Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. Bioprospecting Tool Could Boost Critical Mineral Refining By Anna Squires Throughout the 1800s, naturalists journeyed to far-flung corners of the world to catalog birds, mammals, minerals, and plants. Now, a team of U.S. researchers is assembling a catalog of their own: an atlas of naturally occurring proteins capable of binding to rare earth elements.