistry. The Sceptical Chemist was innovative in several ways: it was not written in Latin, as had been the tradition for alchemical books, but in English; it dispensed with the old alchemical symbols for various elements, using English names instead; and most crucially it was actually published, as opposed to kept secret.

Boyle was willing to share his discoveries to allow others to build on his work and further the scientific understanding of the elements. He wanted to put alchemy on a more scientific footing – ditching the metaphysical baggage it had brought with it from the previous century.

Unfortunately, this new age of chemical enlightenment was fraught with blind alleys.

Johann Becher and Phlogiston[edit]

In 1667 the German scientist Johann Becker proposed that fire was caused by an ethereal, odourless, tasteless, colourless, weightless entity called phlogiston. The idea was that phlogiston causes things to burn, reducing them to their pure form. For example, burning wood releases phlogiston, leaving the pure form of wood – ash, therefore wood is composed of ash (pure wood) and phlogiston.

Phlogiston was accepted as scientific truth, paralysing the scientific community’s ability to discover more, true elements. One scientist even claimed to have isolated phlogiston.

Henry Cavendish and Inflammable Air[edit]

A major shareholder in the Bank of England with royal connections, Henry Cavendish was a painfully shy character, who made the vital chemical contribution of discovering the first elemental gas.

He added some zinc to spirit of salt (hydrochloric acid) and collected the evanescence given off as bubbles. The gas he collected was tasteless, odourless and colourless, and moreover it produced a squeaky pop in the presence of a flame – this led Cavendish to name the gas inflammable air, which he believed to be one and the same as phlogiston.

Cavendish made an important observation, though little did he realise it, about burning phlogiston in air, a dewy liquid was formed on the inside of the glassware: water. This should have had enormous repercussions for the whole scientific community in the 1700s, who still believed water to be an elemental substance. Yet, if water could be made by burning inflammable air, then water is not an element, but a compound.

However, it simply did not occur to Cavendish that water was a compound – instead he assumed that the airs contained a form of water, which phlogiston modified into liquid, elemental water.

Phlogiston had given the Ancient Greek idea of water as an element a brief reprieve, but the Greek system was now under heavy scrutiny as the Royal Society commissioned its members to investigate the invisible airs.

Joseph Priestley and Dephlogisticated Air[edit]

By the mid-1700s there were three known ‘airs’:

  • Common air – the air we breathe;
  • Cavendish’s inflammable air;
  • Fixed air.

It was this last air which caught the attention of Joseph Priestley, a Unitarian minister whose favourite pastime was the investigation of airs – specifically, fixed air, given off by the fermentation process in breweries.

Priestley’s passion for science led to an invitation to Bowood House, to tutor the children of Lord Shelburne. This was an excellent opportunity, given that Priestley did not have the money of earlier chemists like Boyle and Cavendish, and would still be free to pursue his own research.

In 1774 Priestley performed a hugely important experiment: he heated mercuric calc and collected the gas given off. He discovered that this gas was able to relight the embers of a previously lit wooden splint. He concluded that the splint was introducing phlogiston to the gas, only after which could it burn, therefore the gas must be ‘without phlogiston’ – this led Priestley to name it dephlogisticated air.

In October 1775 Priestley accompanied Lord Shelburne on a trip to Paris where they were invited to dine with the preeminent scientists of the time. It is here that Priestley met the French scientist Antoine Lavoisier.

Antoine Lavoisier and the end of Phlogiston[edit]

Priestley told Lavoisier all the details of his experiments upon the production of dephlogisticated air. Unlike Priestley, Lavoisier had one of the best equipped laboratories in Europe and now turned his attention to the highly accurate measurement of the masses of substances before and after they were heated.

Lavoisier weighted a sample of tin, then reweighed after he had heated it and found it had increased in mass. This was an unexpected result given that the tin was thought to have released phlogiston during the burning process. Lavoisier was struck with a ground-breaking thought – maybe the tin had absorbed something from the air, making it heavier, but if so, what?

To investigate this further, Lavoisier reran Priestley’s experiment in reverse – he heated some mercury in a sealed container until it turned into mercuric calc and measured the amount of air absorbed. He then heated the mercuric calc and measured the amount of air released and discovered the quantities were the same. Lavoisier realised that something was absorbed from the air when mercury was heated to make mercuric calc, and that same gas was released when the mercuric calc was heated. Lavoisier concluded that this gas was unrelated to phlogiston, but was in fact a brand new element, which he named oxygen.

Lavoisier had successfully dispensed with the need for the theory of phlogiston and recognised Priestley’s ‘dephlogisticated air’ as the element oxygen. Despite the fact it was Priestley’s original work that laid the foundations for his discovery, Lavoisier claimed he had discovered oxygen; Priestley, after all, had failed to recognise it as a new element.

Table from the English translation of Lavoisier's Traité élémentaire de chimie, 2 vols. Chez Cuchet, Paris (1789). Translated from the French by Robert Kerr, Elements of Chemistry, 4th edition. William Creech, Edinburgh: (1790).

Lavoisier went on to give science its first definition of an element: a substance that cannot be decomposed by existing chemical means. He also set about drawing up a list of all the elements – now 33 elements replaced the ancient four. His list was grouped into four categories: gases, non-metals, metals and earths.

On top of this, Lavoisier created a classification system for the ever increasing array of chemicals being discovered. As mentioned, ‘dephlogisticated air’ became oxygen, ‘inflammable air’ became hydrogen, but the nomenclature of compounds was also put on a more logical footing as ‘oil of vitriol’ became sulphuric acid, ‘philosophical wool’ became zinc oxide and ‘astringent mars saffron’ became iron oxide.

Unfortunately, whilst Lavoisier had rid the world of the phlogiston paradigm, he introduced two new erroneous elements now known to be pure energy: lumière and calorique; light and heat.

In revenge for his sympathies with the revolutionaries in France, Priestley’s home in England was targeted by arsonists in 1791, luckily he escaped thanks to a tip-off, but decided to flee to America. Lavoisier’s contributions to science were cut short in 1794 by the revolutionaries, who arrested him on grounds of being an enemy of the French people, and had him guillotined.

Humphry Davy and Potash[edit]

In 1807, the Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution in London was the Cornishman Humphry Davy. He was investigating crystalline salts of potash because he was unconvinced potash was an element, but by the end of the previous century, Lavoisier had been unable to break it down further.

