Rare earths are presently steering talks on EV batteries, wind turbines and next-gen defence gear. Yet many people often confuse what “rare earths” truly are. Seventeen little-known elements underwrite the tech that fuels modern life. For decades they mocked chemists, remaining a riddle, until a quantum pioneer named Niels Bohr rewrote the r

Rare earths are currently dominating debates on EV batteries, wind turbines and advanced defence gear. Yet the public still misunderstand what “rare earths” actually are. These 17 elements appear ordinary, but they drive the technologies we use daily. Their baffling chemistry kept scientists scratching their heads for decades—until Niels Boh