History has viewed mining as a job that requires a lot of heavy machinery and physical labor. Pulling valuable material out of the ground has been necessary for human progress for thousands of years.

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Recent experiments aboard the International Space Station have shown that some microbes can harvest valuable rare-earth elements from rocks, even when exposed to microgravity conditions. The ...

A biomining experiment on the International Space Station could help the first space settlers to gather the minerals they need to survive. Sign up for the top news stories every day to keep you ...

If humans hope to visit and eventually live on other worlds like the Moon or Mars, we’ll need to learn how to utilize the resources we find along the way. A new experiment launched to the ...

Microgravity didn't deter one species of tiny biominer. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Microbes could be a key partner in ...

NASA scientists completed an experiment aboard the ISS that involves biomining vanadium using the power of microbes to do some work. Biomining is common thanks to its cost-effectiveness and ...

An experiment on the International Space Station (ISS) has shown that microbes can extract valuable or useful elements from rocks in microgravity, suggesting “biomining” might be key to making use of ...