Since then however, the first electric battery had recently been invented (rows of metal plates and cardboard soaked in saltwater). Although scientists were aware that the production of a continuous electric current was due to some property of the metals, Davy believed that a chemical reaction was taking place. If that was true, then maybe the reverse was also true: an electric current could cause a chemical reaction.

Davy heated the potash until it was liquid, then introduced two electrodes and passed a current through the molten potash. A lilac flame was observed, the result of successfully breaking down potash into its constituent elements – one of which, was the previously never before seen element potassium.

Davy went on to add six new elements to Lavoisier’s list, as well as confirming that substances like chlorine and iodine were also elements. By the time of his death in 1829 the idea of the elements was firmly established, 55 separate elements had been discovered, and the world had a new science: Chemistry.

Episode 2: The Order of the Elements[edit]

At the beginning of the 19th century only 55 of the 92 naturally occurring elements had been discovered. Scientists had no idea how many more they might find, or indeed if there were an infinite number of elements. They also sought to answer a fundamental question, namely: is there a pattern to the elements?

John Dalton’s Atoms[edit]

Dalton's atomic symbols, from his own books.

Scientists had recently discovered that when elements combine to form compounds, they always do so in the same proportions, by weight. John Dalton thought that for this to happen, each element had to be made of its own unique building blocks, which he called atoms.

Dalton suggested that everything in the universe was made of atoms, and that there are as many kinds of atoms as there are elements, each one with its own signature weight. Based on these ideas, working completely alone, Dalton attempted to impose some order on the elements by drawing up a list, where each element was represented by an alchemical-looking symbol, ordered by atomic weight.

Although Dalton did not get all his atomic weights correct, he was pointing science in the right direction. Sadly, in the early 1800s few scientists accepted the idea that elements had different weights.

Jöns Jacob Berzelius’ Pursuit of Atomic Weights[edit]

The Swedish scientist Berzelius was one of the few scientists who strongly believed in the idea of atomic weights, and thought that knowing as much as possible about their weights was vitally important. When he heard of Dalton’s theory, he set about the gargantuan task of measuring the atomic weight of every single known element – without any proof that Dalton’s atoms actually existed.

This was even more challenging than it first seems once you consider the fact that very little of the chemical glassware necessary for such precise measurements had been invented. Berzelius had to manufacture much of it himself.

Berzelius’ experiences with glass-blowing had an additional bonus, in 1824 he discovered that one of the constituents of glass was a new element – silicon. Having already discovered three other elements prior to silicon: thorium, cerium and selenium, Berzelius spent the next ten years obsessively measuring more than two thousand chemical compounds in pursuit of accurate atomic weights for the elements. Eventually Berzelius had remarkably accurate atomic weights for 45 elements; his value for chlorine was accurate to within 0.2% of the value we know today.

However, by the time Berzelius had produced his results, other scientists were now measuring atomic weights – and getting conflicting results. In fact, scientists were looking for all sorts of patterns throughout the elements.

Johann Döbereiner’s Triads[edit]

One such pattern hunter was German chemist Johann Döbereiner. He believed the key to understanding the elements lay not with their atomic weights but with their chemical properties. He noticed that one could often single out three elements that exhibited similar properties, such as the alkali metals, which he called triads.

The problem was that Döbereiner’s triads only worked for a few of the elements and got scientists no further than atomic weights.

Dmitri Mendeleev moves to St Petersburg[edit]

In 1848 a huge fire destroyed the factory of the widow Maria Mendeleeva. Facing destitution she decided to embark on the 1,300 mile journey from Western Siberia to St Petersburg – walking a significant portion of the route – so her son Dmitri Mendeleev could continue his education in the capital of the Russian Empire.

At the time the scientific community was grappling with the problem of how to bring order to the 63 elements that were now known. Mendeleev was still a student when he attended the world’s first international chemistry conference – convened to settle the confusion surrounding atomic weights.

Stanislao Cannizzaro’s Standard for Measuring Atomic Weights[edit]

Sicilian chemist Stanislao Cannizzaro was still convinced that atomic weights held the key to the order of the elements and had found a new way of measuring them. Cannizzaro knew that equal volumes of gases contain equal numbers of particles, therefore instead of working with solids and liquids and all the unreliability that entails, he proposed measuring the densities of gases to measure the weights of individual gaseous atoms.

Whereas Berzelius’ results had failed to convince anyone, Cannizzaro’s method set an agreed standard for measuring atomic weights accurately. Chemists soon found that even with accurate atomic weights, the elements still seemed unordered, but then, a solitary English chemist made a curious discovery.

John Newland’s Octaves[edit]

Visualization of John Newlands' Law of Octaves.

In 1863 John Newlands noticed that when ordered by weight, every eighth element seemed to share similar properties, such as carbon and silicon in the sequence: carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, sodium, magnesium and silicon. He called this a Law of Octaves.

Three years later, in 1866, he presented his ideas to the Chemical Society, unfortunately for Newlands, the musical analogy was not well received – the audience suggesting he might as well have ordered the elements alphabetically.

Today, Newland’s Octaves are known as the Law of Periodicity, and Mendeleev was thinking along the same lines.

Mendeleev’s Periodic Table[edit]

By 1869 Mendeleev had been trying to find an order for the elements for a decade. One day he struck upon the idea of making up a pack of cards with the elements’ names on and began playing a game he called ‘chemical solitaire’. He began laying out the cards, over and over, just to see if he could form a pattern where everything fitted together.

To date, chemists had tried to group elements in one of two ways:

  • By their atomic weights (Berzelius’ and Cannizzaro’s Atomic Weights);
  • By their chemical properties (Döbereiner’s Triads and Newland’s Octaves).

Mendeleev’s genius was to combine those two methods together. However, the odds were stacked against him – little more than half the known elements had been discovered: he was playing with an incomplete deck of cards.

He stayed up for three days and nights then, finally, on 17 February 1869, he fell asleep and dreamt of all 63 known elements laid out in a grand table.

Dmitri Mendeleev's periodic table from 1871 with gaps (-) left for new elements.

Mendeleev’s table reveals the relationship between all the elements in their order:

  • Atomic weights increase reading from left to right;
  • Triads and Octaves are visible reading down the columns.

Notice carbon and silicon are in Group IV and the volatile gases fluorine, chlorine and bromine are in Group VII.

