Iron

The Baltic Dry Index tracks the cost of shipping bulk commodities such as iron ore or coal.

One reason the board game piece may have been canned is new products like wrinkle-free fabrics have made ironing a thing of the past. Once a staple in every home, many people no longer even own an iron.

An entrepreneur under contract with a native village in Canada dumped tons of iron in the Pacific to spark a plankton bloom that would capture carbon dioxide. That violated ocean treaties, and angered scientists who are studying that kind of geo-engineering.