1 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. This is 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and it's Saturday. Time 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: to go into the vault for an older episode of 4 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: the show. This one originally published on February and it 5 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:22,080 Speaker 1: was called Gold Medal of the Sun. I guess this 6 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: was all about gold, right, I've sort of forgotten this. 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: Oh no, wait, that's coming back to me now. Yeah. Yeah, 8 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: we were done a previous one, the dealt with gold 9 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: a little bit. Uh. That one was with the Tide 10 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 1: of Gold, and this was kind of a follow up 11 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: to that with more gold related science, gold, nanoparticles, um, 12 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: history of extracting gold from the Earth, that sort of thing. Okay, 13 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,200 Speaker 1: we're doing a great job selling it, folks. You're gonna 14 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,199 Speaker 1: love it. It's gold. We don't even have to sell it. 15 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: You know you want it. It's gold. Have a listen. 16 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, production of My 17 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 18 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and 19 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: today we're bringing you kind of a grab bag episode 20 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: that was inspired by an email we got from a 21 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: listener not too long ago. It was from a listener 22 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: named Kate who wrote in to tell us about how 23 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: she works sometimes in uh I forget exactly what kind 24 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: of laboratory it was, but that she works sometimes with 25 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: nanoparticles like gold nanoparticles in the lab and suggested that 26 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: we look into doing an episode on gold and gold nanoparticles. 27 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,199 Speaker 1: And we were like, hey, that sounds interesting. So today 28 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: we're rolling out the buffet card of of gold, gold 29 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: nanoparticles and things that struck us as interesting. Yeah. So, um, 30 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: first of all, I do want to mention an earlier episode. 31 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: This was not that long ago, actually just from July. 32 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: We need an episode titled The Tide of Gold, which 33 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: ultimately had to do with a con I believe right, Yeah, 34 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: I thought that was a fun episode. It was actually 35 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: about a a scam that was run by a clergyman 36 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: named Prescott Joern again at a against the community on 37 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: the coast of Maine in the late eighteen nineties. Thing 38 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: it was and he pretended that he had created a 39 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: machine that would be able to extract endless quantities of 40 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: gold from the sea water. And he did this whole 41 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: thing like that. The scam was quite elaborate. He bought 42 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 1: uh he bought some local property on the coast and 43 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: and set up a fake processing facility and hired tons 44 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: of people and got all these investors and then eventually 45 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: just skipped down with the money. But then we talked 46 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: about how he actually wasn't the last person to try 47 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: to extract gold from the sea. There had been real 48 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: attempts to extract gold from the sea, and there is 49 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: actually uh an appreciable amount of gold in the sea water, 50 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: but the actual attempts to build factories to extract it 51 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: have always proved that it costs more to get the 52 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: gold out than the value of the gold you harvest. Now, 53 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: also in that episode, we just did a basic primer 54 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: about what gold isn't where it comes from. So I'm 55 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna real quick just go through the basics 56 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: of that. But if you want more details, I would 57 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: just refer you back to that episode The Tide of Gold, 58 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: or just hang around because we'll probably run it as 59 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 1: a vault episode sometime in the next several months. So anyway, 60 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: gold is a relatively rare element compared to the you know, 61 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: the commonplace elements of hydrogen and oxygen and iron et cetera. 62 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: But obviously veins of it can be found in Earth's crust. 63 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: So where does gold actually come from? Well, there's a 64 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of uncertainty here, but basically, 65 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: you know, there's evidence to indicate that gold is produced 66 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: in extremely violent stellar phenomena. Uh, you know, it is. 67 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: It is the stuff of the stars, quite fittingly as 68 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: we as we get into the topic here today. But 69 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: there there have been a few different theories. There's like 70 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: the late Veneer hypothesis that argues that gold and other 71 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: specific materials were added into the Earth's crust roughly three 72 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: point eight billion years ago via a bombardment of the 73 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: ridium rich meteorites UM. And then there's a there's a 74 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: there's some other hypotheses out there as well. UM. For instance, 75 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: there's the rival magma ocean hypothesis that argues that gold 76 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 