Mendeleev was sufficiently confident in the layout of his table that he was willing to leave gaps for unknown elements to make the pattern fit – believing other elements would later be discovered that filled the gaps.

  • After Calcium (Ca, weight 40) he left a gap, predicting a metallic element slightly heavier than calcium;
  • After Zinc (Zn, weight 65) he left a gap, predicting a metal with a low melting point and atomic weight 68;
  • Immediately after that gap, he left a further gap, predicting another metal, dark grey in colour.

So, for Mendeleev to be vindicated, the gaps needed to be filled, and luckily, in 1859, new instrumentation had been developed for discovering elements.

Bunsen’s Burner and Kirchhoff’s Spectrometer[edit]

Robert Bunsen knew that when certain elements burned in the flames of his burner they each turned the flame a different colour. Copper burned green, strontium red and potassium lilac – Bunsen wondered if every element had a unique colour.

Bunsen was joined in his research by Gustav Kirchhoff. Kirchhoff used the concept of the dispersion of white light by a prism in the invention of the spectroscope, a device with a prism at its centre which split the light from Bunsen’s flames into distinct bands of its constituent colours – the element’s spectral lines.

Kirchhoff and Bunsen realised these spectral lines were unique to each element, and, using this technique they discovered two new elements, cesium and rubidium.

Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovers Gallium[edit]

In 1875 the Parisian chemist Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran used a spectroscope to discover a new metallic element. It was a silvery-white, soft metal with an atomic weight of 68, which he named gallium, after his native France. It also turned out to have a very low melting point, thus matching all the expected properties of the element Mendeleev expected to fill the gap he had left after zinc; indeed, this is exactly where the element was placed in the periodic table.

Even though Mendeleev had left the necessary gap for gallium as well as other elements, it was becoming clear there was an entire group that was missing altogether.

Pierre Janssen and Norman Lockyer discover Helium[edit]

In 1868, the French astronomer Pierre Janssen travelled to India in time for the total solar eclipse that occurred in August of that year. As well as his telescope, he also went equipped with a spectroscope, to study the spectral lines of the light emitted from the sun. Normally, due to the intensity of sunlight many weaker spectral lines are not visible next to the extreme brightness of the stronger lines. Janssen hoped that he would observe more spectral lines during the eclipse when the sun’s light was less intense.

The eclipse allowed Janssen to observe a spectral line never seen before, which was not associated with any known element. The same spectral line was confirmed by the English astronomer Norman Lockyer, who thinking the element only existed in the sun, named it helium, after the Greek Sun God.

However, it wasn’t long before another British scientist had discovered helium on Earth.

William Ramsay discovers the noble gases[edit]

By dissolving the radioactive ore cleveite in acid, William Ramsay was able to collect a gas trapped within the rock, which had an atomic weight of 4, and the same spectral lines which Lockyer had observed: helium. Prior to this, Ramsay had already isolated a new gas from the atmosphere; argon, with an atomic weight of 40.

A problem now arose – Mendeleev had not left any gaps which were suitable for either of these two new elements, which led Ramsay to conclude an entire group was missing from the periodic table – only two of whose members were now known to exist, helium and argon.

Ramsey successfully discovered all the other stable elements in the group which he named neon (Greek for new), krypton (Greek for hidden) and xenon (Greek for stranger). All the elements of this new group had one overwhelming characteristic; their lack of reactivity. It was this particular characteristic that brought to mind a name for the new group: the noble gases.

Mendeleev vindicated[edit]

Mendeleev’s statue and his periodic table in St Petersburg.

Mendeleev’s periodic table had brought order to all the elements, allowing him to make predictions that future scientists tested and found to be true. By the time he died he was world-renowned in chemistry. His periodic table was set in stone in St Petersburg and an element was eventually named after him: mendelevium.

The periodic table does not however tell us why some elements are highly reactive, others completely inert, why some are volatile, whilst others less so. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century that an entirely different branch of science began to unravel the answers to these questions.

Niels Bohr’s fixed shell model[edit]

In 1909, the physicist Ernest Rutherford proposed the structure of the atom was like that of a solar system: mostly empty space with electrons floating around a dense nucleus.

Subsequently the Danish Physicist Niels Bohr introduced the idea that electrons occupied "fixed shells" around the nucleus, which was further developed when it was suggested that each such shell could only accommodate a fixed number of electrons: 2 in the first shell; 8 in the second shell; 18 in the third shell, and so on, each shell holding an increasing number of electrons.

The chemical behaviour of all elements is explained by the number of electrons in their outer shells: to increase the energetic stability of their electron configurations atoms have a tendency to gain or lose electrons in such a way so as to achieve a full outer shell. Sodium, with 11 electrons – one in its outer-most occupied shell, will transfer an electron in the presence of fluorine to its outer-most occupied shell, which contains seven electrons. The result is both sodium and fluorine now have a full outer shell, and Sodium Fluoride is formed.

This theory explained why all elements react in the way they do and why some formed the compounds they do, while others did not. It also explained why elements had the physical properties they did, which in turn explained why the periodic table had the shape it did. However, there was one fundamental question left unanswered: how many elements were there – could there be an infinite number of elements between Hydrogen and Uranium?

Henry Moseley’s proton numbers[edit]

Early 20th century chemist Henry Moseley speculated that the answer to the number of elements lay in the nucleus. By firing a radioactive source at copper, he was able to knock electrons from their atoms, releasing a burst of energy in the form of an x-ray. When measured, the x-rays always had the same energy, unique to copper. He discovered each element released x-rays of different energies. Moseley’s brilliance was to realise the x-ray energy is related to the number of protons inside the atom: the atomic number.

Because this is the number of protons, the atomic number must be a whole number – there cannot be any fractional values. Moseley realised it was the atomic number, not the atomic weight that determines the order of the elements. What’s more, because the atomic number increases in whole numbers from one element to the next there can be no extra elements between Hydrogen (atomic number 1) and Uranium (atomic number 92) – there can only be 92 elements, there is no room for any more.

Moseley was just 26 when he completed this research. Aged 27 he was killed in action during the First World War – shot through the head by a sniper.

Episode 3: The Power of the Elements[edit]

Just 92 elements combine to form all the compounds on Earth. Iron, when combined with chromium, carbon and nickel makes stainless steel. Glass is made of silicon and oxygen.

