Rare earth elements (REEs) are scattered through the Earth's crust. Coveted by many, they're bargaining chips in world politics. REES are...

Carbon sequestration capture and store carbon either through biological means or in geological formations. This process, currently used...

Mars Curiosity Rover is one of NASA's most ambitious projects, hailed as an optimal feat of science and engineering. Far overreaching its...

Particularly solar panels and batteries help provide reliable power for spacecraft and satellites. Without terrestrial resources, space...

The Russo-Ukrainian War begins in 2014. Conflict goes back much further. The war has profound political, social, and economic...

Titanium (Ti) is a metallic element. From celestial origins titanium has widespread appeal as the metal of choice for robots,...

Dioscorides is a physician of Rome in the first century AD. He serves as a doctor in Nero's army and later writes De Materia Medici ,...

Salt is primarily sodium chloride (NaCl). As a naturally occurring mineral it's known as halite or rock salt. Vital for food preservation...

Vulcano is part of the Aeolian Island archipelago of Italy. Named for Vulcan, Roman god of fire and metalworking, Vulcano is a unique...

Ancient microbes in harsh conditions are the earliest life forms. Fossil records appear in rock formations up to 3.7 billion years old....

Chalk is fundamentally calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and takes hundreds of millions of years to form. This seemingly mundane mineral has a...

Silica, silicon, and silicone refer to related but distinct substances with specific properties, applications, and origins. Silica is...

Natural glass gemstones are caused by extraordinary geological events, such as intense heat and cataclysmic impacts. Natural glass...

Silica, or silicon dioxide (SiO2), occurs in the Earth’s crust, the microcosm and daily life. Silica makes ancient glass such as...

Silicon (Si) is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, a ductile metal important to industry and natural processes. Silicon is used...

Calcite is made up of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). With stunning crystal formations and a range of beautiful colors, calcite also has...

Sporosarcina pasteurii is a gram-positive bacterium with the extraordinary ability to precipitate calcite and solidify sand when exposed...

Diatomaceous earth (DE) is an amazing natural powder ground from the sedimentary stone diatomite. The stone itself is made of fossilized...

Diatoms, while invisible to the naked eye, are essential to the ecosystem and human survival. These tiny microalgae prolifically generate...

Pyrometallurgy is the high-temperature processing of ores to extract and refine metals. It uses alchemical processes in a modern...