Time for someone who some have called the greatest scientist you have not heard of. Likely the reason average IQ's have no fallen (even if it feels like they have - idiocracy)!

This is the sibling episode to the last one. The rise of Leaded Gas. This time the story starts with Dr. Clair Patterson a geochemist. Before the PhD and discovering the age of the Earth, Clair Patterson and his wife Laurie (also a chemist) became civilians working on the Manhattan project. No not in New Mexico designing the bomb like depicted in the movie Oppenheimer. Instead they got to work on the problem of concentrating Uranium. A 235U electromagnetic separation plant (figure in the post!) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

From there on to a PhD. The following of the data lead to lead being everywhere. Before advocating for the elimination of lead he developed the first clean room and found the age of the earth by dating a meteorite (fragment of which is picture with the post). His work brought about the downfall of leaded gasoline. His story has been told many times before but probably not like this. Even if you already know the story I bet there is new nuggets here. Whimsical even....

So with the release of this episode, season 1 is done! Time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t.

Special thanks to those who did give me feedback throughout the year. It was needed. Embrace the terrible puns and jokes, don’t apologize for them! Was just one piece of advice I got.

And of course thanks to all the guests that agreed to come on the podcast! Some without any tie to someone I know and they took a chance to share their work. A unknown podcast showing up in an email or call out ask.

The next 3 eps will be encore additions. Some of my favourites from this inaugural season and then on September 15 season 2 will start!

Links for Whimsical Wavelengths:

Facebook:www.facebook.com/WhimsicalWavelengths

Instagram: @whimsical.wavelengths

Bluesky: @whimsicallambda.bsky.social

Email: whimsical.wavelengths@gmail.com

Patreon: patreon.com/WhimsicalWavelengths

Today we are going to start to cover a real scientific disaster story. No it isn’t the hollywood variety although maybe it should be. We have the movie Oppenheimer although to tell the whole story here requires multiple main characters. Perhaps a TV series then. I have known I wanted to tell this story for some time but have struggled on the best way.

It starts at the gas pump and the question: Ever wondered why all pumps say “unleaded gas”? Or perhaps asked the question why would they need to? This is a story about scientific discovery, advocacy, environmentalism and corporate greed. The next sibling episode (they can stand alone) has direct ties to the manhattan project and the age of the Earth.

Covering a bit about the history of lead Flint, Michigan came up. Here are some links to see how that is still playing out however if you want to do a deep dive don't stop at just these two links!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/07/01/flint-lead-pipes-replacement/

https://eos.org/articles/flint-10-years-later

Links for Whimsical Wavelengths:

Facebook:www.facebook.com/WhimsicalWavelengths

Instagram: @whimsical.wavelengths

Bluesky: @whimsicallambda.bsky.social

Email: whimsical.wavelengths@gmail.com

Patreon: patreon.com/WhimsicalWavelengths

Deformation and gravity go hand in hand in volcano monitoring like hot apple pie and icecream. They fit together great. as these two techniques tell us so much more together than separately.

This time I reached out to a friend to share her research!

Remember volcanic eruptions are dynamic. The amount of force and material involved in an eruption … Even if the eruption is small the changes can be significant to the overall system.

Volcanologists can see or image magma chambers that are close to the surface through a number of different monitoring techniques. Today we will focus on gravity and deformation. Mass flux and how the earth's surface moves in response to changes at depth!

Using what keeps us all attached to the ground's surface to monitor what is moving up towards us. This episode is full of hot material!