© 2024 WUOT

WUOT
209 Communications Building
1345 Circle Park Drive
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-0322
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Method: Tracing The History Of Influenza; Meet The New Elements

Library of Congress

Nearly a century ago, when medical science was in its relative Bronze Age, a severe strain of influenza spread around the world. The flu of 1918 killed between 50 and 100 million people. Today, many people think of the flu as a routine illness. But the flu strains of today are the genetic descendants of the 1918 flu. Dr. ColleenJonsson tells Matt Shafer Powell what doctors have learned about the flu in the last century, and what the disease means to society today.

We're familiar with many of the elements on the periodic table: oxygen, aluminum, iron, nitrogen - the stuff all around is. But on the far end of the table is a strange world, one in which super-heavy elements exist only for milliseconds at a time. The nature and behavior of those atoms are not as well known. Brandon Hollingsworth introduces you to the four new elements added to that part of the periodic table in December. His tour guide is Dr. Jim Roberto, of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Join Brandon for The Method, Wednesday evening at 5:50 p.m. on WUOT.