it's cello-- and it's the first of bach's cello suites.

scratch that -- i meant the violin piece that played when they saw the picture of mendeleev as moses.

can anyone tell me what was the violin piece that played during Mendeleev's dream?

I find it very intriguing that in the middle of the show a scientist made comments about science in a fashion that is usually found in faiths and philosophical arguments. That the universe seems to have formed to be observed and discovered by a part of itself, that it has to be known and be observable to exist. Or If I was wanting to push an agenda I might say: That the universe demands that it be known to those that it made. The similarity between a statement such as that and a faith based one are at very least distant cousins, no?

By far the most entertaining episode! Thanks Radiolab!!

Although I have not seen/heard the show, thank you for finding it, Elise! If you want to know more about the Rota Period, I will provide the answers via my website. It's a long story, but basically the Rota Period makes it easy to do the chemistry (how 2 elements might combine) because it is based upon valence (positive and negative charges) instead of orbital theory.

Great segment!

My moment of discovery came in HS biology when my lab partner and I were dissecting a sheep's eye. I don't know if students still do this, so I should just say the sheep's eye was a gristly, fatty, bulbous object which made us all want to run the other way. But once we had nerved ourselves up to investigate, inside was this totally smooth, rainbow iridescence. Beauty in a totally unexpected context. I think this was the moment I became hooked on science.

I am usually expected to be entertained, informed, and surprised by your program...but in going back to listened to this one - I am very much moved.

Loved the discussion that you prompt on "what's the point of being a scientist anyway" - and creative acts versus acts of discovery and understanding...

Really well done.

First, I can't seem to go a week without bringing up something I learned on your show. Thanks for the geek encouragement. :)

Second, in my internet wanderings I came across something called the rota period. Which is a man named James Rota's way of "looking" at the periodic table.

http://www.rotaperiod.com/

just wondered what it meant or if there where other interpretations out there.

The cello piece from the Mendeleev segment is Praeludium from Cello Suite No. 1 by J. S. Bach (BWV1007).

This is the most fantastic programs I've ever heard. Please keep it coming. I'm probably your newest fan and I will tell everyone I know about it.

I, too, want to know the name of that cello piece.

hi im intrigued by these mp3's. and i kno this is random but in this clip i heard an incredibly brilliant piece of music that ive heard b4. id really just like to kno the name of this song. i realize how amazingly off topic but im 15 and thats just my interest. i love the story but its the music that inspires me.

Wonderful segments on discovery! The periodic table/Mendeleev/Sacks connections were great. You just missed one piece that brings the story full circle. That is, the discovery in the mid 1920's that the periodic nature of the elements is due to the internal arrangement/energies of their component electrons. So...the original table, a triumph of observation and classification (and a few dreams!) is based upon the behavior of a particle that classical physics could not describe! From "the macroscopic to the sub-microscopic." One of the most amazing "connections" in all of science! Thanks for the great program!

Wonderful production! You guys make FABULOUS radio - I'm glad I discovered you last week - I can't wait for next week's show.

The correct title of the book is the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. I worked on an edition of the Handbook years ago, and I was tickled to hear Oliver Sacks say lost himself in the pages of the smaller edition when he was a kid.

Is there a link or anything to get the Brooklyn Tech cheering squad track? That was fun!