Since prehistoric times, people have been engaging in ‘bucket chemistry’ – adding all sorts of chemicals together, just to see what would happen. As a result, many early discoveries in chemistry were accidental.

Heinrich Diesbach produces the first synthetic paint[edit]

In 18th century Prussia, Heinrich Diesbach was trying to produce a synthetic red paint. He started by heating potash (potassium carbonate), with no idea that his potash had been contaminated with blood. When heated, the proteins in blood are altered, allowing them to combine with the iron in the blood, whilst the carbonate reacts with the haemoglobin to produce a solid.

After heating the resulting solid to an ash, filtering and diluting, Diesbach added green vitriol (iron sulphate) to create a complex ion: ferric ferrocyanide. Finally, adding spirit of salt (hydrochloric acid) draws out a brilliant colour: Prussian Blue.

Justus von Liebig and Friedrich Wöhler encounter isomerism[edit]

Ever since seeing fireworks as a child, another German chemist, Justus von Liebig, had become obsessed with trying to better understand the elements by creating explosive combinations. Specifically, he was interested in the explosive compound silver fulminate.

In 1825 he read a paper written by Friedrich Wöhler in which he describes a compound called silver cyanate, made in equal parts of silver, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, which he described as harmless and stable. Von Liebig immediately wrote back a furious letter condemning Wöhler as a hopeless analyst: those elements combined in equal proportions were exactly what made the explosive silver fulminate.

Instead of backing down, Wöhler challenged von Liebig to make silver cyanate for himself. The results would have astounded him – the same elements that combined according to von Liebig’s method, when combined according to Wöhler’s method made two completely different compounds.

Wöhler and von Liebig had inadvertently discovered isomerism: the same number of atoms of the same elements combining in different ways to make different compounds. In time, this would explain how just 92 elements could make the vast array of compounds we know today.

Chemists started to realise that understanding the arrangement of atoms within compounds was crucial if they wished to design new compounds, and the first step in this direction was taken by studying carbon.

Smithson Tennant discovers what diamonds are made of[edit]

In 1796 Smithson Tennant was experimenting on diamonds when he decided to burn one. Using only sunlight and a magnifying glass he managed to ignite a diamond sufficiently for it to produce a gas, which he collected and was able to identify as carbon dioxide.

Having started with only diamond and oxygen, and produced a gas which contains only carbon and oxygen, Tennant had discovered that diamonds are made of carbon.

Unaware of atomic theory at the time, scientists were unable to explain how carbon, already known to exist as one of the softest substances in the form of graphite, could also be the sole constituent element of the hardest known substance: diamond.

Exactly 50 years later, a young Scottish chemist discovered there are no prizes in Science for coming second.

Archibald Scott Couper formulates the theory of chemical bonds[edit]

In 1856 Archibald Scott Couper went to work for a French chemist, Charles-Adolphe Wurtz. Whilst in Paris he came up with the idea of links between atoms that could explain how individual atoms formed compounds. He called these links bonds. Somehow, Couper realised that carbon can form four bonds, thereby attaching itself with different strengths to other carbon atoms in a compound:

  • In diamond all four bonds are connected to other carbon atoms in three-dimensions, making it so hard.
  • In graphite only three bonds are connected to other carbon atoms in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice, allowing layers to slide over each other, making graphite soft.

The ability of carbon to form four bonds also means it can exist in a huge variety of chemical structures, such as long chains and even rings, making it a rarity amongst the elements. This helped to explain the abundance of carbon in all life forms, from protein and fat, to DNA and cellulose, and why carbon exists in more compounds than any other element.

All that remained for Couper was to get his paper published...

Friedrich Kekulé formulates the same theory of chemical bonds[edit]

Friedrich Kekulé was a German scientist who spent some time studying in London. It was apparently whilst riding a London bus he struck upon the idea of atoms ‘holding hands’ to form long chains. Kekulé rushed to compose a paper formalising his ideas on an equivalent theory of chemical bonds.

Meanwhile in Paris, Wurtz had been slow to publish Couper’s paper and Kekulé, whose work appeared in print first, claimed all the credit. When Couper discovered Wurtz had delayed in sending his paper to be published he flew into a rage and was promptly expelled from the laboratory by Wurtz.

The crushing disappointment at having lost out on his chance of scientific recognition led him first to withdraw from Science and then to suffer a nervous breakdown. He spent years in and out of an asylum.

However, now that scientists were beginning to understand the way carbon combines with itself and other elements, it was possible to create new compounds by design and industrial chemistry was born.

Wallace Carothers invents nylon[edit]

Two decades after the world’s first plastic – Bakelite – had been invented in 1907, Wallace Carothers successfully drew off a fibre from the interface of two liquids: hexane-1,6-diamine and decanedioyl-dichloride, which could be spun into a very fine, very strong thread. It was given the name nylon.

Shockingly, only three weeks after the patent for nylon had been filed, a depressed Carothers slipped another carbon based compound into his own drink, potassium cyanide, and killed himself.

Evidently, industrial chemistry wasn’t without its downsides, and one chemist was arguably responsible for single-handedly polluting the entire Earth with lead.

Thomas Midgley Junior prevents engines from knocking[edit]

In his capacity as an engineer with General Motors, Thomas Midgley experimented with a myriad of different compounds, which he added to petrol in an attempt to prevent engines from knocking. Eventually, he discovered one compound that worked brilliantly: tetraethyllead.

By the 1970s the use of leaded petrol was ubiquitous worldwide, but research was emerging about the damage that it was doing to humans and the environment. In 1983, a Royal Commission asked the question: "Is there any part of the Earth’s surface, or any form of life that remains uncontaminated?"

Today nearly all petrol is unleaded, although lead lives on in motor vehicles in their batteries.

Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity[edit]

In 1896 the French scientist Henri Becquerel was working with uranium crystals when he found UV light made them glow. Leaving the uranium crystals on an unexposed photographic plate overnight, he returned the next morning to discover they had caused the part of the plate they were sat on to develop.

Becquerel correctly reasoned the only source of energy that could have caused this was the crystals themselves. He had discovered radioactivity, and a young Polish scientist began to investigate.

Marie Curie investigates radioactivity[edit]

Marie Curie began her investigations by testing a uranium ore called pitchblende with an electrometer. She discovered it was four times more radioactive than pure uranium, and wondered if this was due to the presence of an even more radioactive element in the pitchblende.