1: was here all along. UM. But at any rate, gold 77 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: is you know, when you look at some of the 78 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: ways that that we find it, in the way it 79 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 1: interacts with other substances, it does feel a little weird, 80 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: a little alien. It does feel like something that that 81 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: that came down from on high, you know, and it 82 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: absolutely is though it's funny to think about it. I 83 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:34,719 Speaker 1: guess this has come up in a few episodes in 84 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,359 Speaker 1: the past few months about how when you start to 85 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,720 Speaker 1: look into the origins of any individual element, it's always like, wow, 86 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: that's crazy. Now, of course, the idea that gold comes 87 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: from extremely violent stellar phenomena, either through nucleosynthesis through a supernova, 88 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 1: so when the star is literally like exploding and coming 89 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 1: apart at the end of its life cycle, or through 90 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 1: the collision of neutron stars. I mean, the things that 91 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: are phenomena that are so violent and inner edtic you 92 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,559 Speaker 1: cannot imagine them. They won't fit in your brain. Uh, 93 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: that's amazing. But then again, the origin of every element 94 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: is amazing because like it was either that or it 95 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: was a lighter element that was formed as a star 96 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: was like nearing the end of its life cycle and 97 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: started fusing heavier and heavier elements and eventually exploded, or 98 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: it is a particle that is original to the universe 99 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: since the Big Bang, as would be the case with 100 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,480 Speaker 1: with like hydrogen particles. So I guess, no matter what 101 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 1: element you're talking about, its origins are mind boggling. But 102 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,559 Speaker 1: the specific origins of gold are one of the mind 103 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,720 Speaker 1: boggling ones. It's like, yeah, something horrible had to happen 104 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: long long ago before humans existed, to put all this 105 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 1: gold into the dust that gathered through space and eventually 106 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: coalesced in our solar system, and some of it ended 107 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: up on this planet, right And and so while a 108 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: lot of different materials that that pop up in the Earth, 109 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: you know, it just feels you can often feel like, well, 110 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: that's just something you find in the dirt. Know. There's 111 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: of course there's some metal, and there's some rocks in there, 112 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,359 Speaker 1: there's some minerals in there. But gold is is interesting 113 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:09,040 Speaker 1: in that you know, it is it sparkles like like 114 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 1: like nothing else, you know. And uh, And of course 115 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: since ancient times, people have been coming across it, especially 116 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:21,280 Speaker 1: glimpsing it in streams and riverbeds. Um So, humans have 117 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,159 Speaker 1: a long history with gold. And so in order to 118 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: research a bit about about humanity's history working with gold, 119 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: um I looked to a book I frequently turned to, 120 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: the seventy grade Inventions of the Ancient World by Brian 121 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: and Fagan, which has a number of different um uh 122 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: selections in there, where he's dealing with with specific technological 123 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 1: advancements from the ancient world and generally UM partnering with 124 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: a particular expert UH in a related field. UH, they'll Fagan, 125 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: of course, has has written quite a bit on ancient 126 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: technology just in general. There are a lot of academic 127 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: papers out there, and we've refer to some of them 128 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:02,799 Speaker 1: on the show before. So as pointed out by Brian 129 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: and Fagen and Palt Cradock, who specializes in ancient metal technology, 130 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: gold pops up relatively late in the archaeological record of 131 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: the Old World. While evidence of copper dates back to 132 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: the eighth millennium b C in the Middle East, gold 133 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: doesn't pop up until five thousand BC and what is 134 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: now Bulgaria, and it pops up in the Americas during 135 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: the second millennium BC. Now, the oldest gold artifacts that 136 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: we we know of our Neolithic artifacts from a cemetery 137 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: at Varna, Bulgaria, and it's a variety of gold adornments 138 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 1: including ringlets, discs, and necklaces. Joe I included a photo 139 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 1: here for you to look at, but if anyone else 140 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: out there wants to see this themselves, just do a 141 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: search for Varna v a r in a gold or 142 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: gold artifacts and you'll see the skeleton and these various 143 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: gold implements that were buried with them. Now, is this 144 00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: image we're seeing do you know if this is actually 145 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: as it was found, like institute or has this been 146 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: arranged for this? This particular photo looks arranged. Um. I've 147 