Isotopic analyses – a detective’s tool in environmental research

Many of the basic elements which are part of water, soils, air, rocks or living organisms contain different isotopes, i.e. atoms that differ in mass but have identical chemical properties. The differences in the content of different isotopes in individual samples are like their characteristic fingerprint. They give us additional information about a given substance, allow us to look deeper into its structure and enable us to “read” the origin of the substance or identify the processes that influenced its transformation. Like a detective, we can, for example, distinguish between human-induce water pollution and natural substances, trace the migration of birds or the location of human habitation, determine what temperatures prevailed in the distant past, detect forgeries in food production or even identify artificial doping substances in human blood. In a lecture by dr Dominika Lewicka-Szczebak entitled: “Isotopic analyses – a detective’s tool in environmental research” we will learn how this detective tool works and work out individual “criminal” puzzles from a wide range of natural history research.

The lecture will take place on 21 January 2023 at 10:00 in Room 503 at pl. M. Borna 9 in Wrocław and remotely at this link.

Translated by Justyna Rudnicka (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.