Global phosphate production is set to peak in 2030, around the same time the world's population will reach nine billion. As a finite resource, a phosphate shortage will effect global food production.
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Articles on Phosphorus
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The elements that make up each column of the periodic table share a set of common traits. Here, a chemist describes group 15 and the crucial role phosphorus, in particular, plays in cancer.
Currently, all the value in sewage sludge is literally being flushed down the toilet.
The 'used water' that flows from our showers, dishwashers and toilets isn't a waste to engineers – it contains valuable materials. The challenge is recovering them and turning them into products.
Originally found in a bucket of urine by an alchemist searching for the elixir of life, the race is on to find a way to rescue Element 15 from permanent exile in our rivers and streams.
Scientists have mapped a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Oman, without enough oxygen in the water to support life. This Speed Read explains why dead zones form in waters around the world.
It is essential to maintain global food supply, but the clock is ticking.
You know that greenhouse gases are changing the climate. But when did you last worry about phosphorus?
Getting tellurium and phosphorus to form a molecule is stupidly hard and not very glamorous. Here's why it's worth the effort.
Here’s the good news. We probably don’t have to worry about peak oil just yet, as it isn’t going to run out anytime soon. The bad news is, as the IPCC has recently reported, we can’t afford the costs of…
If Earth were like a human body, large animals might be its arteries, moving nutrients from where they’re abundant to where they’re needed. Currently the planet has large regions where life is limited…
Phosphorus is an important, life-giving element and is often used for plant growth in an agricultural setting. Scientists…
Without phosphorus we cannot produce food. Yet even as pressure mounts on this critical non-renewable resource, there is a startling lack of global governance of its use and supply. If no one takes responsibility…
Phosphorus fertiliser might not spring to mind as highly important to our everyday lives in Australia, but it is critical for our grazing and cropping farms. This is because the majority of Australian…
Top contributors
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Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
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Science Communicator, CSIRO
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Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
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Senior Research Scientist, Plant Industry, CSIRO
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Senior Lecturer in Global Systems, University of Exeter
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Lecturer in Ecosystem Ecology, University of Oxford
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Professor Emeritus, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
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Vice Principal (Research) and Provost, University of St Andrews
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Researcher VU Amsterdam, Project Manager SusPhos, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Marie Curie Research Fellow, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol
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Lecturer in Sustainable Chemistry, Bangor University
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Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Richmond
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Senior Lecturer, Chemistry, University of St Andrews
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Ph.D. Candidate/Research Assistant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Senior Lecturer in Water Engineering, Brunel University London
