To assess the stability of the high-temperature microstructure of modified tungsten materials, including the recovery, recrystallization and grain growth stages, the Vickers hardness and grain size were measured after isothermal annealing at 1100-2300°C for 1 hour.

In Frank Herbert's space opera Dune, a precious natural substance called "spice mixture" gives people the ability to navigate the vast universe to build an interstellar civilization. In real life on Earth, a group of natural metals known as rare earth elements make our modern technology possible. The demand for these key components in virtually all modern electronics is skyrocketing.

In some coastal areas, the sea occasionally glows blue-green at night as bioluminescent plankton lurch through the waves. Rare earths also radiate light when stimulated. de Bettencourt-Dias says the trick is to tickle their f-electrons for adding color and brilliance to electronics.

In 1945, scientists built the ENIAC, the world's first programmable general-purpose digital computer (SN: 2/23/46, p. 118). Nicknamed the "Giant Brain," ENIAC weighed more than four elephants and covered an area about two-thirds the size of a tennis court. Less than 80 years later, the ubiquitous smartphone, which has far more computing power than the ENIAC. society owes this miniaturization of electronics in large part to the special magnetic power of rare earths. A small rare-earth magnet can do the same job as large magnets that do not contain rare earths.