Before last week, hardly anyone had heard of osmium, let alone its tetroxide. But on 5 April, the chemical achieved global notoriety as the latest weapon in the arsenal of terrorists.
The world’s media reported that thanks to secret eavesdropping by US and British security services, counter-terrorism police had foiled a plot in the UK to lace a conventional bomb with osmium tetroxide. The chemical could make any bomb more explosive, or create extra casualties and confusion by acting as an irritant, the reports said.
Osmium tetroxide is usually used in tiny amounts to stain biological tissue to make it…
