Ultrapure Samarium. Image: wikimedia
Samarium (pronounced sam-arr-ee-um) is a hard, silvery metal, and the 62nd element of the periodic table. It was discovered in 1879, and was the very first element to be named after a person (well… It was named after a mineral, and the mineral was named after a person, but that totally counts).
Samarium has a few different uses, it can be used to make very, very strong magnets (the kind used in computer hard drives), its isotopes can also be made into a drug that treats breast cancer, and made into control rods for nuclear reactors.
The Samarium Zone is a General Science Zone; the five scientists in this zone research five different areas. There is a scientist who travels the world in search of wildfire, and another trying to answer why the Universe is made from matter, and not antimatter. There is one scientist trying to understand how cells decide what type of cell to become, one researching the effects of drugs, and another one who uses a program like Facebook to understand when antibiotics are good and when they are bad.
You can find out more about the scientists in this zone, and what they work on by reading their profiles. Click on their names at the top of this page to find out more!
