Explaining the engineering challenges of extracting metal-rich nodules from the seafloor

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

An overview of the metals obtainable through deep-sea mining of nodules and crusts

Polymetallic nodules are a source of manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, molybdenum, and platinum, which are used in batteries, fuel cells, and metal alloys of electric vehicles. Seamount crusts contain rare-earth elements deemed essential to US national and economic security, including neodymium and dysprosium used to make permanent magnets.

Explaining deep-sea mining, including its economic benefits and potential biomedical risks

Extraction via machines sweeping the ocean floor would reduce child labor and human rights violations currently occurring in land-based operations that collect the minerals needed for modern-day electronics. However, these sweeps may kill undiscovered organisms that possess biologies from which antibiotics could be derived and destabilize deep-sea ecosystems.

Weird ways critical minerals are being mined

Critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and graphite are economically crucial non-fuel resources subject to supply chain risks. To diversify production, scientists developed odd ways to harvest them. This article breaks down the weirdest approaches, including extracting minerals from seawater using algae, phytomining plants, and asteroids.

A case study of how engineers and geologists at Tullow Oil look for oil reserves

An analysis of surface rocks using aerial and satellite imagery can help narrow the search for crude oil by identifying basins where sedimentary layers have compacted—a key process in oil formation. Surveys that look for variations in Earth's gravitational and magnetic fields consistent with specific rock distributions, or that use sound waves reflected off rock layers—not unlike sonar underwater—can also help map subsurface geology.

Find out how decommissioned oil rigs can be repurposed into artificial reefs

A 2014 paper analyzing drilling structures found many had become nursery habitats for fish, corals, sponges, and other invertebrates in the decades since their installation. Oil companies responsible for bringing these rigs to shore to salvage them can more affordably transport only the oil rig's deck on a barge, leaving the remaining rig to maintain the established biodiversity.

Why space resource extraction companies are racing to harvest lunar helium

Without a magnetic field to deflect it away, helium-3 from solar wind has accumulated on the lunar surface over billions of years in significant quantities. With a reported value of $20M per kilogram because of its potential use in clean nuclear fusion, harvesting of helium-3 may form the basis of a future lunar economy.

Space trash could be cleaned up using a giant inflatable bag

California-based TransAstra has developed and tested a device called Capture Bag, intended to catch anything from small rocks to house-sized boulders. The company claims its system could also be adapted for asteroid capture and mining.

Salt is harvested from briny ocean water and underground deposits

Mostly sodium chloride, this compound is produced for human use by collecting seawater in shallow pans and allowing the Sun to evaporate the water until crystals remain. Underground rock salt is mined, crushed, and purified from deposits left behind by ancient seas that have dried-up.

NASA explores Earth's deepest oceans to prepare for space

By studying extreme environments in Earth's hadal zone—the deepest part of the ocean —NASA tests technologies, probes life under crushing pressure, and gathers clues about potential oceans and possible life on worlds like Europa and Enceladus.

How are scientists turning deserts into farmland?

This article explores how engineers are using a liquid nanoclay solution to transform barren deserts into productive fruit farms, drawing inspiration from how clay particles carried by floodwaters in the Nile Delta used to improve the fertility of...

Experiments suggest nuking a metal-rich asteroid may strengthen it

Scientists exposed meteorite samples to proton irradiation at CERN to mimic the effects of a nuclear detonation. The material exhibited greater resistance to breaking after the exposure, suggesting nuclear weapons may better serve to deflect asteroids, not break them.

How the US Department of Energy facilitated bioremediation with emulsified soybean oil

At sites where soil and groundwater were identified as contaminated with volatile organic compounds, scientists and engineers at the Office of Legacy Management used microbes to safely clean them up without more invasive methods, such as pump-and-treat. Treatment zones created at one location by injecting oil to help microbes spread quickly.

