Newswise — New research from Adelaide University has revealed that geological processes dating back billions of years are critical to locating the rare earth elements needed for modern technologies and the global clean energy transition.

Published today in Science Advances, the study shows a strong global link between ancient subduction zones – where tectonic plates collide – and the formation of rare earth element (REE) deposits and carbonatites, a type of hot molten rock called magma, known to host these valuable resources.

Rare earth elements are essential components in technologies such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones, and defence systems. However, locating economically viable deposits remains a major global challenge.

Led by Professor Carl Spandler from the School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences, the research team reconstructed Earth’s geological history over the past two billion years using advanced plate tectonic modelling.

They identified regions of the Earth’s mantle that had been fertilised by subduction processes, where material from one tectonic plate is forced beneath another, releasing fluids and elements into the overlying mantle.

The Adelaide University researchers found that these fertilised mantle regions now underlie approximately 67% of carbonatites and 72% of REE deposits formed over the past 1.8 billion years. For older deposits, that figure rises to 92%.

Prof Spandler said the findings provide compelling evidence that ancient subduction zones play a fundamental role in creating the conditions needed for rare earth deposits to form.

“This research shows that the ingredients for these critical mineral deposits were put in place many million to even billions of years ago,” Prof Spandler said. “By identifying where these ancient processes occurred, we can significantly narrow down the search areas for future discoveries.”

The study also challenges previous theories that linked these deposits primarily to mantle plumes –columns of hot material rising from deep within the Earth.

Instead, the research highlights a two-stage process: an initial fertilisation of the mantle during subduction, followed – sometimes hundreds of millions or even billions of years later – by a separate event that triggers melting and magma formation.

“This time lag is one of the most surprising aspects of our findings,” Prof Spandler said. “It shows that the Earth’s mantle can store these enriched zones for incredibly long periods before the right conditions arise to form mineral deposits.”

The research team mapped these regions across the globe, finding they cover around 35% of the Earth’s continental crust. Importantly, areas where multiple subduction events overlapped were found to host particularly high concentrations of REE deposits.

Co-author Dr Andrew Merdith said the work has significant implications for mineral exploration.

“By focusing on these ancient tectonic zones, exploration companies and governments can take a more targeted and efficient approach to finding new deposits,” Dr Merdith said. “This is especially important as demand for rare earth elements continues to grow.”

The findings also provide new insights into Earth’s geological evolution, including how continents have been shaped over billions of years and how deep Earth processes influence surface resources.

Beyond resource exploration, the study highlights the long-term storage of carbon and water in the Earth’s mantle, with implications for understanding past climate and volcanic activity.

The research was conducted in collaboration with the ARC Centre in Critical Resources for the Future.

‘Linking carbonatites, rare earth ores, and subduction-fertilized mantle lithosphere’ is published in Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aeb2942

Newswise — ATLANTA, March 22, 2026 — Hawaii has a plastic problem. The island state faces economic and logistical challenges in recycling plastic waste, including marine debris that lingers in its ocean waters. Researchers in Hawaii are pioneering a method to recycle the islands’ derelict fishing nets and residential plastic trash into asphalt roads. Early demonstrations show that these recycled materials may provide a viable end-of-life fate for the region’s garbage.

Jeremy Axworthy, a researcher at the Center for Marine Debris Research (CMDR) at Hawaiʻi Pacific University, will present the team’s results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2026 is being held March 22-26; it features nearly 11,000 presentations on a range of science topics.

“This work investigates whether it’s responsible to use recycled plastics in Hawaii’s roads,” shares Axworthy. “By reusing plastic waste that is already in Hawaii, we can reduce the environmental and economic impacts of transporting waste plastics from the islands, incinerating it or dumping it in Hawaii’s overflowing landfills.”

Since 2020, Hawaii’s roads have predominantly been paved with polymer-modified asphalt (PMA) to increase pavement strength and durability. Compared to standard asphalt pavement, PMA pavement is more elastic and more resistant to cracking, rutting and water damage — qualities that are especially important for the state’s tropical climate. PMA pavement is made by first melting pellets of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS; a type of copolymer) into a sticky, petroleum-based asphalt binder. Then, the PMA binder is tumbled with heated aggregates (rocks and sand) in a mixing drum, causing the PMA binder to fully coat the aggregates.

But why not see if discarded plastics could be incorporated into asphalt pavements as an environmentally friendly disposal option? How would modified pavements made with recycled plastics perform, and would they release microplastics or associated chemicals into the environment? These are the questions the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) aimed to answer when they reached out to environmental chemist Jennifer Lynch, CMDR director and team lead.

