The Element of Surprise

Outside/In

NHPR

Science, Renewable Energy, Energy, Documentary, Outdoor Recreation, Environment, Climate, Public Radio, Wildlife, Nature, Natural World, Ecology, Society & Culture, Human Interest Stories, Wildlife Management, Biology, Outdoors, Wilderness, Natural Sciences

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From Napoleon's cutlery to the WWII occupation of Greenland, we dig up the hidden history behind the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey,
0:02.0	Hey dealer.
0:03.0	Out of curiosity, what are some things that you think we take for granted?
0:07.0	And I mean like physical objects and materials, not like people.
0:12.0	I think we take for granted
0:15.0	paper bags.
0:16.0	Mmm.
0:17.0	bags and cardboard boxes I think we take for granted.
0:20.0	The construction of a cardboard box is actually pretty amazing.
0:23.3	You forget that cardboard is wood.
0:26.3	It's made out of pulp, exactly.
0:28.5	So lately, one thing that I've been fixated on that I think we take for granted, I'll give you a hint. It is the go-to
0:34.5	material used to wrap leftover pizza. Oh, aluminum foil. Yeah. I had this thing about how much aluminum foil I throw away and it's metal.
0:48.4	Like a purified, isolated metal
0:51.6	that's been pounded into a sheet less than a millimeter thick that you can
0:55.8	just crumple up like paper and throw in the garbage.
1:02.4	Every like baking show is like wrap your salmon in aluminum foil.
1:06.6	Yeah, wrap this metal pan with more metal.
1:09.3	Thin layer of metal.
1:11.0	And then throw away that greasy foil.
1:13.4	And then there's, you know...
1:14.6	Ah, how's that sprite?
	...

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