PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

The challenge of mining rare-earth materials outside China

2015-07-29
(Press-News.org) Five years ago, the cost of rare-earth materials that are critical for today's electronics went through the roof. An export quota set by China, which mines most of the world's rare earths, caused the price run-up. Though short-lived, the occurrence spurred calls for developing mines outside China, but whether others can challenge the country's dominance remains to be seen, reports Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

Melody Bomgardner, a senior editor at C&EN, notes that in the U.S., there is currently only one operational rare-earth mine. It's located in Mountain Pass, California, and is owned by a company called Molycorp. It boasts a reserve of about 1.5 million tons of rare earths -- 70 years' worth of output. But largely due to the challenges inherent in extracting rare earths, the mine is far from reaching its goal of producing 20,000 tons per year. It recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Other companies are also trying to help diversify the world's supply of rare earths. Additional mines are planned in Brazil and Alaska. In case that's not enough to ensure a non-Chinese source, some U.S. policymakers are attempting to pass legislation to streamline the permitting process that would allow new mines to operate stateside.

INFORMATION:

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 158,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Follow us: Twitter Facebook



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

This week from AGU: Comet video, ocean carbon & 4 new research papers

2015-07-29
GeoSpace Dusty comet releases mysterious clumps Images of an unusually dusty comet have revealed strange streaming clumps that could hold the secrets to how comets create their beautiful, sweeping, striated tails. Watch a video of Comet C/2011 L4, the comet profiled in a new study in Journal of Geophysical Research-Space Physics. Eos.org Dissolved organic matter in the ocean carbon cycle Controversy leads to a better understanding of carbon cycling through a massive pool of organic matter dissolved in the Earth's oceans. New research papers Crustal deformation ...

An all-natural sunscreen derived from algae

2015-07-29
For consumers searching for just the right sunblock this summer, the options can be overwhelming. But scientists are now turning to the natural sunscreen of algae -- which is also found in fish slime -- to make a novel kind of shield against the sun's rays that could protect not only people, but also textiles and outdoor materials. They report on their development in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Existing sunblock lotions typically work by either absorbing ultraviolet rays or physically blocking them. A variety of synthetic and natural compounds can ...

End-of-production LED lighting increases red pigmentation in lettuce

2015-07-29
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - Growing vegetables in greenhouses extends crop production seasons in northern latitudes, but the greenhouse environment is far from ideal for providing plants with optimal photosynthetic light. In fact, available photosynthetic daily light in greenhouses can be reduced by up to 50% or more by the structures' glazing material, superstructure, and shading. In northern latitudes, low light is considered the most limiting environmental factor in greenhouse vegetable production. For example, low light levels can result in the formation of loose heads and ...

Toward a safe antiobesity drug that could block fat absorption

2015-07-29
To help address the global obesity epidemic, scientists are developing a new class of compounds called "micelle sequestrant polymers," or MSPs, that could prevent fat particles from getting absorbed in the body and thus potentially reduce weight gain. They report on their novel agents, which they tested on mice, in the ACS journal Biomacromolecules. Research has shown that worldwide, obesity rates have been climbing for years. Treatments for overweight and obesity include diet and exercise, surgery and prescription medications. But currently available drugs can have serious ...

Malic acid encourages sweet cherry cracking

2015-07-29
HANNOVER, GERMANY -- "Cracking" is a problem for sweet cherry production wherever the high-value crop is grown. However, despite considerable research, the reason that this phenomenon occurs has not been clear. In a new study, Andreas Winkler, Max Ossenbrink, and Moritz Knoche reveal their discovery of what makes sweet cherries crack. Knoche, lead author of the study published in the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, said the scientists from the Institute for Horticultural Production Systems at Leibniz University set out to investigate consequences ...

Figuring out how to make tastier wines using fewer pesticides

2015-07-29
Wine-making is steeped in age-old traditions, but to address the threat of pests and concerns over heavy pesticide use, vintners are turning to science. With the goal of designing better grape breeds, scientists are parsing the differences between wild American grapes -- which make terrible wine but are pest-resistant -- and the less hardy grape species pressed for fine wines worldwide. They report their findings in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. With every sip of their preferred drink, wine lovers from across the globe are appreciating the taste of ...

Shoring up Tor

2015-07-29
With 2.5 million daily users, the Tor network is the world's most popular system for protecting Internet users' anonymity. For more than a decade, people living under repressive regimes have used Tor to conceal their Web-browsing habits from electronic surveillance, and websites hosting content that's been deemed subversive have used it to hide the locations of their servers. Researchers at MIT and the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) have now demonstrated a vulnerability in Tor's design. At the Usenix Security Symposium this summer, they show that an adversary ...

Compliance with guidelines for treating brain injuries doesn't guarantee better outcomes

2015-07-29
Two decades ago, the Brain Trauma Foundation published its first set of guidelines for treating traumatic brain injury. Now, a study by the Los Angeles County Trauma Consortium -- which includes several physicians from UCLA -- has found that compliance with those guidelines doesn't necessarily translate into better results for patients. In research published online by the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Surgery, the consortium analyzed 2009 and 2010 data from all 14 L.A. County trauma centers and found no evidence that compliance with the guidelines led to lower mortality ...

Barrow scientists 'rewrite' history books

2015-07-29
Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute have spent years of medical sleuthing across three continents to uncover a brain surgery that changed history. After more than two-years of international investigation, the scientists have concluded that Napoleon likely would have conquered Russia in 1812 if not for the life-saving brain surgery performed on Russian general Mikhail Kutuzov by the French surgeon Jean Massot, who operated on Kutuzov after bullets twice passed through his head. "It's a story of how medicine changed the course of civilization," says Mark C. Preul, ...

Basis for new treatment options for a fatal leukemia in children revealed

2015-07-29
Berlin, 29th July 2015 - Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of cancer in children. It can occur in various forms, differing not only by specific changes in the genetic material of the leukemia cells but also by their response to therapies. Now, an international team of scientists from Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Heidelberg, Kiel, and Zurich have succeeded in decoding the molecular characteristics of an as yet incurable subtype of leukemia, paving the way for new therapeutic approaches. Their results have been published in the current issue ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Oil rig study reveals vital role of tiny hoverflies

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia researchers boost widespread use of dental varnish across pediatric network

iRECODE: A new computational method that brings clarity to single-cell analysis

New NUS-MOH study: Singapore’s healthcare sector carbon emissions 18% lower than expected, a milestone in the city-state’s net zero journey

QUT scientists create material to turn waste heat into clean power

Major new report sets out how to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health

Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world

Major report tackles Covid’s cardiovascular crisis head-on

A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice

ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

[Press-News.org] The challenge of mining rare-earth materials outside China