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Group of Microbes Change Dissolved Gold to Solid

Posted by Hemos on from the reduce-reuse-recycle dept.

option8 writes " National Geographic, has a an article about a newly discovered strain of bacteria that might be used (though, as the article says, not cost-effectively) to harvest gold and other metals from seawater - a longtime fantasy of science fiction."

7 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Check those links before you submit! by Robber+Baron · · Score: 3, Funny

    Either the link is incorrect or the site has been slashdotted already by geeks who are looking for another way to make money for doing nothing after the demise of all the "get paid to surf" schemes.

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    You're using her as bait, Master!

  2. cost efficient by wrinkledshirt · · Score: 2, Funny

    "You couldn't use this process to harvest the gold from the ocean. The cost in pumping the water would be more than how much gold you could recover," he said. The gold particles excreted by the microbes are so tiny it would take about a million microbes to produce a gram of solid gold.

    Heh, I'll give you a miracle of science too. Give me two bucks and presto! I'll give you back one.

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    Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...

  3. Here's a brilliant idea.. by Bowie+J.+Poag · · Score: 3, Funny



    Its called "boiling". I once heard it described on TV..Apparently, you take a liquid, and you make it so hot that liquids turn right into gas!! Since water boils at 212'F and sodium dissolves at around 800'F, all you'de have to do is take a bucket of seawater, put a heat source beneath it, and wait!

    This article gets my Most Dumb-Ass Article Of 2001 nomination. Its so dumb-ass you'de think Hemos was the one who posted it. Oh wait... he did post it. Hrm.

    Cheers,

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    Bowie J. Poag

  4. Wow, this is fantastic... by throx · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...for those microbes!!! They are going to be RICH!

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    Fear: When you see B8 00 4C CD 21 and know what it means

  5. Oh no. by perdida · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not this again.

    The dissolved metals in seawater are supposed to be there. They are ions, positive or negative ions that play an electrochemical and a biochemical role in that ecosystem.

    Gold is a very useful industrial metal, but it makes more money for the gold-miners when the gold is used as jewelry instead. Why not address the cultural roots of the gold-scarcity issue; making it less valuable in the market place by abating the jewelers' love for it would free up much existing gold for industrial use.

    Most countries currencies are off the gold standard anyway.

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    Goat sex free since 2001
    1. Re:Oh no. by bonzoesc · · Score: 3, Funny

      You greatly underestimate the desire of people for objects that are shiny. Go to a record store and look at the cover of a rap album.

  6. How to make a goldfish. by Futurepower(tm) · · Score: 3, Funny

    'You couldn't use this process to harvest the gold from the ocean. The cost in pumping the water would be more than how much gold you could recover," he said. The gold particles excreted by the microbes are so tiny it would take about a million microbes to produce a gram of solid gold.'

    Duh! It takes about 10 minutes for microbes to divide to make a million.

    You design a slightly larger organism to eat these microbes.

    Then, you design a fish that eats the slightly larger organism.

    Then you have a goldfish! It's easy.

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    Bush's education improvements were