Posted on 02/06/2013 4:57:23 PM PST by neverdem
Forget ancient maps and metal detectors. Those seeking hidden gold might do well to add bacteria to their toolbox. The bacterium Delftia acidovorans secretes a molecule that binds to dissolved gold and turns it into shiny, solid gold, scientists have discovered.
The bacterium — and perhaps others like it — might one day process gold at mining sites or create gold nanoparticles with desirable properties, says geomicrobiologist Frank Reith, a research fellow at the University of Adelaide in Australia.
In 2006 Reith and his colleagues reported finding biofilms of bacteria growing on solid gold grains in soil. Some of these microbial species precipitate gold from solution, Reith and others found...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
My grandfather used to say he knew a banker that was so tight he could eat coal and pass diamonds.
Scientists trick iron-eating bacteria into breathing electrons instead
FReepmail me if you want on or off my combined microbiology/immunology ping list.
I read a scifi novel that had genetically modified coral that extracted gold out of seawater which eventually led to gold being about as valuable as aluminum.
“Some of these microbial species precipitate gold from solution,”
A way to get the gold out of seawater finally?
There is another SF novel that is one of my favorites - “The Aluminum Man” by G C Edmondson. Some guys get a microbe that extracts metallic aluminum from clay (got it from a space alien, IIRC). They are happily harvesting and selling the metal when they allow the microbe to get loose in the world, dragging civilization back into the stone age.
Great find! thanks for posting.
Sounds kind of like divorce. You know, the process where one microorganism sucks the life out of another - and then rips your testicles out through your wallet.
Thanks for the link.
The bacterium Delftia acidovorans secretes a molecule that binds to dissolved gold and turns it into shiny, solid gold...
Is this a gold-bug?
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