Physics Today: Rare-earth metals are key to global efforts to switch to cleaner energy—from batteries in hybrid cars to magnets in wind turbines. Ironically, mining and processing the metals causes environmental damage that China, the biggest producer, is no longer willing to bear, writes Stuart Biggs for Bloomberg. In a related story, two writers for the Daily Mail, Simon Parry and Ed Douglas, describe the environmental devastation in China resulting from rare-earth processing.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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