Graphene is superstrong and superconductive, and it has applications in everything from construction to electronics. But to date there have been almost no commercial uses of the material.
An unusual folded shape in a meteorite prompted scientists to dive deep into a rabbit hole – discovering a potential new way to make specially shaped diamonds in the lab.
Off-road vehicles are driven on a property that will be mined for lithium along the Salton Sea, in Niland, Calif., in July 2021. Lithium is critical to rechargeable batteries.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Canada could become a global leader in the supply of materials needed for renewable energy systems if it finds ways to control the environmental footprints associated with their extraction.
The Himalayas.
Liudmila Kotvictchkaia/Shutterstock
Mountains can’t be created without lubricant, and 2 billion years ago that lubricant was graphite produced by the carbon broken down from layers of dead plankton on the ocean floor.
Building renewable energy infrastructure involves mining for materials such as lithium, graphite and cobalt. If not done responsibly, that could cause huge environmental damage.
By figuring out fission, physicists were able to split uranium atoms and release massive amounts of energy. This Manhattan Project work paved the way both for atomic bombs and nuclear power reactors.
Brine pools and processing areas at the Rockwood lithium plant on the Atacama salt flat in northern Chile.
REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado