Whether gas, liquid or solid; radioactive or stable; reactive or inert; toxic or in your vitamin pill, the 118 building blocks each has its own chemically idiosyncratic characteristics--and certain commonalities. See what makes your favorite element unique on this interactive periodic table
To understand the importance of elements to nutrition.
Of the approximately 115 elements known, only the 19 highlighted in purple in Figure 1.26 are absolutely required in the human diet. These elements-called essential elements-are restricted to the first four rows of the periodic table (see Chapter 32 "Appendix H: Periodic Table of Elements"), with only two or three exceptions (molybdenum, iodine, and possibly tin in the fifth row). Some other elements are essential for specific organisms. For example, boron is required for the growth of certain plants, bromine is widely distributed in marine organisms, and tungsten is necessary for some microorganisms.
The 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded "for mechanistic studies of DNA repair". The recipients are Paul L. Modrich, Tomas Lindahl and Aziz Sancar.
8:19 video The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 goes to William Campbell & Satoshi Ōmura "for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites" and Youyou Tu "for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria".