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Why is the US buying Canada's trash for $30,000 per gram?

Companies around the world are fighting to buy a rare radioactive substance, despite its $30,000-per-gram price tag. This substance powers emergency exit signs that can stay bright for two decades without power, glow-in-the-dark keychains, and might one day unlock the holy grail of clean energy. What is this mystery substance?

Why is the US buying Canada's trash for $30,000 per gram?

12m 7s

  • Exposing Fake Honey Using Carbon-13: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Exposing Fake Honey Using Carbon-13

    S11 E8 - 12m

    There’s been an increase of manufacturers cutting honey with corn syrup or cane sugar. This week Alex takes to the lab and investigates the stable isotopes in 20 different honeys to see if they contain pure honey or have been adulterated.

  • George Figures Out Static Electricity: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    George Figures Out Static Electricity

    S11 E7 - 20m 29s

    If you rub two identical balloons together, they both pick up a static charge. This strange and unexpected behavior has been documented in the scientific literature and remains fundamentally unexplained to this day. But when George tries the experiment, he stumbles into something that – to the best of his knowledge – has never been reported in the literature, and is, if possible, even stranger.

  • The Performance Enhancing Drug They Can't Ban: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Performance Enhancing Drug They Can't Ban

    S11 E6 - 11m 25s

    In February 2025, a number of running world records were absolutely demolished by athletes who claimed they gained an edge through a common kitchen ingredient: baking soda. It sounds like pseudoscience, but incredibly, this trick might actually work… or make you violently ill. So of course, Alex had to try it.

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