Deep sea fish rely on a molecular strengthener to prevent being crushed

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) stabilizes hydrogen bonds and prevents water and proteins within organisms from being misshapen under immense pressure. Compounds called piezolytes protect cellular membranes from being crushed in regions like the Mariana Trench, where pressures are 1,100 times greater than surface atmospheric pressure.

The challenges of trying to study microplastics in microplastic-abundant labs

The presence of microplastics in instruments, surfaces, and air has made accurate measurement of their levels in lab samples difficult, given the high likelihood of contamination. While the use of stainless steel tools in a sealed, clean lab may reduce accidental exposure, existing methods can misidentify biological substances, such as fat, as plastics, further complicating research.

Radioactive waste solutions include glass smelting and dumping into graphite blocks

Since radioactive materials can take seconds to millions of years to decay, their disposal or storage requires creative solutions. Besides turning liquid waste into glass or storing medical waste in lead-lined rooms, spent nuclear rods are stored in deep-water pools.

The Gasbuggy Project detonated a nuclear bomb to fracture underground rock formations

Part of Project Plowshare—a program aimed at finding peaceful uses for nuclear devices—the 1967 experiment sought to extract natural gas trapped within shale in underground New Mexico. Gas radioactivity was found to be excessively high for use without expensive processing, and the project was deemed an economic failure.

The simplicity of immersed tube tunnels

Tunnels have traditionally bored holes through the earth below the water. On the other hand, immersed tube tunnels connect hollow, massive sections in trenches along the floor of the body of water. Each section is built on land, floated to the site, submerged, and connected. This method saves money by reducing expensive underground work, and it preserves an area's aesthetic appearance.

Metals can be welded together in space without needing heat

On Earth, oxygen naturally reacts with metals to form an oxide layer on their surface, which prevents two different pieces from fusing when they come into contact. If the layer is worn away without oxygen to replenish it, metals can instead stick together upon impact—a phenomenon known as cold welding.

Breaking down the challenges of alkaline environments and how extremophiles survive them

These areas are far less acidic than the interiors of most organisms' cells, and this imbalance draws protons that are needed for various metabolic processes, including energy production, out of cells. To counter these effects, some alkaliphiles have developed stronger proton regulation across their cellular membranes and proteins that drive these processes with greater stability amid such acidity imbalances.

Slab pull and ridge push contribute to convection-driven oceanic crust movement

Through ridge push, after magma is projected up from the mantle, it cools and sinks, allowing gravity to help push older oceanic crust away. As this crust sinks into the mantle at deep-sea trenches, it pulls on the trailing crust behind it, accelerating ocean crust movement.

In 2009, accidentally drilling into magma provided time capsules of volcanic glass

While drilling for geothermal energy in Iceland's Krafla Geothermal Field, magma encountered at a depth of 2,100 meters quickly formed glass upon making contact with drilling fluid. By trapping dissolved gases, volatile chemicals, and the physical characteristics of magma before cooling, the glass acts as a time capsule of ancient volcanic activity and magmatic conditions.

Sand 'batteries' can store excess electricity from the power grid as thermal energy

Energy collected from solar or wind power is used to heat insulated silos full of sand to temperatures as high as 450 degrees Celsius (842 degrees Fahrenheit), which can be retained for long periods. These thermal energy storage systems can be designed to boil water and generate electricity when needed.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

Recovering the USS Oklahoma was the largest naval salvage operation ever attempted

In 1943, engineers spent three months using 21 giant winches and an intricate cable system to right the capsized USS Oklahoma. It was the largest naval salvage effort ever attempted at the time and remains one of the most complex in history.

Exposed concrete led to oxygen depletion within Biosphere 2

Instead of being absorbed by plants through photosynthesis to produce oxygen, significant amounts of carbon dioxide were taken up by the calcium hydroxide in the concrete, trapping the oxygen in calcium carbonate and water. This concrete was sealed before the start of the second B2 mission.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Planeterrellas create artificial auroras that mimic the atmospheric displays of light by setting up an electric field between two metal balls in a jar filled with a small amount of air.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.