The poison in everything from paint and sweets, to telegraph polls and drinking water. Read more
now playing
Arsenic (As)
The poison in everything from paint and sweets, to telegraph polls and drinking water.
Platinum group (Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh, Os, Ir)
Six rare metals that clean the air but are the focus of violent conflict in South Africa.
Thorium (Th)
This metal offers thousands of years of nuclear energy, but is it any safer than uranium?
Gold (Au)
Why do we value this useless metal? And does it bring out the worst in human nature?
Obscure Elements
In the final programme in the series we look at the rarest members of the periodic table.