Rare-Earth-Free Magnets With High Entropy Borides

Map of the calculated magnetic anisotropy. (Credit: Beeson et al., Adv. Mat., 2025)
Although most of us simultaneously accept the premise that magnets are quite literally everywhere and that few people know how they work, a major problem with magnets today is that they tend to rely on so-called rare-earth elements. Although firmly in the top 5 of misnomers, these abundant elements are hard to mine and isolate, which means that finding alternatives to their use is much desired. Fortunately the field of high entropy alloys (HEAs) offers hope here, with [Beeson] and colleagues recently demonstrating a rare-earth-free material that could be used for magnets.

Although many materials can be magnetic, to make a good magnet you need the material in question to be both magnetically anisotropic and posses a clear easy axis. This basically means a material that has strong preferential magnetic directions, with the easy axis being the orientation which is the most energetically favorable.

Through experimental validation with magnetic coercion it was determined that of the tested boride films, the (FeCoNiMn)₂B variant with a specific deposition order showed the strongest anisotropy. What is interesting in this study is how much the way that the elements are added and in which way determines the final properties of the boride, which is one of the reasons why HEAs are such a hot topic of research currently.

Of course, this is just an early proof-of-concept, but it shows the promise of HEAs when it comes to replacing other types of anisotropic materials, in particular where – as noted in the paper – normally rare-earths are added to gain the properties that these researchers achieved without these elements being required.

hackaday.com/2026/01/29/rare-e…

Solar Supercapacitor Lamp Probably Won’t Get You Saved At Sea

Most solar lights are cheap garbage that exist just to put more microplastics into the environment as they degrade in short order. [Jeremy Cook] built his own solar light, however, and this one might just last a little longer.

Most solar lights rely on the cheapest nickel-cadmium or nickel-metal hydride cells that are available on the market. They don’t tend to have a lot of capacity and they wear out incredibly fast. [Jeremy] went a different route for his build, though, instead relying on a rather tasty supercapacitor to store energy. Unlike a rechargeable battery, that may only last a few thousand cycles, these supercaps are expected to perform over 500,000 charge/discharge cycles without failure. With such longevity, [Jeremy] suggests his build could last a full 1369.8 years, assuming it charged and discharged once a day. Whether the plastic transistor, LEDs, or diode could hold up over such a long period is another question entirely.

Electronically, the build is relatively simple. The solar panel collects light energy and turns it into electricity, charging the supercaps through a diode. The supercaps are only able to discharge through a transistor, which only turns on when the voltage output by the solar panel drops at night time, and the voltage on the base becomes lower than that on the emitter. When current flows through the transistor, it then lights the LED in turn and the device glows in the darkness. As a nice touch, the whole circuit is installed in a glass jug of syrup originally sourced from Costco. Files are on Github for those eager to explore further.

Given the light-in-a-bottle construction, [Jeremy] also playfully imagined that a lamp like this could theoretically be used as a safety device. If lost at sea, you could charge it using the sun and try and use it to signal for help. However, upon casually exploring the concept, he notes that a small solar-powered light will only raise the chance of a far-off ocean rescue from “extremely unlikely” to “still very unlikely.”

You can do all kinds of neat things with free energy from the sun, from mowing your lawn to processing waste products. Video after the break.

youtube.com/embed/RGlVlMCu1PI?…

hackaday.com/2026/01/29/solar-…

Handheld Steering Wheel Controller Gets Force-Feedback

For a full-fledged, bells-and-whistles driving simulator a number of unique human interface devices are needed, from pedals and shifters to the steering wheel. These steering wheels often have force feedback, with a small motor inside that can provide resistance to a user’s input that feels the same way that a steering wheel on a real car would. Inexpensive or small joysticks often omit this feature, but [Jason] has figured out a way to bring this to even the smallest game controllers.

The mechanism at the center of his controller is a DC motor out of an inkjet printer. Inkjet printers have a lot of these motors paired with rotary encoders for precision control, which is exactly what is needed here. A rotary encoder can determine the precise position of the controller’s wheel, and the motor can provide an appropriate resistive force depending on what is going on in the game. The motors out of a printer aren’t plug-and-play, though. They also need an H-bridge so they can get driven in either direction, and the entire mechanism is connected to an Arduino in the base of the controller to easily communicate with a computer over USB.

In testing the controller does behave like its larger, more expensive cousins, providing feedback to the driver and showing that it’s ready for one’s racing game of choice. It’s an excellent project for those who are space-constrained or who like to game on the go, but if you have more space available you might also want to check out [Jason]’s larger version built from a power drill instead parts from an inkjet.

youtube.com/embed/MwuTVCoU8YM?…

hackaday.com/2026/01/29/handhe…

Fra il ghiaccio e il freddo dell'inverno
In Nicollet Avenue
Una città in fiamme ha combattuto il fuoco e il ghiaccio
Vicino agli stivali di un occupante
L'esercito privato del DHS di re Trump
Pistole legate ai loro cappotti
Sono venuti a Minneapolis per far rispettare la legge
O almeno così racconta la loro storia

Contro fumo e proiettili di gomma
Nella prima luce dell'alba
I cittadini si sono schierati per la giustizia
Le loro voci risuonavano nella notte
E c'erano impronte insanguinate
Dove avrebbe dovuto stare la misericordia
E due morti, lasciati morire sulle strade piene di neve
Alex Pretti e Renee Good

Oh, nostra Minneapolis, sento la tua voce
Cantare attraverso la nebbia di sangue
Prenderemo posizione per questa terra
E lo straniero in mezzo a noi
Qui nella nostra casa, hanno ucciso e vagato
Nell'inverno del '26
Ricorderemo i nomi di coloro che sono morti
Per le strade di Minneapolis

I delinquenti federali di Trump colpiscono
Il suo viso e il suo petto
Poi abbiamo sentito gli spari
E Alex Pretti giaceva morto nella neve
La loro richiesta era di legittima difesa, signore
Non credere ai tuoi occhi
Ci sono il nostro sangue e le nostre ossa
E questi fischietti e i telefoni
Contro le sporche bugie di Miller e Noem

Oh, nostra Minneapolis, sento la tua voce
Piangere attraverso la nebbia di sangue
Ricorderemo i nomi di coloro che sono morti
Per le strade di Minneapolis

Dicono di essere qui per far rispettare la legge
Ma calpestano i nostri diritti
Se la tua pelle è nera o marrone, amico mio
Puoi essere interrogato o deportato a vista
Nei nostri canti di "ICE out now"
Il cuore e l'anima della nostra città persistono
Attraverso vetri rotti e lacrime di sangue
Per le strade di Minneapolis

Oh, nostra Minneapolis, sento la tua voce
Cantare attraverso la nebbia di sangue
Qui nella nostra casa, hanno ucciso e girovagato
Nell'inverno del '26
Ci schiereremo per questa terra
E lo straniero in mezzo a noi
Ricorderemo i nomi di coloro che sono morti
Per le strade di Minneapolis

youtube.com/watch?v=wWKSoxG1K7…