Curie began stockpiling tonnes of pitchblende, then in the most basic of workshops with primitive equipment she undertook a multitude of complex and dangerous procedures in an attempt to isolate this new element.

In the event, Curie discovered two new elements, polonium named after her native Poland and radium. Whilst these were naturally occurring elements, they fuelled a scientific desire to create entirely new, artificial elements.

Ernest Rutherford explains radioactivity[edit]

At the beginning of the 20th century it was widely believed that atoms never change: an atom of one element stayed that way forever. Rutherford had already revealed the structure of an atom to consist mostly of empty space with a dense nucleus of protons at the centre, and Henry Mosley had shown that it is the number of protons that gives an atom its identity as a particular element. An atom of the element carbon has 6 protons, whilst an atom with 7 protons is one of nitrogen.

Rutherford came to the conclusion that the number of protons in a radioactive element could change – through a process of decay where parts of the nucleus are ejected from the atom. Rutherford named these fragments of ejected nucleus alpha particles.

Rutherford realised that if an atom is losing protons, its identity is changing at the same time, since an atom’s identity is governed by its proton number. Radioactive decay causes atoms of one element to transmute into atoms of a different element. He then sought to artificially engineer a specific transmutation.

Rutherford fixed a source of alpha particles – each of which contains two protons – at one end of a cylindrical chamber. At the other end he fixed a screen. Each time an alpha particle reached the screen it produced a flash. He then introduced nitrogen into the chamber and observed additional, different flashes on the screen. Occasionally, an alpha particle would collide with a nitrogen nucleus and get absorbed by it, knocking out a proton in the process. These protons then travelled on through the chamber to the screen to produce the additional flashes.

However, the nucleus of nitrogen – having absorbed two protons but lost only one – had gained a proton and become a nucleus of oxygen. Rutherford’s work gave hope to scientists trying to create new elements, but one final discovery about the atom was necessary.

In 1932 the Cambridge scientist James Chadwick discovered the neutron – electrically neutral particles which also sit inside the nucleus along with the protons.

Enrico Fermi claims to have made elements heavier than uranium[edit]

Now in Italy, Enrico Fermi – nicknamed ‘the pope’ by his colleagues for his infallibility, realised the potential of the newly discovered neutron in the search for elements heavier than uranium. Until now, scientists had been bombarding uranium with alpha particles in the hope they would enter the nucleus. Unfortunately, this was very unlikely because both alpha particles and nuclei are positively charged – the alpha particles could never overcome the electrostatic repulsion of the nucleus.

Fermi reasoned that because neutrons carried no electric charge, they would have a much better chance of penetrating the nucleus of a uranium atom. So Fermi set about firing neutrons at uranium. Fermi thought that this, coupled with his knowledge of beta decay, whereby an unstable nucleus attempts stabilisation by converting one neutron to a proton and ejecting a newly formed electron, would result in an element with one extra proton than uranium: element 93.

Indeed, Fermi discovered elements he did not recognise. He tested for elements below uranium in the periodic table: radon, actinium, polonium, as far back as lead – it was none of these. So, in 1934, the infallible Fermi declared to the world he had created elements heavier than uranium.

Otto Hahn disproves Fermi’s claims[edit]

In 1938, a team of German scientists, led by Otto Hahn, decided to investigate Fermi’s bold claim. Unfortunately for Fermi, they quickly disproved his assertion; one of the elements produced was barium, which, with 56 protons, was nowhere near the 92 protons the nucleus started with when it was uranium.

Hahn wrote of his confusion to his colleague Lisa Meitner who, as an Austrian Jew, had recently fled Nazi Germany for Sweden.

Lise Meitner explains Fermi’s work[edit]

Over Christmas 1938, Meitner considered the problem of the uranium nucleus, which she reasoned, given its relative size, must be quite unstable. She decided to model the nucleus as a drop of water, ready to divide with the impact of a single neutron. She realised the nucleus had split in half, and both Fermi and Hahn had witnessed what is now known as nuclear fission.

However, in doing the calculations for such an event, Meitner was unable to make the equations balance. She calculated that the products of the fission reaction were lighter than the initial uranium, by about one fifth of a proton. Somehow, a small amount of mass had disappeared. Then slowly, the solution to this discrepancy occurred to Meitner – Einstein and E = mc2 – the missing mass had been converted to energy.

The Manhattan Project[edit]

Meitner’s work was published in 1939, but as well generating interest amongst the scientific community, Meitner’s revelations were also coming to the attention of governments on the verge of war. Fuelled by fears Nazi Germany was investigating nuclear weapons of its own, scientists were assembled in America to work on the Manhattan Project aimed at creating the first atomic bomb.

For an explosion to occur, there must be a rapid release of energy – a slow release of energy from uranium nuclei would give a uranium fire, but no explosion. Both sides poured their effort into creating the necessary conditions for a chain reaction.

In 1942 Enrico Fermi, now living in America, successfully induced a chain reaction in uranium, but processing uranium for bombs was both difficult and costly. America had just come up with a different solution to win the atomic race.

Now finally, scientists’ dream of creating an element beyond the end of the periodic table was about to be realised.

Edwin McMillian and Phillip Ableson create the first synthetic element[edit]

In California, scientists were trying to create a new element heavier than uranium using cyclotron machines. This involved using huge magnets to steer atoms round in circles faster and faster until they reached a tenth of the speed of light, whereupon they were smashed into a uranium target.

Edwin McMillian and Phillip Ableson blasted uranium with a beam of particles to create the first synthetic element, heavier than uranium – element 93, which they named neptunium.

The next synthetic element, plutonium, quickly followed in 1941, which scientists realised was readily able to undergo fission in a way capable of producing the desired chain reaction. It was soon being made into a bomb.

A mere seven years after the discovery of nuclear fission, on 6 August 1945, half a gram of uranium was converted into energy when the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. As Lisa Meitner’s calculations suggested, this conversion released energy equivalent to 13,000 tonnes of TNT. A plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later.

GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research[edit]

Using one of the world’s largest particle accelerators, scientists working at the Heavy Ion Research facility in Darmstadt, Germany, have so far confirmed the existence of element 112, which they have named copernicium, after Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus.

These physicists have become the new chemists – testing the foundations of the periodic table, and hence our understanding of the universe, in light of new discoveries.

