POWER FORWARD

摘要

The thing about the future is that it's always going to arrive, so it's entirely possible to blunder our way into it. But it's better to plan. That's the message of "Critical Matter" [page 76], this issue's investigative safari into those corners of the periodic table where lurk more than two dozen elements-from lithium to neodymium to rhenium-that are crucial to the manufacture of the batteries and other high-tech components in hybrid cars, windmills, solar panels and other clean-energy technologies.