New report highlights ways to fill Canada's phosphorus gap amid global supply constraints
In 1669, German alchemist Hennig Brand was looking for a way to create gold when he boiled down gallons of urine and heated the smelly residue to a high temperature. The result was not the hoped-for precious metal but a pale solid that glows in the dark and burns brilliantly when exposed to air. Brand dubbed his discovery phosphorus, the Greek word for "light bearer."
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