Sometimes, when we discover something absolutely new, it challenges every conceivable view of our universe. And when this happens, it can be unsettling. Humanity is again on the brink of what we now call a "paradigm shift": artificial intelligence, applied quantum mechanics, and the rest. Sometimes we try to resist, and run back towards the familiar.

The Hidden Plague is a epistolary view of one person of such an occurrence...

There are few materials in this world that resulted in civilisation-changing impacts. Bronze was discovered early in our history, but we didn't have the technology to apply it thoroughly. Iron started similarly, and it tool millennia to put them into construction and machine making. Aluminium (or "aluminum" in case you're an American) went through the process of discovery, novelty, application, and societal dependence in less than two centuries.

This is the story of how it came into being...

In nature, very little is elemental and pure. More often than not the stuff that made the Earth are impure in order to enable its use by living organisms. Plants extract minerals and water from the soil, and carbon dioxide from the air. If we were to drown them in water, nutrients, or pure CO2, they'd die in an instant.

Moderation is key to a balanced life, and nature moderates itself by watering itself down.

If you're old enough to remember the sci-fi film The Matrix, then you can recall that scene at the end where Neo woke up and sees the world in codes (by the way, spoiler alert). Being a mineralogist is pretty much like that; wherever you cast your eyes, instead of phones, buildings, or cars, you will see bauxite, silica, dolomite, pyrite...etc.

It's a rather cool trick to deconstruct the world as we live through it. And it's a skill that's easily learned; though not as easy as by plugging your brain straight into the Matrix (spoiler alert, again).

Next to gasses, liquids are probably the most things we take for granted in this world. We waste water as if it's an infinite source, but we put no though at all on how much energy is required to bring them into our rivers and taps. Liquids require a lot of energy to manage and manipulate, and this is due to their chemistry and physics.

​May they be water, petrol, or cooking oil, the nature of liquids is a cornerstone to understanding how our world works.