Ancient alchemists had it all wrong when they tried to turn common elements into gold with the philosopher’s stone — they should have turned to bacteria instead.
The bacteria in question turns a toxic chemical compound found in nature, which kills other critters, into 24-carat gold, according to scientists at Michigan State University.
“Microbial alchemy is what we’re doing – transforming gold from something that has no value into a solid, precious metal that’s valuable,” said Kazem Kashefi, an assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics.
Kashefi and his partner Adam Brown perform their 21st-century alchemy by holding the special bacterium, Cupriavidus metallidurans, as they feed it gold chloride — a liquid version of gold that is less expensive than the solid version.
After about a week the bacteria transforms the toxic liquid and produces gold, a process that Kashefi and Brown believe mimics how nature produces solid gold.
Unfortunately for would-be home alchemists, Kashefi and Brown say that their technique is cost prohibitive to produce on a massive scale but that hasn’t stopped the pair from producing a piece of performance art that stylishly demonstrates their finding called, “The Great Work of the Metal Lover.”