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 1: seen some some photographs of it as they actually pulled 148 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,120 Speaker 1: it from the earth. And uh, and and it's it's 149 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: really interesting because of course the gold is very very shiny, 150 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: like it's instantly recognizable as gold. Now, gold is almost 151 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: always found as a metal rather than an ore. It 152 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: typically contains five to silver and it was originally used 153 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: without refining it sometimes with copper added, but then in 154 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: the with the introduction of gold coinage in the seventh 155 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:38,839 Speaker 1: century BC, and this would have been in m Lydia. Um. 156 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: This this introduced new requirements. You needed guaranteed weight, you 157 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: needed guaranteed purity. Thus refining was necessary to separate the 158 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: silver from the gold. And the process here is um 159 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: is parting by which gold dust or foil is heated 160 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:58,959 Speaker 1: in a pot with salt. So it's we got a 161 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: stew going baby, Yeah, pretty much. Uh. This is what 162 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:05,960 Speaker 1: uh Fagan and Cratic had to say to summarize this quote. 163 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: The chlorine and ferric chloride vapors so generated removed the 164 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: silver from the gold as volatile silver chloride, leaving behind 165 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: pure gold. Okay, so it was creating a chemical reaction 166 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: with the I guess the sodium chloride in the salt, 167 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: where the silver under the heating would bond with the 168 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 1: chlorine and it would evaporate off. Yeah. And so as 169 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,319 Speaker 1: gold coin spread, so too did this method of refinement. 170 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: And it wouldn't change for roughly two thousand years and 171 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: the law and for longer in other parts of the world, 172 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:45,319 Speaker 1: but certainly in regard to you know, Europe and the Mediterranean, 173 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 1: the Middle East, you know, it it would be two thousand 174 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 1: years before uh, it changed much. Now a note, simple 175 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: cast and beaten gold can be accomplished without specialized metal tools. 176 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: More sophisticated gold working wasn't possible till the Bronze Age 177 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: um by in the Near East. Now. Meanwhile, in South America, 178 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: um gold workers there didn't refine the gold, but they 179 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: were able to control the composition by adding via hammering 180 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: or casting, copper to the natural gold silver alloy to 181 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: produce a metal called tumbaga. And what they do is 182 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: they take it and they treat the surface with the 183 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,679 Speaker 1: stringent chemicals to oxidize the copper, and then they would 184 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: they would remove this with strong brine or perhaps acidic 185 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 1: fruit juices, and then they would burnish the surface to 186 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: create a resplendent finish. I didn't realize there'd be so 187 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: much food like processes in the creation of this jewelry. 188 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: Is it true that, um the copper involved when you're 189 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 1: mixing copper with gold or with silver and gold, the 190 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: copper helps strengthen it and make it less malleable because 191 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:55,720 Speaker 1: gold in its natural metallic form is actually quite soft, 192 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,080 Speaker 1: isn't it. Yeah? Yeah, And that's that's that's interesting because 193 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: that comes up as being one of the one of 194 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: the reasons why we see gold used as in jewelry 195 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: throughout the through human history. I mean, for starters. It's beautiful, 196 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: and we'll get into some of those symbolic reasons for 197 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: its beauty. Uh and when wyant catches our eye. But 198 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:16,680 Speaker 1: also what else are you going to use gold for? 199 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 1: You know, you you can't really make a useful gold 200 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 1: tool because it's going to to to bend and uh, 201 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: and it's it's it's just not going to hold up 202 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:28,680 Speaker 1: to the pressures required. Likewise, you can't make a gold 203 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: sword that's going to be sharp enough and strong enough 204 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,440 Speaker 1: to use in combat. Um, but it lends itself well 205 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: to pure decoration or to decorating a particularly important sword 206 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 1: or its hilth anyway, uh, that sort of thing. Now, 207 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: I think gold would actually become practically useful in ways 208 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: that couldn't necessarily have been predicted earlier once we get 209 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 1: into the age of electronics, because gold, of course has 210 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: very important conductive properties. Yeah. It's interesting how for for 211 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: so much of human history, gold is this thing that 212 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 1: is absolutely value bowl and uh and desired and is 213 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:05,960 Speaker 1: used you know, as a means of of of trading 214 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: with other people and and and determining wealth. And yet 215 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: it didn't really have any uses for the most part. Uh. Well, 216 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,680 Speaker 1: there's some exceptions to that, but no really uses until 217 00:12:15,679 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: we get into the modern world where we can actually 218 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 1: look at electronic uses for gold. Now, one of the 219 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,600 Speaker 1: advantages of gold, and one one of the reasons that 220 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: it's always been favored as a jewelry metal, is that 221 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: it is that gold occurs as nuggets, dust or veins 222 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: and does not have to be converted from complex mineral ors. 223 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: Deposits of gold can also be hunted out via spotting. 