Congratulations Bruce, them damn liberal eggheads from the University of Minn. ...

[rickgthf]

  ... do it again, that is they have eliminated one of the MAGA-rats biggest China talking points and made an electric future that much more feasible & inevitable.

  For about sixty years now, they've known that an iron-nitride material was magnetic and exhibit very strong magnetic properties.  The problem was, not everybody could make it magnetic, some people claimed it wasn't real.  About 20 years ago some researchers at UM set out to sort this out.  About ten years ago, they showed that it was real and just how to do it.  Not only was it real but the magnetic properties exceeded rare earth magnets by a factor of 2-3 times.  Not only that but they figured out how to produce them at commercial scale at low cost.

   Why is this significant?  Only because iron is the fourth most abundant element on earth and nitrogen makes up 80% of the atmosphere.  

  And now their spinoff company, Niron Magnetics is going into commercial production with its first production this year and an improved product next year.

[Edmund55]

(iron-nitride material was magnetic and exhibit very strong magnetic properties.)

Hope U of M didn't receive a Federal grant when all it would have taken was a web-search.

And niron is receiving a lot of solyndra type monies so hopefully they're more successful. 

[bruce MN]

Thanks. I guess.

But if the U is consistent with the past they will give it away to some random but well connected corporation which will turn it into multi-billions with not so much as a thank you mamm, much less any acknowledgement or a dime to the taxpayers of Our state.

All of the research Universities do that. RoundUo was developed in a little low brick building in Columbia MO and handed over gratis to the Big M. The PigChamp record keeping system was developed, on the public dime, at the University of Minnesota under the direction of a guy who “retired” and took it with him, to the tune of millions. 

But, yeah, great piece of research and discovery. I’m sure these researchers will get commendations when they retire and notable mentions in their obituaries.