In addition to producing new elements, scientists are also attempting to discern their properties. Copernicium is found to be a volatile metal that would be liquid at room temperature if enough were ever made – exactly what Mendeleev would predict for element 112 – which sits directly beneath mercury in the periodic table.

Broadcast in the United States[edit]

It aired in the United States under the title "Unlocking the Universe." [1]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]


Chapter 5
The glorious Sun, stays in his course, and plays the alchemist
Shakespear, King John, III, 1

This is chapter summarizes some important aspects of stars and stellar physics. Stars play several important roles in cosmology. Most obviously, stars make up the majority of the luminous matter in the universe. Many cosmological questions are related to the lives of the stars. How many stars are there? What are their masses? How much of the mass of the universe is made up of stars, including those too dim to see? How are stars born? How do they die?

Stars are born in huge clouds of interstellar gas and dust. In the hearts of these molecular clouds, gravitational forces overwhelm regions of cold gas, drawing these cold clumps into dense cores. From such cores stars will form. An example of a region of active star formation is the Orion Nebula here seen in an HST photo. The Orion nebula is visible to the naked eye as the fuzzy patch in the sword of Orion. Here is a recent HST image of an Evaporating Gaseous Globule where stars are forming in great pillars of molecular hydrogen.

We argue, using some basic physical considerations, that hydrogen burning stars (so-called main sequence stars) increase in luminosity approximately as their mass to the third power. For a mathematical demonstration of this see the Mass-Luminosity Relation. Since a star's lifetime will be affected mainly by its mass divided by its luminosity, it follows that the more massive stars die first. Thus we can use the main sequence on the Herzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram to determine the ages of the oldest star clusters. The most ancient star clusters are the globular clusters, dense balls of stars that are found surrounding galaxies such as the Milky Way. M3, pictured below, is an example of a globular cluster. Determining the ages of stars in such clusters provides a lower limit to the age of the universe. Currently the best data and calculations imply that the oldest clusters are 12 to 15 billion years old.

M3, a globular cluster

Astronomers know that there is a great deal of mass in the universe that is not in ordinary stars. This unseen material is often referred to as the missing mass or dark matter. One of the possible candidates for this dark matter is small star-like objects that have too little mass for nuclear fusion to occur in their cores. These objects are called brown dwarfs. Recently the HST took the first picture of a brown dwarf, orbiting a cool red star known as Gliese 229.

Brown Dwarf orbiting Gliese229

Though the lives of stars are important for cosmology, perhaps even more interesting is their deaths. Stars cannot live forever, since they emit energy and nothing has an infinite source of energy. Once the star has run out of useable hydrogen fuel for the nuclear furnace at its core, it must find another source of energy or die. The next most easily fused element is helium. When the star begins to burn helium at its core, its outer layers are no longer heated as effectively and cool, causing the star's size to swell drastically, creating a red giant . But stars begin with only about a quarter as much helium as hydrogen, and an even smaller fraction of the helium can be fused because of practical limitations; thus the helium-burning red giant phase of the star's existence is relatively brief. When the useable helium is gone, the star has even fewer options. Modest stars such as the Sun, and stars up to about six times its mass, simply fade away. They have too little mass to generate a sufficiently high temperature at their cores to fuse any elements heavier than helium, so they cease nuclear fusion. The bloated outer layers are expelled, forming a planetary nebula (so named because of a vague resemblance in color and shape to a gas giant planet, though a planetary nebula is several orders of magnitude larger than any planet). Without the extreme gas pressure generated by the heat of nuclear fusion, the remnant core collapses until the electrons of its atoms can no longer be squeezed any closer. This phenomenon, called electron degeneracy, is a consequence of the Pauli exclusion principle of quantum mechanics discussed in Chapter 4. The core, now a white dwarf , continues to shine feebly as light diffuses through it, cooling over billions of years until finally it leaves behind a dead, compact, black dwarf.

Larger stars have more spectacular ends. The most massive stars are able to ignite heavier elements, moving from helium to carbon to continue to shine. The sequence continues until iron is reached, but iron refuses to fuse unless energy is supplied to it; at this point, no more energy production is possible. If the star was able to shed enough mass during its giant phase, it might fade away as a white dwarf like its smaller brethren. If not, it collapses catastrophically, blowing its outer layers into space in a supernova , one of the most brilliant displays of cosmic fireworks. The energy released in a supernova is so great that iron is induced to fuse, starting a chain of reactions that produces the heavy metals. The core left behind is too massive even for electron degeneracy to support it; instead the electrons and protons are squeezed together into neutrons, and the core becomes a great ball of neutrons, packed as densely as possible, called a neutron star . Neutron stars are visible only when they beam radiation as they rotate, in which case we detect them as pulsars . In addition to accounting for some of the most bizarre phenomena in the universe, neutron stars are another of the faint stellar remnants that must be considered when we add up the total mass in stars in the universe. Supernovae themselves also play an important role in cosmology because their brilliance allows them to be seen for great distances. A knowledge of their intrinsic luminsosity would thus allow luminosity distances to be derived for remote galaxies.

For more information see Questions and Answers related to Chapter 5.

Researchers using the Lick Observatory in California have discovered planets around normal stars. These jupiter-sized planets were discovered indirectly by measurements of Doppler shifts in the stars around which they orbit. Further information can be found from the Other Worlds, Distant Suns website, and the Extra Solar Planets Encyclopedia. NASA has a new program to investigate the origins of planets and life in the universe. Visit the NASA Origins website for further information.

Learn more about stars at the NASA Star Page. You can also learn more about Binary Star Systems, or take a Star Journey at National Geographic. Finally check out the explosive deaths of stars at the NASA Supernova Page.

