The last two posts brought to you...

...by the fact that I'm currently reading (and indeed on the brink of finishing) Hugh Aldesey-Williams' rather fascinating book, Periodic Tales - The Curious Lives of the Elements.

In a book which tells the stories of pretty much most of the elements on the periodic table - their discoveries, their uses, the stories of the people who found them - Dysprosium merits one mention, just its name, in a list of the rare earth metals. Talk about obscure...