The elements have become the focus of a significant volume of research by geographers and others. Engagements with the elements have been framed in terms of four elemental orientations: matter, molecule, milieu and media. Our aim is to consider what is at stake in efforts to think with, across and beyond these orientations. Avoiding any reduction of the elements to a single ontological or epistemological proposition, we explore possibilities for grasping their implication in the composition and decomposition of worlds. Doing this can be facilitated by thinking about these worlds in relation to three interrelated matters of concern: specificities, exposures and alchemies.

这些要素已成为地理学家和其他人进行大量研究的重点。与元素的接触已从四个元素方向进行了界定：物质，分子，环境和媒介。我们的目标是考虑在跨这些方向以及跨这些方向进行思考的过程中有哪些风险。为了避免将元素简化为一个单一的本体论或认识论命题，我们探索了把握其在世界的构成和分解中的含义的可能性。可以通过考虑与三个相互关联的相关问题有关的世界来实现此目的：关注点，暴露和炼金术。