Originally spotted this piece in Popular Science in Apple News+, but I'm linking to its original appearance on the web at Undark, a new-to-me digital news platform.

Anyway, it seems that a lot of concrete is contaminated with aggregate containing pyrrhotite, an iron sulfide mineral that breaks down in contact with oxygen and water, causing expansion and crumbling of concrete.

Yeesh. As if we didn't have enough things to worry about already!

It's bad enough for individuals unfortunate enough to have foundations built with the affected material, but what about road infrastructure?

News like this brings to mind the words of one of the great thinkers of our time, Roseanne Roseannadanna, "It's always something."

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:05 Tuesday, 31 December 2024