Mastodawn

#Mining the deep #ocean
Policymakers debate if we even need deep ocean mining and if we can do it safely.
More than 13,000ft below the surface of #Pacific Ocean, a more-than-70-ton machine trundled like a tank on its caterpillar tracks for a tenth of a mile—sucking up potato-sized nodules of rock packed with #copper, #manganese, #cobalt, and #nickel. It was 2022, and that pilot run of a subsea harvester by a Canadian business, The #MetalsCompany, was pronounced a success.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/mining-the-deep-ocean/

Mining the deep ocean

Policymakers debate if we even need deep ocean mining and if we can do it safely.

Ars Technica

DoomsdaysCW Mar 8

#SodiumIonBatteries offer an alternative to tricky #lithium

Oct 26th 2023

Excerpt: "Fortunately, lithium is not the only game in town. As we report this week, a clutch of firms are making batteries based on sodium, lithium’s elemental cousin. Since sodium’s chemical properties are very similar to those of lithium, it too makes for good batteries. And sodium, which is found in the salt in #seawater, is thousands of times more abundant on Earth than lithium and cheaper to get at. Most of the companies using sodium to make batteries today are also Chinese. But pursuing the technology in the West might be a surer route to energy security than relying heavily on lithium.

"Besides its abundance, sodium has other advantages. The best lithium batteries use #cobalt and #nickel in their electrodes. Nickel, like lithium, is in short supply. #Mining it on land is #EnvironmentallyDestructive. Proposals to grab it from the #seabed instead have caused rows. A good deal of the world’s cobalt, meanwhile, is extracted from small mines in the #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo, where #ChildLabour is common and working conditions are dire. Sodium batteries, by contrast, can use #electrodes built from #iron and #manganese [and wood #lignin], which are plentiful and uncontroversial. Since the chemical components are cheap, a scaled-up industry should be able to produce batteries that cost less than their lithium counterparts.

"Sodium is not a perfect replacement for lithium. It is heavier, meaning sodium batteries will weigh more than lithium ones of an equivalent capacity. That is likely to rule them out in some cases where lightness is paramount. But for other applications, such as #GridStorage or #HomeBatteries, weight is irrelevant. Several Chinese carmakers are even beginning to put sodium batteries in #ElectricVehicles."

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/7x6JX

#SolarPunkSunday #EnergyStorage #SodiumIon #NewTechnology #GiantLeap #Reuse #WasteReuse #NoLithiumMining #NoMining

Sodium batteries offer an alternative to tricky lithium

Lithium is relatively scarce and mostly refined in China. Sodium is neither

The Economist

Mineralogical Society of America Feb 9

Mineral Monday: Spessartine Garnets By Chris Tacker, NC State Museum Bald Knob is a type locality for several manganese end-member minerals. Hypothesis: a metamorphosed deposit of manganese nodules. #MSACommunications #MineralMonday #mineral #garnet #Spessartine #Spessartite #Manganese

Metalli Rari Jan 28

Surplus produttivo e nuove chimiche: il manganese cerca un equilibrio
https://www.metallirari.com/surplus-produttivo-nuove-chimiche-manganese-cerca-equilibrio/
I prezzi del #manganese sono stati sotto pressione per l’abbondanza di offerta e per la debolezza della siderurgia, mentre prendono forma nuovi driver di domanda legati alle batterie e alla sicurezza delle forniture.

Scientific Frontline Jan 26

The addition of #manganese to #agricultural soil significantly lowers plant-available nitrogen forms (ammonium and nitrate), resulting in reduced nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions and decreased nitrate leaching into waterways.
#Environmental #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/01/env01262601.html

Manganese Helps Reduce Agricultural Nitrogen Pollution in Air, Water

Until this study, no research had directly tested how manganese affects nitrogen cycling under agronomically relevant conditions

Dr. Or M. Bialik Jan 20

We have a new #preprint. Using wicked electrochemistry and really nifty microscopy to look at how #manganese redox cycling and carboxyl groups play into the formation of #protodolomite.

https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/11460/

Angstrom Minerals Jan 19

#Manganese is a #coenzyme that assists many #enzymes involved in breaking down #carbohydrates, #proteins, and #cholesterol. It also assists enzymes in #buildingbones and keeping the #immune and #reproductive systems running smoothly.
On sale now: https://angstrom-minerals.com/?dt_id=2139817

Chris Meder Dec 30

AI + robotics are here to stay. There are only two paths: deny & boycott, or accept & engage. Energy stress is real — but so are the solutions. Robots & data centers scale fast, infrastructure follows, driving sustained demand for #lithium #copper #silver & #manganese. This is a build-out story.

AI and Robotics: The New Indus...

AI and Robotics: The New Industrial Wave - EV Curve Futurist

AI and robotics are reshaping energy, materials, and society. Ride the wave or resist it—the global build-out is underway and progress won’t wait.v

EV Curve Futurist -

N-gated Hacker News Nov 14

🔬🥒 Oh great, another groundbreaking revelation from the ivory towers of academia: #Manganese, the double-edged sword of Lyme disease! Because nothing says cutting-edge #science like rehashing old news with a side of #irony and a sprinkle of #sensationalism. 🎓🥳
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2025/11/manganese-is-lyme-diseases-double-edge-sword #LymeDisease #academia #HackerNews #ngated

Manganese is Lyme disease’s double-edge sword

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which relies on the antioxidant manganese to protect it from its host’s immune system. Both removing or adding too much manganese weakens the bacteria. Disrupting this balance could lead to new treatments for Lyme disease.<br />