Nov 13
As the pace of robotic integration into the modern workforce continues to increase, automatons are finding their way into an ever wider variety of industries. Already making an impact in the agricultural sector
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Oct 30
Coal mining is a dirty, dangerous business. Even with modern safety equipment protecting workers from black lung, plenty of other dangers await them underground. Like, say, mixing easily ignited coal dust with hot machine surfaces. That’s why GE has invented a mine-car engine that keeps its cool to prevent setting off a raging inferno.
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Oct 22
Every parent’s favorite line about how money doesn’t grow on trees just became a little more irrelevant, thanks to a fascinating find down under. Researchers in Australia recently found gold—yes, real gold—in eucalyptus trees growing in the outback.
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Oct 02
Out in Wyoming, an energy company is getting creative about extracting coal from deep below the surface. Rather than blast a hole in the side of the Earth and go digging for it, Linc Energy just wants to set the stuff on fire and gobble up the gas emitted by the blaze. What could go wrong?
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Sep 20
Most people who own a smartphone—or a laptop, or a new car—aren’t familiar with tantalum, the rare, blue-gray metal that conducts electricity through these devices. But thanks to skyrocketing demand from electronics makers, tantalum—along with a handful of other rare minerals—is an incredibly sought-after metal. And it’s fueling the ongoing conflict in Congo.
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Aug 13
Both NASA and Planetary Resources dream of capturing asteroids, but they need viable targets — many space rocks aren’t easily moved. The University of Strathclyde just gave those organizations some help by identifying 12 near-Earth asteroids that are relatively easy to catch. All of them would require velocity changes of less than 1,640 feet per second to fall into orbit around Earth’s Lagrangian points, where the gravity balance would let miners and researchers get to work. Don’t expect intercept missions anytime soon, though. One of the more accessible targets, 2006 RH120, would have to be nudged in February 2021 to reach orbit in 2026; it will be a long while before any of us sees an asteroid up close.
Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt
Via: Huffington Post
Source: MIT Technology Review
Aug 12
Common sense would suggest that humans would want to do everything possible to discourage the asteroids hurdling through solar system from heading towards Earth. But in the too-futuristic era of space rock mining that’s just not the case anymore.
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Jul 16
The High Price of Copper
Posted in: Today's Chili
Lithium may store the power that drives out modern mobile world but it’s copper that delivers it. This malleable metal is a vital component in modern homes, electronics, and agriculture. But our reliance on copper comes at a steep price, both economically and environmentally.
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Jul 12
Apple is investigating claims that tin used in its products comes from mines on Bangka Island in Indonesia. This comes after environmental watchdog Friends of the Earth (FoE) pressured the tech giant to identify the source of the metal used for soldering components in iDevices. While the island region is one of the largest suppliers of tin in the world, mining conditions are far from ideal. Landslides consistently claim the lives of workers, and mining itself has had an adverse effect on the local environment. The group successfully pressured Samsung to admit its involvement with the area’s tin supplies in April.
For its part, Apple commissioned a fact-finding visit to learn more and is helping to fund a new study on mining in the region so they “can better understand the situation.” Or maybe they could save some time and money by reading the one conducted by The Guardian and FoE from last November. You know, the one that found that unregulated tin mining leans heavily on child labor, destroys the environment and causes on average 100 – 150 miner fatalities every year. Cupertino has already vowed to not use conflict minerals and appointed a former EPA administrator to focus on its environmental efforts, so it at least looks responsible. Now to see if it can back up its actions.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Apple
Via: The Verge
Jul 02
Lithium’s kind of a big deal. It powers everything from our gadgets to our cars—really our entire modern world. And that’s not changing any time soon; some analysts estimate that demand could grow up to 25% over the next several years. But how does one harness the power of a metal that bursts into flame every time it gets wet? How do you even get it out of the ground?
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