The fossil fuel era won’t last forever. And a new set of countries will find their reserves of lithium, copper and rare earth metals are in high demand.
Long-term treatment with lithium has improved memory and learning in rats.
from shutterstock.com
Lithium is present naturally in many water systems and was once considered an elixir. It has long been used to treat bipolar disorder, but researchers have also started exploring its role in dementia.
Copper and other minerals will be increasingly important to the growing renewable energy sector.
REUTERS/Stringer/Files
In the decades ahead, our mineral supply will still need to double or triple to meet the demand for electric vehicles and other renewable energy technology.
Brine pools and processing areas at the Rockwood lithium plant on the Atacama salt flat in northern Chile.
REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
Everyone wants a better battery for longer run-time on electronics and driving range for EVs. What’s the most likely successor to today’s lithium-ion batteries?
Batteries can cut carbon emissions, but mining the metals and other resources needed to make them can be a dirty business.
Jon Seb Barber/Wikimedia Commons
The advent of battery storage heralds an even deeper embrace of electric cars and renewable energy. But amid the green tech revolution, we should be wary of creating new pollution problems.
Tesla’s lithium-ion powerwall isn’t the only technology available for household batteries.
Tesla
Lithium-ion is currently the leading battery technology for home installation, but others are just over the horizon that might be even better.
Hajigak, one of the main routes from Kabul to Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, may contain one of the largest deposits of iron ore in the world.
Hadi Zaher/Flickr via CC BY-NC-ND
On October 27, the last international troops closed their military camp in Southern Helmand Province and left Afghanistan, officially ending their combat role after 13 years of fighting. By the end of…
The stories behind Australia’s medical successes have often gone unreported.
Flickr: jpalinsad360
Gustav Nossal, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
The history of Australian medical research is an unabashed good news story: it’s led to many astounding yet common medical treatments and to better understanding of disease. In fact, as a society we benefit…