There must be something about cupcakes and the periodic table of the elements. Not sure who did it first, but now it is ubiquitous. Then of course there is The Periodic Table of Cupcakes, which is a whole other matter. [more inside]
posted by Deathalicious on Nov 30, 2009 - 18 comments

Chemistry in its Element - a weekly podcast from the Royal Society of Chemistry offering an engagingly-narrated stroll through the periodic table, element by element.
posted by Wolfdog on Oct 29, 2009 - 15 comments

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been able to confirm the production of the superheavy element 114, ten years after a group in Russia, at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, first claimed to have made it. The search for 114 has long been a key part of the quest for nuclear science’s hoped-for Island of Stability.

[more inside]
posted by darkstar on Sep 28, 2009 - 16 comments

Hip hop is made of four elements: Deejaying and turntablism, Emceeing (rapping and freestyling), Breaking (more previously), and Graffiti. And don't forget beatboxing (more), which blends turntablism and emceeing. But what if you can't make the wikka-wikka sounds with your mouth? You could learn from others, or you could dust off your flute with Nathan Lee, or bust out your sousaphone with Nat McIntosh (formerly with Youngblood Brass Band (interviewed on NPR), now with Dallas Brass).
posted by filthy light thief on May 19, 2009 - 19 comments

Behind Chinese medicine, feng shui, acupuncture, diet, music and cosmology itself is the concept of Wu Xing. [more inside]
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing on May 7, 2009 - 15 comments

Cute quiz: Name the Simpsons characters. Also: US states, countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America, periodic table of elements. More.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Jun 25, 2008 - 75 comments

Grills made of you are worn by sellers of drugs / You are used in cars, and great for spark plugs. A periodic table of rather bad poetry about the elements. Via This compilation of periodic tables.
posted by Wolfdog on Jan 30, 2008 - 17 comments

How many HTML elements can you name in five minutes?
posted by divabat on Nov 28, 2007 - 68 comments

Theodore Gray's interactive periodic table isn't the only periodic table online -- another one was posted to MeFi last month -- but I think it's the most gorgeous, informative, and ambitious periodic table I've ever seen, featuring actual samples of most of the elements and their practical uses, a fascinating display of uranium isotopes, and explosive "sodium party" videos and more from Gray's many years of obsession with the elements.
posted by digaman on Nov 1, 2007 - 14 comments

Periodic Table of Elements
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Oct 10, 2007 - 41 comments

Elementymology. An fascinating look at the origins of the names of 117 elements, which also includes the names of the elements in many languages and a discussion of the origin of chemical symbols. If the real elements bore you, you may be interested in the fictional elements and particles in Star Trek and the Legion of Super Heroes (as well as some real ones as used in comics, prev.).
posted by blahblahblah on Mar 19, 2007 - 7 comments

"Gold is one of the few elements you can find just lying on the ground. This one-ounce pure gold nugget was found in Alaska around 1890 by Hogamorth Marion, while on a trip to sell shoes to Eskimoes. Seriously."

An interactive periodical table.
posted by Terminal Verbosity on Nov 29, 2006 - 34 comments

Why is Ice slippery? You would have thought this would be well defined in 2006. But scientists are still arguing about the key elements. Plus no clear definition of Ice IX...
posted by somnambulist on Feb 21, 2006 - 24 comments

Time to replace your old Periodic Table. ...a joint American-Russian team has found two new elements—numbers 113 and 115 on the periodic table—hinting at an impending breakthrough in creating novel forms of matter that will test our understanding of atomic behavior.
posted by mcgraw on Mar 29, 2004 - 15 comments

Earth Scientist's Periodic Table.
posted by monju_bosatsu on Dec 30, 2003 - 3 comments

The Mythical Quest , an old exhibition at the British Library. 'Throughout the world, tales have always been told of heroes and heroines embarking on perilous quests in search of lost loved ones, the secret of immortality, earthly paradise or simply great riches. Many of these stories have elements in common, such as clashes with monsters, battles with the elements, interventions by the gods and tests of moral character, mental cunning and physical strength. These tales have been expressed in songs, literature, art and dance for thousands of years, and are still being reinterpreted today in books, comic strips, interactive games and adventure films.'
More British Library exhibits here, from early Indian photography to the secret life of maps.
Examples of mythical quests :- Monkey: Journey to the West (another version here, not to mention the TV series); the Ramayana (and the Ramakian, the Thai version); Cupid and Psyche at the Classics Pages (subject of a previous thread); the Holy Grail (more at the Catholic Enyclopaedia); the journey of Alexander the Great; Pilgrim's Progress and John Bunyan; the world of Dante and a map of Hell.
posted by plep on Jul 11, 2003 - 17 comments

There may be many more but they haven't been dis-coh-vahd As of 1959, the news of 102 elements had come to Harvard (a modern remake would have to cram in 13 more.) There's more than one way to look at them, like spiral, rotating, illustrated, sub-atomic, symmetric, or forward-looking. Been there? Done That? Get the t-shirt.
posted by Zed_Lopez on May 1, 2003 - 9 comments

Tom Lehrer Sings The Periodic Table. [Flash required]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Oct 23, 2002 - 19 comments

The Periodic Table Table now has its own, newly updated website. This had made the rounds on various websites when it was a mere set of construction photos on a bandwidth -constrained site. This is now much better.
posted by vacapinta on Jun 6, 2002 - 11 comments

An oldie but a goodie: The Visual Table of the Elements.
posted by solistrato on Jul 13, 2001 - 5 comments

Leaping Lizards, Batman! It's...it's...PERIODIC!
posted by plinth on May 8, 2000 - 1 comment