Researchers in Australia have uncovered evidence that a tiny microbe may have the Midas touch of Greek legend, capable of turning dust into gold.
Findings reported in the July 14 issue of the US-based magazine Science suggest a bacterium known as Ralstonia metallidurans may play an important role in forming gold nuggets and grains.
A group of scientists led by German-born researcher Frank Reith collected gold grains from two Australian mines seperated by more than 3,000km, and discovered that 80 percent of the grains had the bacteria living on them.
"What we found out suggests that bacteria can accumulate this gold," Reith said in a telephone interview from his Australian office on Friday.
Reith said Ralstonia metallidurans act as microscopic soil scrubbers, soaking up heavy metals in their dissolved form and converting them into less toxic, solid forms.
"Heavy metals are toxic, not only to us but also to microorganisms, in elevated concentrations," he said.
"It appears to be that the organism can detoxify its immediate environment of this toxic mobile gold and in this way gain a metabolic advantage," he said. "That's why it would be present on these gold grains."
Over the years many scientists have questioned the possible microbial role in the formation of gold, maintaining instead that gold grains were either remnants of larger pieces or formed through chemical processes.
Reith said that his findings provide the strongest evidence yet that bacteria could play a key role in creating solid gold, although the exact mechanism is not yet known.
"What we just wanted to show is that microorganisms are capable of contributing to the formation of gold nuggets and before that was always doubted," Reith said.
"I'm not saying that the organisms are the only way how gold nuggets in soils can form, but it's one of the ways," he added.
But home-alchemists be warned, pouring a bucket of Ralstonia metallidurans on your backyard won't create an instant gold mine.
"You have to have gold there first. If you don't, bacteria can't create gold," Reith said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS