Overview

An increasing number of chemical elements are used in modern technologies.   

This presentation focuses on those labelled 'rare metals' due to their strategic use in high-tech devices, particularly in IT and in so-called green technologies. They include rare earths elements, with such exotic names as praseodymium, neodymium or promethium, which are present in weak concentration in the Earth's crust and display fascinating physical and chemical properties. 

We will discuss where these metals are sourced; how they are refined; what are the properties that make them so useful; how sustainable their exploitation is and what are some of the related environmental costs and geopolitical issues.

We will also reflect on some of the technologies in which those metals are used in relationship to the current, widening and interrelated crises climate change; loss of biodiversity; increased social inequalities; the prospect of societal collapse and we will ask whether the direction our industrial society is steering towards is really sustainable.

Speaker

Dr Alice Courvoisier, Department of Electronic Engineering at the University of York

Dr Courvoisier teaches mathematics at the University of York. Working with future engineers has sparked her interest for ethical and societal aspects of science and technology. Alice is a member of the Science and Technology Studies Unit