HDOT asked Lynch’s team for two things. The first was to provide derelict fishing nets removed from Hawaii’s marine environment for the creation of recycled plastic-modified asphalt pavements. “Foreign plastic derelict fishing gear is the largest contributor of Hawaii’s marine debris problem,” shares Lynch. “To date, CMDR’s Bounty Project, which pays a financial reward to licensed commercial fishers for marine debris removal, has removed 84 tons of large, derelict fishing gear from the Pacific Ocean.”

HDOT’s second request was to measure possible microplastic shedding from pavements made with plastic waste versus that from standard SBS-modified pavement. “CMDR’s laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art chemical instrumentation for quantifying and characterizing microplastics in environmental samples,” explains Lynch. “This capability is incredibly unique and impactful, especially when coupled to our marine debris-removal project and our mission to recycle the debris into long-term, locally necessary infrastructure products.”

Once a U.S.-based company converted the waste into products that could be incorporated into asphalt, HDOT took the experimental asphalt mixes to Hawaii’s streets. A local paving company laid down sections of a residential road on the island of Oahu with asphalt pavement containing standard SBS, repurposed polyethylene from Honolulu’s recycling containers and polyethylene from fishing nets. After about 11 months of regular traffic usage, Lynch’s team stepped in to collect road dust samples from each section of pavement to test for microplastic shedding, which could contaminate the surrounding soil.

The researchers processed the road dust using a method that separates different types of polymers from other materials in the dust, including microplastics, larger chunks of plastic and tire rubber. Using pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS), they identified and measured the source of the polymers: styrene and butadiene from the standard PMA, polyethylene from the plastic-waste and fishing-net PMA, and isoprene and butadiene rubber from tires.

Initial tests showed that pavements made with recycled polyethylene did not release more polymers than the control pavement made with SBS. Lynch’s team showed this was true during mechanical performance tests with pavement samples as well as in simulated stormwater collected from the experimental road sections. Microplastic-sized particles were detected, but very few of these were identified as polyethylene regardless of the pavement type tested. This is likely because the polymers are melted into the asphalt binder, meaning particles that break off are not plastic alone; they are a mixture of rock, binder and melted polymer chains.

The CMDR team is also comparing the amount of polymers shed from the pavement to the amount of polymers shed by tires in the road dust. “In our initial Py-GC-MS data,” continues Lynch, “we saw tire wear swamps the signal of polyethylene by orders of magnitude, like gigantic peaks! We had to search the weeds of the chromatogram to find signs of polyethylene.”

Additional research is needed to assess pavement durability. But the researchers are hopeful that someday, repurposing used plastics into pavement could help reduce landfill and marine debris in Hawaii.

“Some people think plastic recycling is a hoax — that it doesn’t work; it’s too challenging,” Lynch shares. “But this work demonstrates that recycling can work when society prioritizes sustainability.”

The research was funded by the Hawaii Department of Transportation.

Visit the ACS Spring 2026 program to learn more about this presentation, “Harvesting ocean plastics to pave hawaiian roads: Evaluation of microplastic and plastic additive release from asphalt incorporating recycled plastic from various waste streams,” and other science presentations.

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is committed to improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Its mission is to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community and champion scientific integrity, and its vision is a world built on science. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, e-books and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS Division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. 

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Title
Harvesting ocean plastics to pave hawaiian roads: Evaluation of microplastic and plastic additive release from asphalt incorporating recycled plastic from various waste streams

Abstract
Polymer modified asphalt (PMA) is used to increase strength and durability of roads. In Hawaii, PMA is typically produced using the virgin co-polymer styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS). Recycled plastics, such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), may also be added to asphalt serving to sequester plastic waste. In the state of Hawaii, derelict fishing gear (DFG) is a significant problem, yet it is also a source of HDPE that can be used in recycling. However, asphalt performance and the consequences of adding recycled polymers to asphalt are not well understood. In collaboration with the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) and the University of Hawaii (UH), the Center for Marine Debris Research (CMDR) are testing the feasibility of using recycled HDPE in asphalt by quantifying microplastics and plastic additives release from roads paved with asphalts made from different combinations of virgin and recycled polymers. The specific asphalt combinations being tested are: SBS (Control-PMA), DFG with and without SBS (DFG-PMA and DFG-neat), Local Waste recycled HDPE with and without SBS (LW-PMA and LW-neat), and Commercially Available, post-industrial recycled HDPE with and without SBS (CA-PMA and CA-neat). Microplastic and plastic additive release under laboratory conditions were performed using a Hamburg Wheel Tracker Test (HWTT) with water sample analyses. Field trials were conducted on a residential road on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Road dust was swept and analyzed for microplastics by direct analysis and solvent extraction to separate bound plastic from asphalt and plastic additives by water extraction. Microplastic samples utilized pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry for analysis. Plastic additives are subjected to solid phase extraction with analysis by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Results produced using these novel analytical methods provide guidance on the use of recycled plastics over virgin plastics in roadways. Moreover, results of this study may provide a viable end of life fate for plastic marine debris, leading to cleaner and healthier oceans.

