quote: Rumpelstiltskin, the fairy-tale rogue who spun straw into gold, has nothing on Miguel Yacaman and Jorge Gardea-Torresdey.
The two University of Texas researchers have developed a way to draw gold from wheat, alfalfa, or—best of all—oats.
No spinning wheel required. In this day and age, a simple solvent will suffice to turn homely vegetation into a source of precious metals.
But if you're thinking of quitting the day job and buying an alfalfa farm, don't be too hasty. The quantities of gold at stake won't quickly cover the cost of a harvesting combine.
The yields, in fact, are microscopic. The gold appears as particles mere billionths of a meter wide.
Okay, it's not new news, but it IS cool. Linky
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Let me get this straight. They can extract gold from straw but the technology to develop a decent tasting diet soda continues to elude scientists. Jeezus.
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I don't have a link, but in a related fashion cadmium quantum dots can be made. Simply place some bacteria in a cadmium soltion and wait until they die. The bacteria cordon the cadmium that they absorb, since the environment contains more they could ever handle, this goes on until they die. Do something to remove the pesky biologicals, and ta da near uniform quantum dots.
Nature is really helpful, alread having all these nanoscale fabrication techniques and what not.
If asked I can find a link.
edit: nevermind this is the same thing, but with multicelluar organisms. Anyway this isn't new.
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Due to the fact that Rumplestilskin was my favorite fairy tale when I was a little kid (made my dad read it to me every night for months), I love this story. Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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