Stories by Alison Ballance

The 20-metre long wind tunnel at the University of Auckland is used to test the aerodynamics of objects as varied as Olympic cyclists and buildings, as well as drones, ancient building designs & tiny…

The youngest kākāpō chick has passed 150 days old, bringing the number of living juveniles to 71 and the overall  kākāpō population to 213, in ep 24 of the Kākāpō Files.

Praseodymium is a metal wirh the second longest name on the periodic table and not many uses, says Prof Alan Blackman from AUT in ep 63 of Elemental.

From levitating burnt buttocks, to excitable nerves and sure-to-rise baking, potassium is highly reactive and vital to life, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 62 of Elemental.

Polonium will be forever linked with the names Curie and Litvinenko and has negligible desirable features, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 61 of Elemental.

A radioactive heavyweight associated with nuclear bombs & power, which is powering the Voyager spacecraft, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 60 of Elemental.

Toxic algae expert Jonathan Puddick has a Marsden Grant to find out if toxic cyanobacteria share their toxins with non-toxic species.

Platinum is useful in catalytic convertors, is used to treat testicular cancer and will be useful in hydrogen fuel cells, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 59 of Elemental.

Phosphorus, chemical symbol P, was first isolated as an element from thousands of litres of urine. Also found in guano, aka bird poo. Allan Blackman from AUT has the full story in ep 58 of Elemental.

Palladium is a pricey precious metal most commonly used in catalytic convertors on car exhausts, says AUT's Allan Blackman in ep 57 of Elemental.

Oxygen is very friendly with other chemical elements & very helpful for life on Earth, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 56 of Elemental.

What happens if you play a Viennese waltz or death metal to beer as it brews? Experimenting with musical ways of making better beer.

Osmium is extremely rare and expensive. It is the densest chemical element, rivals diamond as being the least compressible of all known substances & has a distinctive 'pong' according to Allan…

Most important biological molecules contain nitrogen, even though it takes lots of energy to make or break its chemical bonds, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 54 of Elemental.

Niobium is a metal that is useful at both very high temperatures, as in jet engines, and very low temperatures as a superconductor, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 53 of Elemental.

The chemical element nickel is named after a German word for Satan or the Devil, but nickel is now more usually thought of as a North American five cent piece, says Allan Blackman in ep 52 of…

Detector Gadget is a dog with a job. She is a conservation dog trained by her handler Sandy King to sniff out rodents on predator-free islands.

The kākāpō chicks are graduating to being juveniles and only seven birds are still sick with aspergillosis, in ep 23 of the Kākāpō Files.

There are no known compounds of the noble gas neon, which does however produce the brilliant crimson of red - and only red - neon lights. Ep 51 of Elemental with Prof Allan Blackman from AUT.

Neodydmium magnets include the strongest permanent magnets known and are found in devices like speakers & headphones, says chemistry professor Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 50 of Elemental.

Molybdenum has an essential role as a catalyst at microbial and industrial scales and is an important element in enzymes, says Prof Allan Blackman, in ep 49 of Elemental.

Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, says Allan Blackman in ep 48 of Elemental.

The Department of Conservation and volunteer groups, including the Coal Island Trust, are hard at work removing pests such as stoats and deer from Fiordland's many islands.

The metal manganese is a vital part of photosynthesis and is found in aluminium drink cans, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 47 of Elemental.

Magnesium is loved by plants, folk suffering constipation and boy-racers, as Allan Blackman reveals in ep 46 of Elemental.