From orange juice, to tea and coffee, to alcohol — different drinks can have different effects on iron absorption. This is worth thinking about if your iron levels are low.
Wind turbines and fighter jets both rely on imported critical minerals.
U.S. Air Force; Dennis Schroeder/NREL
Right now, the nation is almost entirely dependent on other countries for minerals that are used in everything from wind turbines to strike fighters and satellites.
4 billion years ago, the Earth was composed of a series of magma oceans hundreds of kilometres deep.
Larich/Shutterstock
It seems the production of Earth science knowledge in Africa is simply not progressing, despite the world’s interest in (and exploitation of) the continent’s mineral wealth.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness draws thousands of visitors yearly.
Andy Witchger/Flickr
Conservation or copper? A proposed mine in northern Minnesota pits industrial jobs against a thriving outdoor economy.
Manganese nodules on the Atlantic Ocean floor off the southeastern United States, discovered in 2019 during the Deep Sea Ventures pilot test.
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
Companies are eager to mine the deep ocean for valuable mineral deposits. But scientists are concerned about impacts on sea life, including creatures that haven’t even been discovered yet.
Weathering of rocks like these basalt formations in Idaho triggers chemical processes that remove carbon dioxide from the air.
Matthew Dillon/Flickr
To avoid global warming on a catastrophic scale, nations need to reduce emissions and find ways to pull carbon from the air. One promising solution: spreading rock dust on farm fields.
A worker in the Barroso mine, near Boticas in northern Portugal, 3 September 2018.
Francisco Leong/AFP
Researchers are turning microbes into microscopic construction crews by altering their DNA to make them produce building materials. The work could lead to more sustainable buildings.
This started as a mountain range.
Bas Meelker/Shutterstock.com
Sand may seem abundant when your toes are buried in it, but it’s becoming scarce along many coastlines around the world.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (waving) with some of the heads of state who attended the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia.
SEFE-EPA-Pool/Sergei Chirikov
Manufacturing minerals is an expanding field of study. Making more of them could help alleviate various pressures faced by our growing population. But how are they made, and where can they be used?
The view of our planet from aboard the International Space Station.
Expedition 43/NASA
Of all the planets in the solar system, there’s a reason we call Earth home. It’s made of just the right stuff. It’s not too small, or too big, or too hot or too cold. It’s just right.
Are the celebrities onto something with their IV vitamin cocktails? Let’s look at the evidence before rushing to the therapy lounge.
from www.shutterstock.com
If their social media accounts were anything to go by, celebrities can’t get enough of vitamin and mineral infusions, or vitamin drips. Now therapy lounges are popping up for everyone else to try.
One recent study revealed no evidence that selenium supplements help prevent diabetes, even in geographical areas where there are relatively low amounts of selenium in the natural diet.
(Shutterstock)
Drastic oxygen losses in the world’s oceans millions of years ago coincided with mass extinctions. Scientists see this as a warning about how climate change could affect oceans today.
Space mining has the potential to provide a greater supply of resources either for being exploited locally for construction or being sent back to earth.