Newswise — WASHINGTON, March 3, 2026 — When you reach the bottom of a container of milk or honey, you might be tempted to tip the container over to get that last pesky little bit out. After all, you only need another teaspoon for that recipe, and you’re sure it’s in there!

In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Brown University present two related studies about thin film fluid flows in the kitchen: one about the relationship between how long it takes to tip the remaining liquid out of a container and its viscosity, and the other about the ideal time to wait before dumping water out of a wok to minimize rusting — it’s more effective to wait a few minutes to let the water accumulate so there’s more to pour out.

“The kitchen is sort of the prime laboratory,” said author Jay Tang. “It deals with a lot of chemistry, materials science, and physics.”

Most people have an intuitive sense of what viscosity is, often described as how thick a fluid feels. It is measured scientifically by applying a certain amount of force to a fluid and measuring its flow rate.

“If you want to empty a jar of water — a few brief seconds, and you have very little left. But if you try to empty a jar of honey, you need to wait longer,” said author Thomas Dutta. “How much longer? The viscosity can tell us.”

By measuring various examples, the researchers derived an exact equation for this flow. A particularly sustainable person can use this to decide how long to wait to collect 99% of what remains in their jar — but for most people, the intuitive understanding that something viscous, like honey or syrup, takes longer than water does will suffice.

“This tipping thing used to happen in my home when I was a kid,” said Dutta. “My grandma would do it with oil bottles or condensed milk.”

The same principle applies to drying out a wok. After washing and dumping out the initial water, Dutta and Tang calculated the ideal amount of time one should allow the remaining water to reaccumulate at its bottom before dumping it again — too long, and it will rust, but too short, and not enough of the water will pool. Figuring out just the right amount of time relies, unsurprisingly, on the viscosity of water. The answer: a few minutes.

“We use these common household examples to really try to show people in a quantitative way that these are all thin film fluid flow, and we can use fluid mechanics to calculate and predict and reliably estimate things,” said Tang. “The things people handle on a daily basis have a lot of physics behind them.”

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The article “Thin film flow in the kitchen” is authored by Thomas T. Dutta and Jay X. Tang. It will appear in Physics of Fluids on March 3, 2026 (DOI: 10.1063/5.0308586). After that date, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0308586.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Physics of Fluids is devoted to the publication of original theoretical, computational, and experimental contributions to the dynamics of gases, liquids, and complex fluids. See https://pubs.aip.org/aip/pof.

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Newswise — After high-profile water crises like the one in Flint, Michigan, some Americans distrust the safety of tap water, choosing to purchase drinking water from freestanding water vending machines or kiosks. Yet this more expensive water may contain different pollutants than local tap water, according to a study in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology. Researchers report that water sampled from 20 kiosks in six states sometimes contained lead at levels above public health recommendations.

“Currently, water kiosks are not regulated the same as tap water; their water is not tested for lead or other metals,” says Samantha Zuhlke, a corresponding author of this study. “Updating water kiosk regulations can improve their quality and help consumers make informed decisions about the water they are drinking.”

Water kiosks are privately owned vending machines that are often marketed as being safer than tap water, commanding prices of $0.25-$0.35 per gallon (compared to less than 2 cents per gallon for tap water in most U.S. cities). Kiosk operators generally treat local tap water with purification techniques such as filtration, ultraviolet light or reverse osmosis (RO) to remove potentially harmful contaminants such as lead, microbes, residual disinfectants, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). But water vending machines in the U.S. are poorly regulated. So, a team of researchers led by Zuhlke and David Cwiertny conducted a comprehensive comparison of the chemical and microbial characteristics of kiosk water and tap water from municipalities close to the monitored kiosks.

