Neodymium is the most famous member of the Rare Earth group of metals. It is the *boss* when it comes to making strong magnets. Much less known dysprosium however is in some ways the unsung hero sidekick. Like other magnets, neodymium ones have a sweet spot in the temperature range where they’re most magnet-ey. For regular magnets the sort that are on your fridge holding up pics of Aunt Edna and her two little brats, neodymium does just fine all on its own (well, with a big helping of iron too but that’s another story) but there’s another type. That would be the type that runs inside motors where if they go this way they run a shaft forward and the other way they charge a battery. All that movement creates friction that heats up the magnet. And this is the part where neodymium isn’t so good at. Heat saps the strength of neodymium’s magnetic properties.

Enter dysprosium. When mixed in with the neodymium, dysprosium manages to prop up neodymium’s unearthly pull well past the point the rest of the motor is smoking and throwing off sparks. This reason alone has meant that this rare earth has a steady and growing demand. Dysprosium’s price has tripled from the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. As production and exports from China resumed, the price unfortunately refused to return to its historical trading ranges. There’s little indication that it will given the rapid growth in the renewable energy and electric vehicle industries.

Here’s three cheers for a little known element that quietly forms part of our modern age.