224 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,439 Speaker 1: Those glittering specks of gold and rivers and streams um 225 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 1: very eye catching. And the reason for this is interesting 226 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:47,119 Speaker 1: because gold is also highly resistant to chemical tarnishing or corrosion. 227 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: And that's why gold can spend thousands of years exposed 228 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: in a stream bed uh and remain visible. Yeah, I mean, 229 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: many other metals naturally lose their luster when they're just 230 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: exposed to the atmosphere or you know, they react with 231 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: gases in the air or with water. Of course, you 232 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: would notice how quickly iron rusts. I mean, iron that's 233 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: exposed to the air does not maintain a lustrous finish 234 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: for very long at all. And the same is true 235 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: of all kinds of metals that you would commonly encounter 236 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:16,560 Speaker 1: in the world. They can take on a kind of 237 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:21,439 Speaker 1: dull appearance pretty quickly through reaction just with what's around them. 238 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: And and people in the ancient world noticed this. They 239 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: picked up on this and uh, and as you can imagine, 240 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 1: various ideas became attached to it. As as Fagin points 241 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:33,679 Speaker 1: out in another section of the book with Jack Ogden, 242 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: author of nineteen two's Jewelry in the Ancient world. Quote, 243 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:39,720 Speaker 1: a gold vessel did not ruin the taste of the 244 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 1: soup in life, and could remain buried with its deceased 245 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: owner to serve them in the afterlife and even perhaps 246 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: transfer some of the metal's longevity. Yeah, so you can 247 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:53,679 Speaker 1: imagine how the the the idea of gold in some 248 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: way symbolizing purity or or harmony or or permanence is 249 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,440 Speaker 1: not just because it looks pretty. It's because of the 250 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,680 Speaker 1: chemical properties that keep it looking pretty. You know that 251 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: it doesn't tarnish and lose its luster the way other 252 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:12,679 Speaker 1: metals do. And you you see various symbolism involved. To 253 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: a lot of times, silver is seen as the color 254 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,199 Speaker 1: of the moon, but gold, of course, is the color 255 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: of the sun. And the ancient Egyptians even thought of 256 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: gold as the skin of raw or the skin of ray, 257 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: which is especially telling when you think of gold sheets 258 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: and foil. And we'll get into that in a minute here. Um. 259 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: And and of course there are plenty of other examples 260 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: of gold and mythology that are pretty interesting. We have 261 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: to remember that in Greek mythology, Zeus himself becomes a 262 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 1: shower of gold in order to impregnate a mortal Oh yeah, 263 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 1: that's in the story of Dunay, who is imprisoned by 264 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: her father a Chrysius of Argos, and Zeus comes down 265 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: in the form of a shower of gold and they 266 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:57,800 Speaker 1: conceive the child, who becomes Perseus, the h the ostensible 267 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: hero of the Perseus and Medusa story. But according to 268 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: our favorite retellings, maybe the villain of the story. You know, 269 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 1: depends on depends on the details. Now, one of the 270 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: interesting things about some of the other stories of Greek 271 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: mythology that involve gold is it easy to just sort 272 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 1: of dismiss it as like, Okay, you make something gold 273 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 1: and then it's notable, right. A golden helmet, okay, it's 274 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: magic whatever. A golden fleece, sorry, it's like a normal fleece, 275 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: except it's golden. Well, um, that may that particular case 276 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: may be connected to the use of fleece unsheared sheep 277 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: hide to pan for gold and streams. Oh interesting, Yeah, 278 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,320 Speaker 1: I never imagined that, though. It's funny. I have thought 279 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: before about Often when I'm cooking in the kitchen, a 280 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: thought that comes to my head is, uh, what did 281 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 1: ancient people use for a callander. But I guess I 282 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: guess cloth would be a pretty reasonable choice there, right, Yeah, 283 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 1: it would apparently cling to the to the uncheered sheep 284 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: hide now and other tale that we think I'll instantly 285 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: think of. Regarding gold and Greek mythologies, of course, the 286 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: myth of Midas is golden touch. Um. So King Midas 287 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: a Phrygia. The story goes, he finds this drunken satyr. Uh, 288 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:16,960 Speaker 1: just like just really drunk, even for a satyr. I 289 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,240 Speaker 1: think the satyr is drunk and needs nursing back to health. 