Both nitrogen and phosphorous are essential to life. Lynchpins both to global food production, circulating through synthesis or export and then through croplands and food into -- and out of -- our bodies, both elements today inhabit cycles that, in their own ways, function more in the breach. Phosphorous is a scarce resource. As ARNO ROSEMARIN tells us, it is the focus of intense geopolitical interest. At the centre of this interest: internecine conflict in Africa, and a global rush for Western Sahara's reserves. Nitrogen is a resource in plenty. But, as T V JAYAN shows, that isn't helping. Indeed, the world today faces a nitrogen deluge. That's because a lot of it exists in the form of waste. And that's because the cycle has been broken. Now, nitrogen-bearing waste goes not back to the land but into water. Is it possible not to be at war with these two elements?