The team collected water samples from 20 kiosks operated by four different manufacturers across Iowa and in the surrounding states of Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Most of the kiosks advertised treatment of their water by RO, a process that uses pressure to force water through a semipermeable membrane, purifying the water and leaving most contaminants caught behind the membrane. For comparison, the researchers collected tap water samples from community sources within a mile of each kiosk.

They analyzed all samples and found no evidence of microbial contamination in any sample. They also found that RO treatment in kiosks effectively removed most PFAS from the sourced tap water. However, this benefit was offset by concerning levels of lead in some RO-purified kiosk water samples — nearly twice the concentration recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The researchers traced the lead to the corrosion of brass plumbing in the kiosks following RO treatment. Although the plumbing components are marketed as “lead-free,” small amounts of the metal can leach under the low-pH and low-alkalinity conditions of RO-treated water, they say. Replacing the internal metal pieces with other materials could eliminate lead in dispensed water.

“This work adds to growing evidence that allowable levels of lead in ‘lead-free’ plumbing can still be problematic sources of lead in drinking water when such plumbing is exposed to certain types of water, like that generated after RO treatment,” Cwiertny says.

The authors acknowledge funding from the University of Iowa’s Center for Social Science Innovation and the Office of Undergraduate Research. This work was conducted through the University of Iowa Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination, which receives support through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The paper’s abstract will be available on Feb. 11 at 8 a.m. Eastern time here:   

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is committed to improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Its mission is to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community and champion scientific integrity, and its vision is a world built on science. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, e-books and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Registered journalists can subscribe to the ACS journalist news portal on EurekAlert! to access embargoed and public science press releases. For media inquiries, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note: ACS does not conduct research but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies.

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Newswise — WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2026 — Arctic sea ice has large effects on the global climate. By cooling the planet, Arctic ice impacts ocean circulation, atmospheric patterns, and extreme weather conditions, even outside the Arctic region. However, climate change has led to its rapid decline, and being able to make real-time predictions of sea ice extent (SIE) — the area of water with a minimum concentration of sea ice — has become crucial for monitoring sea ice health.

In Chaos, by AIP Publishing, researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom reported accurate, real-time predictions of SIE in Arctic regions. Sea ice coverage is at its minimum in September, making the month a critical indicator of sea ice health and the primary target of the work.

“Indigenous Arctic communities depend on the hunting of species like polar bears, seals, and walruses, for which sea ice provides essential habitat,” said author Dimitri Kondrashov. “There are other economic activities, such as gas and oil drilling, fishing, and tourism, where advance knowledge of accurate ice conditions reduces risks and costs.”

The researchers’ approach treats sea ice evolution as a set of atmospheric and oceanic factors that oscillate at different rates — for example, climate memory at long timescales, annual seasonal cycles, and quickly changing weather — while still interacting with one another. They used the National Snow and Ice Data Center’s average daily SIE measurements from 1978 onward to find the relationships between these factors that affect sea ice.

Testing their prediction method live in September 2024, and retroactively for Septembers of past years, the group confirmed their technique is generally accurate and can capture effects from subseasonal to seasonal timescales. They predicted SIE ranging from one to four months out and found their predictions outperformed other models.

In general, long-term climate forecasts tend to be easier and more reliable than short-term predictions. However, by incorporating regional data into their model, the researchers were able to improve short-term ice and weather estimates.

“The model includes several large Arctic regions composing [the] pan-Arctic,” said Kondrashov. “Despite large differences in sea ice conditions from year to year in different regions, the model can pick it up reasonably accurately.”

The group plans to improve their model by including additional oceanic and atmospheric variables, such as air temperature and sea level pressure. These variables can cause fast changes and short-term fluctuations that are not currently reflected in the model, and the researchers hope these additions will further enhance the predictability of summertime Arctic sea ice.

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The article “Accurate and robust real-time prediction of September Arctic sea ice” is authored by Dimitri Kondrashov, Ivan Sudakow, Valerie N. Livina, and QingPing Yang. It will appear in Chaos on Feb. 3, 2026 (DOI: 10.1063/5.0295634). After that date, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0295634.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Chaos is devoted to increasing the understanding of nonlinear phenomena in all areas of science and engineering and describing their manifestations in a manner comprehensible to researchers from a broad spectrum of disciplines. See https://pubs.aip.org/aip/cha.

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Newswise — Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have co-developed a new way to precisely control the internal structure of common plastics during 3D printing, allowing a single printed object to seamlessly shift from rigid to flexible using only light.

