A New York Times bestselling author, Sam Kean has written four books on science—books with titles like The Disappearing Spoon and The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons. So as you might guess, he’s someone who appreciates a good story just as much as an interesting discovery.
In addition to his books, Sam’s work has appeared in The Best American Science and Nature Writing, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, Slate, and Psychology Today, among other places. He was on campus earlier this year to give a plenary address at the 25th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, a national meeting sponsored by the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society.
He and host Ted Fox talked about all kinds of science, from ill-fated efforts to control the weather and early research on DNA to the bum rap that mercury gets and everyone’s favorite precious metal … aluminum?