ABC stands for Amazing Boron Chemistry

From cosmic rays to donkeys, toothpaste to nuclear power stations, golf clubs to medicines, and fireworks to slime, boron is the coolest element you’ve never heard of. I thought I was an expert on boron until I wrote this talk… Hold onto your pint for a brief history of almost everything about boron.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important greenhouse gas which helps retain incoming heat from the Sun, and thus regulates climate of the Earth. Scientists have been making instrumental CO2 records since the 1960’s, and we can directly measure atmospheric CO2 dating back 800,000 years from pockets of air trapped in Antarctic ice. Thanks to the element Boron, we have recently started to rewind Earth’s CO2 clock to the beginning of the radiation of animal life about 500 million years ago. In my talk, I will explain how Boron enables us to reconstruct past CO2, why this is important, and take on you on a ride to fascinating ancient worlds of ice-cold and super greenhouse climate.