Archive - Material World

What's Happening at Spruce Pine...?

One of the world's most important sources of a critical ingredient in silicon chip manufacture just went down. What happens next...?

Oct 1

August 2024

The Sorry Story of Nicolas Leblanc

A tragic tale, with all sorts of lessons for today

Aug 12

June 2024

Does it really matter if we can't produce "virgin steel" anymore?

In short, not half as much as people might have you believe. But that doesn't mean there aren't some real problems with Britain's plans to ditch all its…

Jun 30

May 2024

Lost Materials #1: Malachite

For all our fears about running out of certain substances, the list of materials humankind has actually exhausted is surprisingly small - or at least, I…

May 31

The Unbearable Lightness of Productivity

What a visit to a magnet factory in Oxfordshire teaches you about the state of the world, the race for minerals and the obscure processes happening all…

May 14

The Most Important Chart in the World

Finally we're starting to put figures on how much other countries are helping their industries. Now let's start discussing what to do about it.

May 7

The Race for Copper Hots Up

One unintended victim may be one of the biggest mining projects in British history

May 2

April 2024

March 2024

Latest from the Material World

A brief update...

Mar 29

January 2024

Further Reading

Some recommendations for those who want to burrow deeper into the Material World

Jan 30

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts