Microbial Alchemy Turns Toxic Compounds Into Gold

For as long as man has been fashioning pretty necklaces out of that soft, sparkly and hard-to-find element called gold, we’ve been trying to figure out a way to make it out of common metals. The science of alchemy has been good for a lot of things over the past few millenia, including modern chemistry but frankly, it hasn’t been very good at producing gold. That is, until a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Michigan State University teamed up with a professor of — get this — electronic art and intermedia. Kazem Kashefi, the scientist, and Adam Brown, the artist, say they’ve discovered a new strand of superheroic bacteria that can turn a toxic chemical compound into pure gold. Their eureka moment comes with more than a few disclaimers, though.

Kashefi and Brown didn’t so much transform worthless elements into gold, as they created a revolutionary way of isolating gold atoms in a chemical compound. What they do is they take the bacteria Cupriavidus metallidurans and let it grow in massive quantities of gold chloride, a toxic catalyst that as of yet has no commercial use. They’ve discovered that the bacteria can withstand about 25 times as much toxicity as scientists previously thought, allowing it not only to survive in the gold chloride but thrive. And about a week later, when it’s had its fill of the toxic compound, it poops out a gold nugget. “Microbial alchemy is what we’re doing — transforming gold from something that has no value into a solid, precious metal that’s valuable,” Kashefi told Science Daily.

The odd couple of alchemists don’t plan on opening their own jewelry shop any time soon. They’re using this new technique for art. (Art!) Their project, “The Great Work of the Metal Lover,” pretty much just showcases the new gold-making process and puts it in front of an audience. With a set of 24-karat gold-plated lab equipment, they showcase the super strong bacteria gobbling up the gold compound and display it alongside some images of the bacteria taken with a scanning electron microscope that are painted with 24-karat gold leaf where you can see the bacteria eating the gold.

“This is neo-alchemy. Every part, every detail of the project is a cross between modern microbiology and alchemy,” says Brown. “Science tries to explain the phenomenological world. As an artist, I’m trying to create a phenomenon. Art has the ability to push scientific inquiry.” You know what else has the ability to push scientific inquiry? The possibility of producing massive amounts of gold out of an otherwise useless compound. Unfortunately for the scientists, however, their new version of alchemy is more expensive than the gold it produces. It sure is pretty, though!