Zinc: you might have tried taking it when coming down with a cold, or smeared it on your face to keep from getting sunburn. But this elemental metal has two main uses: it's essential for life and it's used to galvanize steel. Discover the element's history with Exploratorium raconteur Ron Hipschman.

In the spirit of amplifying the Black Lives Matter movement and to avoid any appearance of having appropriated that title, our series of talks formerly called Everything Matters: Tales from the Periodic Table will now be called, simply, Tales from the Periodic Table. Please excuse the former title on videos made in the past.