Terra Magnetica

The Defense Metals Technology Center [DMTC], based in North Canton, Ohio, is hosting its 2nd Annual Strategic Materials Conference [SMC] during Feb 1-2, 2010 in Cleveland, Ohio. According to the DMTC Web site: The Defense Metals Technology Center (DMTC) was formed in January, 2007 in order to establish an industrial base capable of affordably producing [...]

Earlier today, I was pleased to learn that the Organizing Committee of the 21st International Workshop on Rare Earth Permanent Magnets and the Applications [REPM10] announced their first Call for Abstracts.  This meeting takes places in Bled, Slovenia from August 29 to September 2, 2010. Held every two years, the Workshop was inaugurated in 1974 [...]

So the day finally came.  DC permanent magnet motor vs. AC induction motor. Nickel metal hydride vs. Lithium-ion. Prius vs. Roadster… The place? Denmark… home of wind turbines, pickled herring and Kierkegaard. Not the first place you might expect the Prius and Roadster to come together, but the Fates must have had their reasons. Steen [...]

As I’ve posted about extensively here at Terra Magnetica, the US National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 contained language that required that the Federal government look at the role of rare earth materials in the US defense supply chain. Earlier this week, the bill was finally signed into law by President Obama. Section [...]

Earlier today, the United States Magnet Materials Association [USMMA] announced the formation of a new Advisory Board, comprising three highly-respected members of the magnetics & rare earths community. Joining the USMMA in this capacity are: Jack Lifton, of Jack Lifton LLC and The Jack Lifton Report, who is a well known commentator and consultant with [...]

I know I’ve been rather lax in following up on my last post here, sent just before the Critical & Strategic Metals Conference in Washington DC last week.  It was a most interesting event.  It gave many folks a chance to interact with other parts of the supply chain that they might not have directly [...]

I’m currently in Washington D.C., ahead of a three-day meeting called “Managing Supply Chain Risks for Critical & Strategic Metals”.  This meeting, co-chaired by Jack Lifton of Jack Lifton, LLC, and Lisa Reisman of Aptium Global, will no doubt be an interesting mix of discussions and participants.  It looks to cover rare earth metals, minor metals, platinum [...]

A study on the therapeutic effects of magnetic and copper bracelets was published late this summer in Complementary Therapies in Medicine, and the news of its findings has slowly but surely filtered its way into the mainstream media. Unfortunately for the myriad purveyors of magnetic bracelets, necklaces, rings, insoles and other magnet therapy-related paraphernalia, the [...]

Last week I was in Denmark, and while there I had an opportunity to pay a visit to some wind turbines operated by Aalborg University in Northern Denmark.  Getting to finally see and hear a fully functional 2.3 MW wind turbine “in the flesh” was pretty cool, I have to say. There was a reasonable [...]

I saw an intriguing news item over at the Magnetism & Electromagnetics Interest Group yesterday, and I see that it’s starting to make its way into the press.  The Huntsville Times is reporting that “Larry Fullerton, formerly of Time Domain, has developed a process to ‘program’ magnetic and electromagnetic materials so they will only attract [...]