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"Luciani, Giacomo"
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Space station biomining experiment demonstrates rare earth element extraction in microgravity and Mars gravity
Microorganisms are employed to mine economically important elements from rocks, including the rare earth elements (REEs), used in electronic industries and alloy production. We carried out a mining experiment on the International Space Station to test hypotheses on the bioleaching of REEs from basaltic rock in microgravity and simulated Mars and Earth gravities using three microorganisms and a purposely designed biomining reactor.
Sphingomonas desiccabilis
enhanced mean leached concentrations of REEs compared to non-biological controls in all gravity conditions. No significant difference in final yields was observed between gravity conditions, showing the efficacy of the process under different gravity regimens.
Bacillus subtilis
exhibited a reduction in bioleaching efficacy and
Cupriavidus metallidurans
showed no difference compared to non-biological controls, showing the microbial specificity of the process, as on Earth. These data demonstrate the potential for space biomining and the principles of a reactor to advance human industry and mining beyond Earth.
Rare earth elements are used in electronics, but increase in demand could lead to low supply. Here the authors conduct experiments on the International Space Station and show microbes can extract rare elements from rocks at low gravity, a finding that could extend mining potential to other planets.
Journal Article
The Politics of Arab Integration
This volume, first published in 1988, is the result of a major research project, the most important inquiry into the fundamental political structure of the Arab world. It is often argued that Arab states are arbitrary political creations that lack historical or present legitimacy and are unable to relate to each other in a productive way. It is further suggested that the demise of pan-Arabism merely underlines the inability of individual Arab states to integrate either domestically or internationally. This book, Volume Four in the Nation, State and Integration in the Arab World research project carried out by the Istituto Affari Internazionali, sets out to answer the questions of Arab integration, with articles from a wide range of contributors from around the world.
eBook
The Costs and Promise of Turkish Accession to the EU
Currently, the EU as a whole finds itself in an economic context in which growth is not very stimulating, although the differences by country are significant, principally between the new and old Member States. From this perspective, the author offers an economic analysis of the costs, and opportunities, of Turkey’s accession to the communityfamily, both for that country and for the EU.
Journal Article
EU-Russia Gas Blues
EU-Russia gas relations have come under the spotlight following the annexation of Crimea and the eruption of civil war, with direct Russian involvement, in Eastern Ukraine. Yet tensions in gas relations have been building up for the last two decades, and are primarily related to Europe's strategic decision to unify the gas markets of the member countries and enforce competitive and transparent trading conditions.
Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled natural gas company and the largest extractor of natural gas in the world, forcefully opposed this strategy in association with its traditional partners, incumbent gas importing companies. Following a long war of attrition that has evolved over the better part of the last twenty years, it now appears that Gazprom is on the verge of accepting the transformation of the European gas market, and is behaving competitively to preserve its market share. The Ukrainian conflict has been instrumental in precipitating this shift, facilitating the task of the European Commission in coalescing consensus on the need to rein in Gazprom's excessive market power.
Whether European dependence on Russian gas is bound to diminish, however, is less clear. Russian gas remains an essential component of Europe's gas supply, and abundant Russian reserves guarantee that the European Union will be able to continue relying on Russia for the foreseeable future.
Journal Article
Price and Revenue Volatility: What Policy Options and Role for the State?
Price volatility is a major problem for all commodity exporters because it translates into direct or indirect volatility of government revenue. Should a developing country's state be responsible for isolating the domestic economy from the consequences of fluctuating international commodity prices? This article argues that this is an essential function of the state and a crucial component of its legitimacy. Recently, the establishment of stabilization funds has been regarded as an essential component of good governance, notwithstanding the persistence of major problems. As an alternative, this article proposes the use of resource revenue for establishing endowments of autonomous public institutions with well-defined developmental goals, or furnishing the equity for strategically important commercial corporations. The latter opens the door to an interesting perspective on the potential path toward progressive democratization of the rentier states.
Journal Article