Dr Sonja Lojen Featured on Podcast: Over a Quarter Kilogram of Heavy Isotopes in Our Body / 28.02.2025

We are excited to share that our very own Dr. Sonja Lojen was featured on the Ars podcast Podobe znanja (Images of Knowledge) in an episode titled Over a Quarter Kilogram of Heavy Isotopes in the Human Body. The episode aired on February 28, 2025, and explores the fascinating role of isotopes in understanding environmental changes.

Dr. Lojen, a researcher at the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Jožef Stefan Institute, delves into how isotopes act as chemical fingerprints, revealing the continuous transformations in our environment. Whether examining current ecological shifts or reconstructing climate changes over millions of years, isotopes provide crucial insights.

In the podcast, she explains how isotope analysis helps track climate change processes and measure concentrations of harmful isotopes in air, water, and soil. She also highlights how carbon-14 decay is used to determine the age of organic materials and how ice core samples reveal climate conditions from hundreds of thousands to millions of years ago. Interestingly, an average human body contains more than a quarter kilogram of heavy isotopes from various elements, illustrating the pervasive role of these substances in nature and science.

This episode provides a deeper look into the invaluable contributions of isotope research to environmental science. Don't miss this engaging discussion—listen to the full episode on Ars!