Looking for pretty pictures of an astronomical nature? Check out the NASA Photo Gallery

Original content © 2005 John F. Hawley


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, Volume 420, Issue 1, pp 73-90

Molecular genetic analyses of species boundaries in the sea

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The tools of molecular genetics have enormous potential for clarifying the nature and age of species boundaries in marine organisms. Below I summarize the genetic implications of various species concepts, and review the results of recent molecular genetic analyses of species boundaries in marine microbes, plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. Excessive lumping, rather than excessive splitting, characterizes the current systematic situation in many groups. Morphologically similar species are often quite distinct genetically, suggesting that conservative systematic traditions or morphological stasis may be involved. Some reproductively isolated taxa exhibit only small levels of genetic differentiation, however. In these cases, large population sizes, slow rates of molecular evolution, and relatively recent origins may contribute to the difficulty in finding fixed genetic markers associated with barriers to gene exchange. The extent to which hybridization blurs species boundaries of marine organisms remains a subject of real disagreement in some groups (e.g. corals). The ages of recently diverged species are largely unknown; many appear to be older than 3 million years, but snails and fishes provide several examples of more recent divergences. Increasingly sophisticated genetic analyses make it easier to distinguish allopatric taxa, but criteria for recognition at the species level are highly inconsistent across studies. Future molecular genetic analyses should help to resolve many of these issues, particularly if coupled with other biological and paleontological approaches.


by Paul Gilster

Yesterday we looked at the possibility of colonizing worlds much different from the Earth. Seen in one light, pushing out into the Kuiper Belt and building settlements there is part of a slow migration to the stars that may occur without necessarily being driven by that purpose. Seen in another, experimenting with human settlements in extreme environments is a way of exploiting the resources of nearby space, pushing the human presence out into the Oort Cloud. Either way, we can find places that, while not ‘habitable’ in the classic sense of liquid water at the surface, are nonetheless colonizable.

In his Tale of Two Worlds, novelist Karl Schroeder works on a definition of a colonizable world. It has to have an accessible surface, for one thing, meaning one we can work with — obviously a surface gravity of 4 g’s is going to be a problem. Much smaller worlds like Pluto, as we saw yesterday in Ken Roy’s work on possible colonies there, pose less of a challenge, as we can imagine strategies to produce one g for the inhabitants. Schroeder also notes there has to be a manageable flow of energy at the surface in which we can move heat around. That seems reasonable enough, although advanced technologies will have a wider zone than we have.

But I found Schroeder’s third point interesting. Here he’s drawing on a 1978 paper in Science called “The Age of Substitutibility,” by Harold Goeller and Alvin Weinberg (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), in which the authors describe the artificial mineral they call ‘demandite.’ It comes, as Schroeder notes, in two forms:

The point is that the right elements have to be accessible on the object you’re trying to live on to make it colonizable. Now if you can find a place that meets the three criteria, surprising things can happen. Centauri B b looks to be a nightmarish place, probably tidally locked and roiling with lava on its day side, and almost certainly without a breathable atmosphere. But from the standpoint of colonizability, we can’t rule out the night side, and the fact that this (still unconfirmed) world has a surface gravity about the same as Earth’s also works in its favor.

From the Kuiper Belt Past Proxima

Ken Roy’s talk at Huntsville looked at places that seemed equally inhospitable, but which may have the necessary resources to provide an advanced human civilization with what it needs to create settlements there, whether as part of a deliberate interstellar migration or simple exploration. Yesterday I focused on Pluto, but of course the Kuiper Belt is stuffed with objects, hundreds of which may be Pluto-sized, while cometary bodies in the Oort Cloud are thought to number in the trillions, based on the study of long-period comets and their frequency.

Like Schroeder, Roy is interested in brown dwarf possibilities as well. The odds on our finding a brown dwarf closer than Proxima Centauri are dwindling, though I don’t think we can rule out a possible ultra-cool Y dwarf in this space (please correct me with any updated information). In any event, the WISE mission (Wide-field Infared Survey Explorer) has shown us that brown dwarfs are less common than we thought. WISE has discovered 200 brown dwarfs (including 13 Y dwarfs), 33 of which are within 26 light years of the Sun. Given that there are 211 stars in the same volume of space, we’ve found that there are about six stars for every brown dwarf.

If they’re not as abundant as we had thought, brown dwarfs may still become useful staging areas for far-future interstellar expeditions, for we know that some have accretion disks that indicate the possibility of planet formation. I’ve written before about brown dwarf habitable zones (see Brown Dwarfs and Habitability), but Roy’s point is that whether or not we find a world that’s habitable in the classic sense, we can still assume we’ll find the same kind of small, icy planets we see in our own Kuiper Belt, and the same technologies could exploit them.

Roy is one of those intrigued with the idea of ‘rogue’ planets that move through the interstellar deep far from any star. We know little about these worlds, but it’s assumed that great numbers of them are out there, doubtless the result of gravitational interactions in young solar systems that caused them to be ejected. Dorian Abbot and Eric Switzer (University of Chicago) call these ‘steppenwolf’ planets because they ‘exist like a lone wolf wandering over the galactic steppe.’

Image: A ‘steppenwolf’ planet moving between the stars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Source: Centauri Dreams

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Description: An unknown man is posed on a couch holding a book that has been renamed "Goon History, Volume 3."

Date: 1947-11-08

Description: Prize winners at a costume dance sponsored by Local 1114, United Steelworkers of America (Harnischfeger Corporation).

Tugboat in Lake

Date:  date unknown

Description: A tugboat with possibly a sinking ship in the background.

Milk and Baseball

Date: 1956-06-04

H.P. Lovecraft

Description: Head and shoulders portrait of H.P. Lovecraft wearing a suit jacket, vest, and tie taped to a piece of paper.

Date: 1944-07-04

Description: Group of people decorating the Garden Queen float for a Fourth of July parade near a large garage. The float reads "Greendale-The Garden City," "Pop. 2800"...

Date: 1958-05-16 before

Description: Milwaukee Braves manager Fred Haney instructs his players. Andy Pafko is visible immediately to the left of Haney's cap.

Date: 1903-06-13

John F. Cramer

Date: 1913-10-09

Date: 1977-03-18

Date: 1915 ca.

Description: Portrait of a small group of men, women, and children standing waist-deep in the water.

Date: 1958-09-02

Date: 1908-08-26

Date: 1937-09-21

Hay Market

Date:  date unknown

Description: Elevated view of horse-drawn carts filled with hay and parked in rows at a market. Men stand between the rows, and houses surround the market square.

Date: 1905 ca.

Date: 1946-03

Date: 1944-07-04

Eddie Mathews

Date: 1965-06-19 before

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Diwali Festival

Here is the description of the 5 days of Deepavali and the activities of Diwali.

5 Days of Diwali

Diwali is a Hindu festival, which occurs in the month of Kartika. In India innumerable communities with varying cultures and customs mingle together to make Diwali celebrations a very happy occasion for all. The festival of lights and fireworks is celebrated for 5 days. This festival gives an occasion to meet families and friends t, enjoy and establish a word of closeness. Gifts are exchanged and special dishes are prepared. People decorate their houses .The celebration Stars with Dhanteras and ends with Bhai Duj.

