Brief

Snails offer path to the perfect glue

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At our small fruit garden at the back of our house in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, snails are a menace, eating young papaya leaves through the night. These slow-moving snails can be found in the morning before they manage to hide under the stones and small logs or run across my neighbour’s fence. We will […]

Brief

US-China Trade War Affects Materials for New Energy Technologies

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New energy technologies require mineral resources such as copper, cobalt and lithium. A shift in the global energy system from fossil fuels- driven by cost reductions that are making new technologies  are increasingly competitive and by government policies to fight global warming and local pollution-is expected to result in steep increases in demand for some […]

Brief

Sand: Under-The-Radar Key Global Commodity

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In late 2008 I was tasked by the then Chief Minister of the industrial state of Selangor of Malaysia, in which Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia is also located, to re-organize the state’s sand industry. The sand industry has been rife with illegal sand extraction and corrupt officials. The state collected only a small […]

Brief

The New Health Drink: Non-Alcoholic Beer

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We noted a new health drink in a recent article in The Times of London on December 29th, 2018. Non-alcoholic beer has become a health drink for fitness enthusiasts in Germany. The health benefits of beer are derived from the use of hops (hop flower) in making beer. The hops are what make beer taste […]