Boosting the recovery of rare earth elements

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Ural Federal University will start a joint research project for boosting the recovery of rare earth elements. The exceptional magnetic and optical properties of earth metals ...

Finding ancient minerals for high-tech uses

As demand for high-tech devices and green technologies rises, countries around the world are scavenging for sources of rare earth elements—the expensive metals required in everything from iPods to hybrid cars.

New physics in a copper-iridium compound

(Phys.org) —An unexpected magnetic behavior within Sr3CuIrO6, a transition-metal compound (TMC) that combines the transition metal copper with the transition metal iridium has been revealed by research at the U.S. Department ...

Extracting rare earth materials from consumer products

In a new twist on the state's mining history, a group of Idaho scientists will soon be crushing consumer electronics rather than rocks in a quest to recover precious materials. DOE's Ames Laboratory will lead the new Critical ...

Feathers hold key to proof of bird health

Bird feathers appear to be simplistic structures, but a catalogue of chemicals and environmental contaminants resides deep inside them, scientists report. And these can be used to measure a bird's health.

X-rays reveal uptake of nanoparticles by soya bean crops

Scientists have, for the first time, traced the nanoparticles taken up from the soil by crop plants and analysed the chemical states of their metallic elements. Zinc was shown to dissolve and accumulate throughout the plants, ...

Onion soaks up heavy metal, researchers find

Onion and garlic waste from the food industry could be used to mop up hazardous heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, iron, lead, mercury and tin in contaminated materials, according to a research paper published in the ...

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