This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American A while ago, I wrote a couple of posts ...

The recovery of rare earth elements using ionic liquids has emerged as a sustainable alternative to conventional hydrometallurgical processes. Ionic liquids are salts that remain liquid at moderate ...

At the far end of the periodic table is a realm where nothing is quite as it should be. The elements here, starting at atomic number 104 (rutherfordium), have never been found in nature. In fact, they ...