A method called flash Joule heating could offer a more sustainable way to source essential components of electronics from coal fly ash.
Metals
Posted inResearch & Developments
Research On the Line
The renewable energy sector is booming, and as demand for clean energy rises, so too does demand for the metals it relies on—copper and nickel chief among them. As the world continues scaling up renewables to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, demand will almost certainly top supply in the coming decades. To address this future gap, an international group of researchers and the mining giant BHP teamed up to identify the processes that determine whether or not these metals make it into accessible deposits in the crust.
Posted inNews
Community Input Drives Superfund Research
Researchers identified geochemical tracers for lead and investigated Oklahomans’ concerns at the Tar Creek Superfund site.
Posted inNews
Imagining What a Metal Volcano Would Look Like
Large-scale lava experiments are helping scientists imagine how metallic lava would flow across and shape a landscape, either on Earth or on a distant asteroid.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Did Diatoms Evolve to Swap Zinc for the Toxic Metal Cadmium?
New network analysis suggests that zinc and cadmium sulfides weathered simultaneously in geological history, making cadmium a suitable substitute in photosynthetic pathways when zinc was scarce.
Posted inNews
Contamination of Medicinal Plants: Implications for Indigenous Health
A new study will trace the legacy of uranium mining on commercially available medicinal plants.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Zero-valent Iron in the Oxidizing Atmosphere?
A comparative study of urban, semi-urban, and rural sites reveals that the species of atmospheric iron varies depending on location.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Exploring the Impacts of Mining on Planetary Health
Papers are invited for a special collection presenting advances in understanding of the impacts of mining on human, ecosystem, and Earth surface environmental health.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Trees Are Watching Us and Our Actions
Annual growth rings in trees tell us more than climate history; they can also document the rise and fall of human industrial activities.