History
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The Ghost in Your Phone
['Rund Abdelfatah Ramtin Arablouei Devin Katayama Julie Caine Casey Miner Lawrence Wu Anya Steinberg Cristina Kim Yolanda Sangweni', 'Rund Abdelfatah', 'Ramtin Arablouei', 'Devin Katayama', 'Julie Caine', 'Casey Miner', 'Lawrence Wu', 'Anya Steinberg', 'Cristina Kim', 'Yolanda Sangweni']
Throughline
Enlarge this image JUNIOR KANNAH/AFP via Getty Images JUNIOR KANNAH/AFP via Getty Images And it's also one of the most essential: cobalt is what powers the batteries in your smartphone, your laptop, the electric car you felt good about buying. More than three-quarters of the world's cobalt supply lies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose abundant resources have drawn greed and grifters for centuries.