‘Beaches’ from illegal mining scar Colombian Amazon

It's called a "beach", or "playa" in Spanish, but the swath of sand and polluted water in a remote part of the Amazon jungle in Colombia is not a place of leisure by any means.

PhysOrg.com | December 18, 2015 | 6:54 am

Breakthrough involving rare earth elements could alter tech, mining worlds

U.S.-led project aims to make it easier and less expensive to obtain rare earth elements from various waste streams from the phosphate industry.

PhysOrg.com | October 29, 2015 | 10:11 am

New process recycles valuable rare earth metals from old electronics

Scientists at the Critical Materials Institute have developed a two-step recovery process that makes recycling rare-earth metals easier and more cost-effective.

PhysOrg.com | March 2, 2015 | 1:34 pm

Study: US must encourage development of Canadian oil sands

To successfully reduce the United States' dependence on fuels from outside North America, the government must pursue policies that foster the diversion of Canadian oil sands crude to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, according to a new study by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

PhysOrg.com | June 11, 2012 | 5:52 pm

Sulfur in every pore: Improved batteries with carbon nanoparticles

In an important step toward the further development of this type of battery, a team led by Professor Thomas Bein of LMU Munich and Linda Nazar of Waterloo University in Canada has developed porous carbon nanoparticles that utilize sulfur molecules to achieve the greatest possible efficiency.

PhysOrg.com | April 10, 2012 | 6:53 pm

Hydrogen fluoride may be the major cause of coal burning endemic fluorosis

Professor Handong Liangfrom State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, China University of Mining and Technology Beijing and his group demonstrate that hydrogen fluoride is the prior releasing form of fluorine in long-term air-exposed coal

PhysOrg.com | October 1, 2011 | 8:54 am