Phosphorus Saved Our Way of Life—and Now Threatens to End It newyorker.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newyorker.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
<p>The industrial age miracle of phosphorus fertilizer production revolutionized agricultual yields. Today, humanity faces a twin crisis of the mineral's scarcity and the toxicity of the algae that it feeds with farm runoff. </p>