Rare earth elements are supposed to be rare, but this is getting ridiculous. Rare earth elements make highly efficient catalysts and magnets, and they’re critical resources for the electric-driven green economy. Demand is outstripping supply, and the elements are not evenly distributed across the nations of the earth. University innovation to the rescue! There are now next-generation magnets that are rare-earth element free, and in the future, these precious elements will come from a place they’re not, well, rare.   

Featured Technologies: Asteroid robot drill arm https://patents.google.com/patent/CN102967484A/en?oq=cn102967484; Rare earth free rare earth magnet https://patents.google.com/patent/US10332661B2/en?oq=14%2f232%2c830; More efficient rotor magnet configuration: https://www.warf.org/technologies/summary/p150363us01.cmsx

Hosts: Charlie Litton (@charlielitton); Tyler Scherr (@dare2scherr); Joe Runge (@EntreprenurialW)  

Sponsor:  UNeMed (https://www.unemed.com); @UNeMed 

Music: Countdown to Myocardial Infarction, by Peter Gresser. Used with permission. http://sonofactori.com/