The 5 Diwali Days are-

Bhai Duj
The fifth and last day of the diwali is called Bhai Duj. This day is also known as 'Bhav-Bij' in the Marathi-speaking communities and in Nepal by the name of 'Bhai-Tika'and 'Bhai Phota' in Bengali. It is generally held on the second day of Shukla Paksh, the bright fortnight of Kartik This festival is observed as a symbol of love between sisters and brothers.

Choti Diwali

Dhanteras or Dhanatrayodashi falls on the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight in the month of Kartik (October-November), i.e. two days before Diwali. The word "Dhan" means wealth. New Dhan or some form of precious metal is bought as a sign of good luck. " Dhanteras is essentially Diwali eve. The celebration of Dhanteras is prevalent in east Bihar and northern India.

Main Diwali
The third day of Diwali or the Main Diwali is the day when Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped. People celebrate this with a lot of enthusiasm. All the houses are illuminated and people forget their differences and go to the temple for worship. Diwali is the last day of financial year in traditional Hindu business and businessmen perform Chopda Puja on this day on the new books of accounts.


Text and walk at your peril — and the peril of those around you

Checking texts while walking impairs a person’s ability to follow a straight line and keep a normal pace, and may pose risks to other pedestrians, according to a study released Wednesday.

Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia decided to study texting while walking since it appeared no one had scientifically analyzed how the modern preoccupation impacts a person’s gait.

Anecdotally, the evidence was clear, even among the 26 people they selected for the study: One in three admitted to having had some sort of texting accident, “including falls, trips and collisions with obstacles or other individuals.”

For this study, volunteers agreed to walk about 9 meters without any distraction so their gait could be tracked with a three-dimensional movement analysis system.

Posture and balance were also compromised.


Snap Judgment

Recent Episodes

Snap #406 - Making It Work

We are a species that sees a way out of no way. Tell us it can't be done, and we'll tell you that you simply haven’t thought about it hard enough. Today on Snap Judgment, from PRX and NPR, we proudly present "Making It Work." Amazing stories from real people who simply would not accept no for an answer.

Snap #507 - Lost Cause

Snap #506 - The Mercenary

An all-NEW Snap..."The Mercenary." Amazing stories from people paid to do our dirty work.  Storytelling with a beat... from PRX and NPR.

Snap #308 - Original Pranksters

Snap Judgment proudly presents "Original Prankster", amazing stories from people who take the joke waaaaaaay too far . . .

Snap #505 - The Pact

People will say they're going to do something, but when you look another person in the eye and vow that it will happen... you've gone to another level. From NPR and PRX, Snap Judgment presents "The Pact".

Snap #327 - Partners In Crime

On the next Snap, we do stuff together we would never do alone. From PRX and NPR, Snap Judgment proudly presents "Partners in Crime."


Dr. James  Blankenship

Dr. James Blankenship

Associate Professor of Biblical Studies

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

M.A.T.S., Gordon Conwell Theological Seminar

J.D., Vanderbilt University School of Law

B.A., Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

Jim’s doctoral dissertation is Subject to the Governing Authorities: A Tradition of Pauline Interpretation in Late Antiquity.  It analyzes how both John Chrysostom and John of Damascus used Romans 13.1-10, in light of their very different historical situations.  His Master’s degree includes concentrations on both HB/OT and in NT studies.
Jim’s main research interests are both the role that context does play and the role it should play in shaping one’s understanding of the Bible.  Jim does presentations on the Bible and its background in both religious and secular settings.  Jim is also involved in ministry in several local churches, including teaching and preaching.
When he is not preparing for classes or other presentations, Jim enjoys spending time with his wife and college sweetheart, Lynn.  He also trains in several martial arts, enjoys baseball, and at times will re-read the works of Chaim Potok and Flannery O’Connor.


MBA Application Resume

MBA Application Resume
Business school resume

Business school resumes may look different than your application resume.  What you present to the admissions committee will likely have little in common with the resume you graduate with and that is ok.  The purpose of your application resume is to help you get admitted, only to get admitted.

MBA application resume

Admissions committees typically want to see your existing resume when you apply for admission.  They don’t often want you to spend any extra time getting your resume into a specific format.  If a school requires you to put your resume into a specific format just to apply, you are less likely to apply to that school.  There are lots of schools out there and admissions directors are afraid you will simply apply elsewhere so they have incentive to keep the hassles to a minimum.  It is rare to see a school that wants the resume is a specific format for admissions.

Writing a business school resume

If you don’t already have a resume, here is how to create one.  Remember though that your admission resume is focused on one thing: getting you admitted.  Use these templates and guidelines to create a resume that represents your experience well.

MBA application resume sample

There are different formats for varying levels of experience.  Choose the template that most suits your experience profile.

Resume template for recent graduates

Recent graduates have little work experience, except maybe for an internship or two, so their resume is heavily focused on educational qualifications.  Leadership experiences, extracurricular activities, and coursework are prominently featured on resumes for recent graduates.  Include organizational involvement (especially when you were a designated leader).  Include committee or event involvement and highlight the leadership or complex challenges you faced in those roles.  The achievements in all cases are also important.

  • Increased number of on-campus speaker events by 15% through direct outreach to corporate HR offices.
  • Chaired biennial biotech symposium marketing committee.  Implemented electronic sales strategy that increased ticket sales by 20%

Example resume early career professionals

Early career professionals may have a summary of qualifications but more often have an objective statement.  They also generally list experience in reverse chronological order with education at the top or bottom.  Education may be more important at the top if you are trying to change industries, but experience may be more important if you are trying to move up in the same sector.  For an MBA admissions committee, however, there is no difference.  It is fine either way.

Sample resume for 7+ years of experience

This format is characterized by having done away with reverse chronological listings in favor of achievement based descriptions.  Think Action words.  You may have a summary statement at the top with a few bullet points showing skills, but the main attraction is the bullet list under each prior experience.  They start with a verb and show a result followed by a short statement of the action that caused the outcome.  For example:

  • Grew market share by 4% over one year by designing new customer relationship management system.
  • Reduced product cost by 8% in two years by applying six sigma concepts to manufacturing process.
  • Increased subscriber base by 35% in six months by implementing affiliate marketing strategy.