minerals

September of 2023 was an exciting month for space exploration when OSIRIS-REx finally returned to Earth, dropping off the samples it had collected from the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu. Now, NASA’s first asteroid Bennu analysis has finally been completed, giving us a glimpse into the iconic asteroid (via LiveScience).Bennu has already surprised scientists a number of times throughout OSIRIS-REx’s journey. Not only did the spacecraft collect more samples than NASA expected, but it also helped prove that…

The water recovered from hydrocarbon reservoirs contains critical minerals that are key to many technical and industrial operations. Credit: Texas A&M EngineeringIn an ironic twist, a treasure trove of critical minerals is dumped out with water considered too polluted and expensive to clean.Texas A&M University researcher Dr. Hamidreza Samouei is investigating the components of produced water and says this waste byproduct of oil and gas operations contains nearly every element in the periodic table, including…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Global warming is real and climate change is worsening day-by-day with raging forest fires, unseasonably warm winters and flooding disasters taking place across Canada. Meanwhile, the carbon-zero transition required to move away from such a dire future is hampered by a key weakness—"critical minerals." The energy transition…

Many organisms, including mollusks, produce minerals like nacre through complex processes involving the extraction of calcium and carbonate ions, with the formation pathway and role of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) being key areas of research. A study has identified two chemical environments within ACC particles, offering insights into biomineralization and potential applications in materials science.How do living organisms produce minerals – for example, for their shells? Researchers have come one step closer to…

The US DoD and Pentagon are planning to use an AI-based programme to estimate and determine prices for critical minerals such as nickel and cobalt that are used in American weapons. This is in part of the US' broader efforts to boost production of critical minerals used in weapons manufacturing…

The US Department of Defense plans to develop a programme to estimate prices and predict supplies of nickel, cobalt and other critical minerals, a move aimed at boosting market transparency but one that throws a new, uncertain variable into global metals markets.The programme, which received little attention after it was announced on a Pentagon website in October, is part of Washington's broader efforts to jumpstart US production of critical minerals used in weapons manufacturing and the energy transition.Elevate Your…

Abandoning fossil fuels and adopting lower-­carbon technologies are our best options for warding off the accelerating threat of climate change. And access to rare earth elements, key ingredients in many of these technologies, will partly determine which countries will meet their goals for lowering emissions. Some nations, including the US, are increasingly worried about whether the supply of those elements will remain stable. As a result, scientists and companies alike are intent on increasing access and improving…

NASA’s EMIT produced its first global maps of hematite, goethite, and kaolinite in Earth’s dry regions using data from the year ending November 2023. The mission collected billions of measurements of the three minerals and seven others that may affect climate when lofted into the air as dust storms. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechEMIT delivers first-of-a-kind maps of minerals in Earth’s dust-source areas, enabling scientists to model the fine particles’ role in climate change and more.NASA’s EMIT mission has created the first…

There are tons of resources scattered around the randomly generated world of Lego Fortnite. Much like Minecraft, you will rely on these raw materials, such as Planks and Knotroot, to craft and upgrade your equipment and structures, but Marble isn’t as easy to find as the others. Unlike wood that obviously comes from a tree, most people have no idea what Marble even looks like in its raw form, let alone where to go looking for it. Here’s how to get your hands on this white stone and what you need to collect it. Where…

Burying sample containers with minerals in the soil. Credit: Ingo Schöning, MPI-BGC Carbon sequestration in soils can contribute to mitigate climate change, and soil organic matter associated with minerals has the highest capacity to store carbon. A team of researchers, including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, assessed the factors controlling…