Episode overview

Neil Describes Where We Might Find New Elements

StarTalk Radio · 25 September 2026 · 22m · 2 Egleze moments

What happened in this episode?

Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Chuck Nice deliver an informal “explainer” episode built around the periodic table, moving between naming quirks, element properties, and how modern technology depends on materials science. Tyson recounts how some elements were named after places (including multiple variants tied to a Swedish locality) and after celestial bodies, tracing uranium, neptunium and plutonium’s planetary-inspired naming. He uses sodium and chlorine to illustrate how hazardous substances can form everyday compounds like table salt.

The conversation turns to industrial history and materials: Tyson describes aluminium’s rise from a difficult-to-produce novelty to a mass material, and notes its abundance in Earth’s crust. He discusses titanium’s strength-to-weight advantages and why its extraction is energy-intensive. On medicine, he explains technetium’s use as a radioactive tracer in diagnostic imaging, and characterises PET scanning as involving positrons.

Tyson also comments on public policy, arguing that modern medicine depends on physics research and criticising any push to prioritise medical funding at the expense of basic physics. Near the end, he says models of atomic nuclei suggest a possible “island of stability” among superheavy elements beyond today’s heaviest confirmed element, 118, though he stresses researchers are not there yet. The episode closes with brief self-promotion for a related book collaboration.

What are the key points?

Tyson says nuclear models suggest a possible ‘island of stability’ for superheavy elements in the 120s, where some may be longer-lived.
He argues modern medicine and hospital machines depend on foundational physics discoveries, and criticises proposals to deprioritise physics funding.
He describes technetium as a short-half-life radioactive tracer used in diagnostic imaging to track where tagged chemicals accumulate in the body.
He discusses aluminium’s properties, abundance in Earth’s crust, and its historical shift from novelty material to industrial staple.
He explains titanium’s strength-to-weight appeal and the energy required to deoxidise it from naturally oxidised ores.
He claims WWI chemical weapons bans were influenced by the tactical unpredictability of wind, presented as his interpretation without sources in the clip.

Who is speaking?

Named speakers identified in Egleze's source-linked moments from this episode.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Which topics are covered?

Science Health, Longevity & Biohacking Education & Learning

How is this page sourced?

Programme: StarTalk Radio
Published: 25 September 2026
Duration: 22m
Original episode: Open the original source ↗

Egleze verifies the speaker, source and timestamp for each linked moment. Unless a moment is explicitly marked independently verified, statements remain attributed claims by the named speaker rather than established facts.

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2 moments from this episode

Source-linked · editorially selected

Science

Tyson argues hospitals depend on physics research that was not aimed at medicine

Neil deGrasse Tyson · at 12:09 · Attributed speaker claim

In fact, you wouldn't have modern medicine without modern physics. And the people saying, "Let's fund medicine. We're done with physics." Physics was a 20th century thing. Yes. It won the war, but we want medicine for the 21st century. And there is no machine in a hospital without an onoff switch that isn't based on a principle of physics discovered by a physicist who had no interest in medicine.

Neil deGrasse Tyson argues on StarTalk Radio that modern medicine relies on foundational physics, saying that core hospital technologies ultimately depend on principles discovered by physicists who were not trying to solve medical problems. He criticises the idea that society can prioritise medical funding while treating physics as “done.”

Read this moment → Check original at 12:09 ↗

Science

Tyson says models hint at an ‘island of stability’ among superheavy elements in the 120s

Neil deGrasse Tyson · at 18:51 · Attributed speaker claim

Rumor has it that in the 120s, we do our math on the models of atomic nucleon that there might be an island of stability. Oh, so we might get to a place where we might find something and it won't decay. It won't decay.

On StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson says that, based on atomic-nucleus models, “rumor has it” there could be an “island of stability” for superheavy elements “in the 120s”, where some nuclei might be far longer-lived than the rapidly decaying elements synthesised so far. He adds that researchers are “not there yet.”

Read this moment → Check original at 18:51 ↗