Bacteria produce gold by digesting toxic metals

Bacteria produce gold by digesting toxic metals High concentrations of heavy metals like copper and gold are found to be toxic for most of the organisms. But scientists have discovered a modern alchemist that can extract valuable trace elements from a compound of toxic metals without poisoning itself. One of the interesting side effects is the production of gold nuggets. This microbial magician, C. metallidurans, when placed in a minilab full of gold chloride converts it to 24-carat gold in a week’s time, a process that this bacterium is thought to carry out regularly in nature. This finding by Kazem Kashefi and Adam Brown has been exhibited as an art instalment called â€Å"The Great Work of the Metal Lover†. The art work consists of a portable lab which consists of a glass bioreactor containing the bacteria. While Kashefi calls this as microbial alchemy, Brown calls it as neo-alchemy which is a cross between modern microbiology and alchemy. This artwork received an honourable, mentioned in the world renowned cyber art competition, Prix Ars Electronica, held in Austria. Producing pure gold from bacterium seems to be a boon at a time when the price of gold has reached an all-time high. But, does this mean that the scientists have got the answer to the international debt crises? Although this bacterium can produce the 24-carat pure gold, but it has been said that it will be cost prohibitive to carry out this experiment at a larger scale. So, one should not see this as a golden investment in economic crisis. But, this discovery has surely created a debate over the use of science and technology, the greed and other economic and environmental impacts associated with it. This work can be used to address questions regarding the ethics related to science and the magnificent engineering of nature. When discovered, the bacterium was initially found to be resistant to cadmium but subsequent studies identified that this strain is multi-metal resistant and has two plasmids pMOL28 and pMOL30 which harbour multiple loci for metal resistance. The bacterium’s ability to thrive in toxic environments with a high number of heavy metal resistant genes makes it an excellent model organism to study the means by which microbes deal with heavy metal stress. Such unique ability of this extremophile to metabolize toxic substances might also provide an insight into understanding the origin of life. When too much copper has accumulated inside the bacteria, it is normally pumped out by the enzyme CupA. However, when gold compounds are also present, the enzyme is suppressed and the toxic copper and gold compounds remain inside the cell. Copper and gold combined are actually more toxic than when they appear on their own, says Dietrich H. Nies. To solve this problem, the bacteria activate another enzyme CopA. This enzyme transforms the copper and gold compounds into their originally difficult to absorb forms. This assures that fewer copper and gold compounds enter the cellular interior. The bacterium is poisoned less and the enzyme that pumps out the copper can dispose of the excess copper unimpeded. Another consequence is that the gold compounds that are difficult to absorb transform in the outer area of the cell into harmless gold nuggets only a few nanometres in size, says Nies. In nature, C. metallidurans plays a key role in the formation of so-called secondary gold, which emerges following the breakdown of primary, geologically created, ancient gold ores. It transforms the toxic gold particles formed by the weathering process into harmless gold particles, thereby producing gold nuggets. The study conducted by the joint German-Australian research team provides important insights into the second half of the bio-geochemical gold cycle. Here primary gold metal is transformed by other bacteria into mobile, toxic gold compounds, which is transformed back into secondary metallic gold in the second half of the cycle. Once the entire cycle is understood, gold can also be produced from ores containing only a small percentage of gold without requiring toxic mercury bonds as was previously the case.

Employment Relationship-Shewin Memorandum Essay

Employment Relationship-Shewin Memorandum - Essay Example For the past 6 years, she is in the same cadre. During 8 years of service, she was in the reporting line of George Doright, who was enjoying the fame of very competent, energetic and a good character boss. In the later years, the new management came in and started the process of re-organizing / re-structuring of the organization for a better performance. Accordingly, the management repositioned the location of Doright and he was transferred to another division to accomplish the assigned tasks. During the process of re-organization of the company, two editors stand retired leaving a vacuum behind them to be filled in. After mentioned development in the organization, she was transferred to work under the subordination of infamous Arthur King, the Senior Editor of Blabber. During the incumbency of King, she had to suffer a lot because she was not ready to meet the sexual desire of King. Issues After the retirement of two editors from the company, she was expecting for the said position. Despite having expertise and experience, which requires for a vacant position, she was not considered for the same. However, to fulfill the formalities of promotional requirement, she was just called for an interview. The outcome of the interview was nothing but sheer wastage of time. After a lapse of reasonable period of time in her organization, last month, she applied for a junior level position of Editor. It meant that in spite of all odds, she did not give up her hope for a respectable status in the organization, which she did not get due to obvious reasons. It is strange to note that for the vacant position, she has been interviewed by King, the Editor of Blabber, in a restaurant rather than in his office. The interview was against her expectation and she was not comfortable with the interviewer since the questions asked in the mock interview of personal nature instead of professional. The most questions revolved about her personal life and about her boy friend. She lost her confidence the way interview was conducted and of course gave up her hope for the position for which she applied for. It is interesting to note that after few weeks of conducting interview of Shewin by King, the senior Editor instead of promoting her for the post, hired the services of Gene Whiz, an outsider for the advertised vacancy although Gene has no comparison with Shewin in terms of age, qualification, working experience and expertise. Gene was just 26 years old, did her master in journalism the other day from the University of Chicago and joined local newspaper of small size to work as a reporter. Factors The self analysis of Shewin concerning key factors that disqualified her for the position applied for are: a) promotion of three women in the upper strata of management that took place before re-organization / restructuring process b) King had no role in the promotion decision c) She refused to join King outside business premises to discuss business invitations since his lu st for women / bad reputation was not hidden from anybody in the company d) filing of complaints against her male counter parts while Doright was in office about their attitude of discussing their dates with girlfriends in graphics details loudly the next Monday morning of each weekend e) Doright, the then incumbent, reprimanded her male counter parts for their mentioned deeds f) five African American senior

Channeling Students into a Gifted Program Coursework

Channeling Students into a Gifted Program - Coursework Example This student requires an accelerated program or enriched learning option. These options offer the gifted student adequate curriculum content especially where the general curriculum is limited (McLeskey, Rosenberg & Westling, 2007). Secondly, if the student can manage and adapt to the demands of the rapid instruction and complexity of the content of higher-level classes, they can placed in the accelerated program. Thirdly, an assessment should be carried out to determine if the student is at risk to their social and emotional adjustment, if they are placed in an accelerated program (McLeskey, Rosenberg & Westling, 2007). If such a student can handle the emotional and social separation from their peers, then they can be placed in the accelerated program, otherwise the teacher can prepare extra content for them in their age-level class. Additionally, the acceleration of the student should be supported by teachers in order to eliminate any misconceptions to the student at higher levels. It is also vital that the grade skipping option still offers the student as must instructions as possible in order to prevent them from being disadvantaged in future learning activities (McLeskey, Rosenberg & Westling, 2007). Following the successful assessment, the student is then introduced to the education intervention option that matches their specific needs and behavioral characteristics. Possible interventions that can be factored in are content modification, complexity, abstraction, pacing, and documentation