Technology that will be useful for eventual human settlement of space continues to develop: Australian research shows microbes may turn dust into gold

A group of scientists led by German-born researcher Frank Reith collected gold grains from two Australian mines more than 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) apart, 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 told The Associated Press 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.

I expect that someday in the not-too-distant future, technology developed from findings like this will account for a sizeable portion of the raw material inputs to industry. Not only is it useful in space, where it could be used in place of the energy- and labor-intensive processes used on Earth, but it is also useful on Earth for such things as brownfield remediation and (eventually) landfill reclamation...turning garbage to gold, literally and metaphorically.

Posted by T.L. James on July 16, 2006 10:39 PM | TrackBack