If you want an explanation of why brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling today, industry observers say, look no further than Amazon. But there's more to the picture than that. Read More

The global shortage of microchips has had a devastating impact on multiple industries, not least automotive manufacturers, who are expected to have lost some $210 billion in 2021 because they couldn’t get enough chips to drive the systems in their vehicles. But how did we get to this state of affairs?

Are workers’ rights in the mines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo being sacrificed to the world’s hunger for cobalt?

Are we on target for making zero-emission vehicles account for half of all cars sold in the U.S. by 2030? Not without enough rare earth minerals to build them.

The failure of consumers to recycle their personal devices could lead to shortages of the precious metals needed to build new products. Read more.

The 17 “rare earth” minerals that are essential to so many high-tech products today, from electric cars to magnets and military systems, aren’t literally rare, but their mining and production is. Read more.

Rare earth minerals are an essential ingredient of countless high-tech and electronics products. And China holds a near monopoly on the worldwide. Read more.