Rhenium and technetium not only share the same group in the periodic table, but also have some common history relating to how they were — or indeed weren't — discovered. Eric Scerri explains.

Seemingly small issues can have significant consequences. Rare-earth elements, which have featured prominently in the popular press in 2011, provide an example. They are used in small quantities ...

READERS may be forgiven for not having heard of rhenium (chemical symbol Re). It was discovered comparatively recently in 1925 and, at seven parts per billion, is one of the rarest elements in the ...

For example, for some widely used metals — including copper, chromium, manganese, and lead — no good substitutes exist for their major uses. “We expected that at least a few of them would be ...