Phosphorus is the structural backbone of the phosphate nucleotides in DNA and RNA, Natalie Hinkel, a planetary astrophysicist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, told me via email.

Phosphate rock, or “phos-rock,” is ore that contains phosphorus. It is located at various depths, and extraction typically requires large dragline buckets, which scoop up the material for ...

Effective management of phosphorus is needed to curb the rise of harmful algal blooms. Few studies have explored how algal biomass, especially blue-green algae, can be used to create materials that ...