DailyDirt: Going For The Gold...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Gold is a unique element that has been almost universally treasured. It's rare, but it isn't the hardest element to find. Gold has a remarkable property of not reacting with its environment, so it doesn't tarnish or burn. There aren't that many practical uses for it, compared to other metals, though, but here are a few links on some gold-related items.

• Microbial alchemy doesn't transmute lead into gold, but it does metabolize gold chloride (aqueous) into solid 24-karat gold. Cupriavidus metallidurans can tolerate highly toxic concentrations of gold chloride and reduce the metal so that it precipitates. [url]
• Gold medalists at the last Olympics didn't receive solid gold for their efforts but mostly silver with a gold coating. So in all those pictures of the athletes biting on their gold medals, that bite test for metal purity had a pretty good chance of failing. [url]
• The Last Pictures project is planning to preserve a visual record of human civilization on a silicon disc encased in gold -- for billions of years. This archival disc will be launched with the EchoStar XVI satellite and should remain in orbit for longer than our planet, as we know it, will exist. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

Filed Under: alchemy, archival storage, bacteria, gold, olympic medals, satellite, time capsule