In a paper published today in Science, the researchers describe a technique called crystallinity regulation in additive fabrication of thermoplastics (CRAFT) that enables microscopic control over how plastic molecules arrange themselves as an object is printed. The work opens new possibilities for advanced manufacturing, soft robotics, national defense, energy damping and information storage, according to the researchers. The team includes collaborators from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), the University of Texas at Austin, Oregon State University, Arizona State University and Savannah River National Laboratory.

The team demonstrated that by carefully tuning light intensity during printing, they could dictate how crystalline or amorphous a thermoplastic becomes at specific locations within a part. That molecular arrangement determines whether a material behaves more stiff and rigid, or as a softer, more flexible plastic — without changing the base material. CRAFT builds on that principle by allowing researchers to control crystallinity spatially during printing, rather than uniformly throughout a part.

“A classic example of crystallinity is the difference between high-density polyethylene —picture a milk jug — and low-density polyethylene, like squeeze bottles and plastic bags. The bulk property difference in these two forms of polyethylene stems largely from differences in crystallinity,” said LLNL staff scientist Johanna Schwartz. “Our CRAFT effort is exciting in that we are controlling the crystallinity within a thermoplastic spatially with variations in light intensity, making areas of increased and decreased crystallinity to produce parts with control over material properties throughout the whole geometry.”

A key challenge, however, was translating this new materials capability into practical manufacturing instructions that could be used on real 3D printers, according to LLNL engineer Hernán Villanueva. Villanueva joined the project after early discussions with Schwartz and former SNL scientists Samuel Leguizamon and Alex Commisso identified a missing link: a way to convert any three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) into the detailed light patterns needed to print parts using the CRAFT method.

Villanueva said he drew on prior work in a multi-institutional team focused on lattice structures and advanced manufacturing workflows. In that effort, he developed software that rapidly converted complex, topology-optimized designs into printing instructions by parallelizing the process on LLNL’s high-performance computing (HPC) systems — reducing turnaround times from days to hours or minutes.

Applying that same computational approach to CRAFT, Villanueva adapted the workflow to encode “changes in light” rather than changes in material. He was soon able to convert 3D CAD geometries directly into CRAFT printing instructions, cutting instruction-generation time from hours — or even a full day — down to seconds, making rapid design iteration and demonstration of the method practical.

“This work is a natural extension of the Lab’s strengths in advanced manufacturing and materials by design,” Villanueva said. “As part of the CRAFT effort, we have evolved a tool that connects materials science with computational workflows and advanced printing, enabling us to move directly from a 3D design to a part with spatially varying properties.”

The team’s method relies on a light-activated polymerization process in which exposure level governs the stereochemistry of growing polymer chains, researchers said. Lower light intensities favor more ordered crystalline regions, while higher intensities suppress crystallization, yielding softer, more transparent material. By projecting grayscale patterns during printing, the team produced parts with smoothly varying mechanical and optical properties.

The demonstrated ability to tune properties by changing a light’s intensity rather than swapping materials could significantly simplify additive manufacturing (3D printing), Schwartz explained.

“If you can get many different properties from one vat of material, printing complex multi-material or multi-modulus structures becomes much easier,” she said.

The researchers demonstrated the CRAFT technique on commercial 3D printers, fabricating objects that combine multiple mechanical behaviors in a single print. Examples included bio-inspired structures that mimic bones, tendons and soft tissue, reproductions of famous paintings, as well as materials designed to absorb or redirect vibrational energy without adding weight or complexity. Among the most striking demonstrations was the ability to encode crystallinity through transparency differences, according to Schwartz.

“Being able to visualize the differences easily spatially, to the point of generating the Mona Lisa out of only one material, was incredibly cool,” Schwartz said.

LLNL’s Villanueva said the work reflects the Lab’s long-standing investments in HPC and in integrating modeling, design tools and novel manufacturing processes. He added that future work could integrate topology optimization directly into the CRAFT framework, enabling researchers to optimize light patterns themselves — rather than material layouts — to achieve desired performance.

Because the process works with thermoplastics — materials that can be melted and reshaped — printed parts remain recyclable and reprocessable, an important advantage for manufacturing sustainability. The findings suggest a future where 3D-printed plastic components can be tailored at the molecular level for specific functions, bridging the gap between material science and digital manufacturing.

From an applications standpoint, Schwartz said the technology could have broad and near-term impact.

“Energy dampening and metamaterial design are the most exciting use cases to me,” she said. “From space to fusion to electronics, there are so many industries that rely on energy and vibrational dampening control. This CRAFT printing process can access all of them.”