US invests to address shortage of rare earth metals

US invests to address shortage of rare earth metals: http://www.ameslab.gov/news/news-releases/ames-laboratory-lead-new-research-effort-address-shortages-critical-materials ... "CMI will leverage these existing research programs into a larger, coordinated effort designed to eliminate materials criticality as an impediment to the commercialization of clean energy technologies. The Hub will address challenges across the entire life cycle of these materials. This ranges from enabling new sources; improving the economics of existing sources; accelerating material development and deployment; more efficient use in manufacturing; recycling and reuse; and developing strategies to assess and address the life cycles of new materials. Cross-cutting research, including developing computational tools and supply chain and economic analyses, will also be necessary to support the basic science needs across all challenge areas."