290 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: Now our satyer's obviously they're going to be party animals. 291 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:26,120 Speaker 1: But are they party the kind of party animal that 292 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: can hold their liquor or the kind that can't. Well, 293 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 1: I'm guessing they probably could, but they won't. You know, 294 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: they're because they're all about you know, excess, right, yeah, 295 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: let's cut loose. And of course their master is Dionysus, 296 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,400 Speaker 1: and um and Midas recognizes this, and so you know, 297 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: nurses nurses his creature back to health, and then Dionysus 298 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: offers him a reward, and so Midas is like, well, 299 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: I've got pretty much everything I need. I'm I'm rich 300 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: and all, but I surely love gold and I would 301 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: like to have more of it, And so the god 302 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,400 Speaker 1: gives him the golden touch, and I think we all 303 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: know how the rest this story goes. The main portion 304 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: of this story, of course, is that everything he touches 305 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,040 Speaker 1: turns to gold, which is great until he goes to 306 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:09,199 Speaker 1: grab some grapes to eat, until he throws himself on 307 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: his bed and it turns into unforgiving gold. I mean, 308 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:14,920 Speaker 1: I guess it's better than if if your bed were 309 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:16,879 Speaker 1: made out of iron, but still as far as like 310 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:19,880 Speaker 1: things to sleep on, still not comfortable. And then when 311 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 1: he touches his own daughter, he turns her to solid gold. 312 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 1: So he goes back to Dionysius and says, hey, I 313 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:28,879 Speaker 1: take it back, just I. I don't want this golden 314 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: touch anymore. And so Dionysus tells him to wash his 315 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,520 Speaker 1: hands in the river Pactolus, near the coast of modern Turkey, 316 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:39,119 Speaker 1: and indeed the gold drains from his fingertips in the 317 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: moving water. So I think you can all see it now, 318 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: moving water. Yes, there's apparently a connection here to traditions 319 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:48,880 Speaker 1: of panning for gold as well, and indeed the river 320 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: in question once contained electrum, gold and silver. So it 321 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 1: was a river of riches. And I know because I 322 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: just looked it up after having said something that was 323 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,280 Speaker 1: totally wrong. Electrum is actually an alloy of gold and 324 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 1: silver that's may may have trace amounts of other metals 325 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,119 Speaker 1: in it, such as copper. Yeah, for some reason, I 326 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:12,440 Speaker 1: thought electorum was amber. I'm glad I stopped and checked. Yeah, 327 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 1: but I don't think I really knew about this connection. 328 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 1: I mean, I obviously one attaches themselves to the to 329 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,280 Speaker 1: the basic message of the myth, you know, the sort 330 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: of you know, be careful what you wish for because 331 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:27,199 Speaker 1: the reality of it could be a curse. But anyway, 332 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,240 Speaker 1: this is this is right right interesting And if anyone 333 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 1: out there wants to see a really cool animated version 334 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: of this um the the the ted Ad series, which 335 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:39,200 Speaker 1: are der all these animated educational shorts, they have one 336 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: on Midas that's uh that's does a great job telling 337 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: the story and has some amusing visual choices. Yeah. Uh yeah, 338 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:49,920 Speaker 1: it's a great story that works on multiple levels. Obviously, 339 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,400 Speaker 1: you have the you know, the standard monkeys Paul kind 340 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:54,879 Speaker 1: of be careful what you wish for interpretation. It works 341 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: on that level. It works in saying, you know, there's 342 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: more to life than riches, of course, but it also 343 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:04,240 Speaker 1: I think it works pretty well as an illustration of 344 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: the ways that we can become alienated and deranged by 345 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:12,160 Speaker 1: over dedication to the acquisitive process, you know, like if 346 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,400 Speaker 1: you are overly focused on acquiring money, Like I think 347 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 1: it's quite clear that this has potential to ruin other 348 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:24,359 Speaker 1: aspects of your life. Absolutely now. Ogden and Fagin point 349 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: out that the Near East had advanced gold working techniques 350 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,439 Speaker 1: so for for the ancient world, such as gold wire 351 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: chain soldering by two thousand BC, but it didn't pick 352 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: up in China until the mid first millennium BC, when 353 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:42,879 Speaker 1: it was possibly introduced via Russia. Um Jewelry craftsmanship in 354 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: China mainly revolved around another difficult material, jade, which was 355 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: essentially unknown in the Mediterranean. In the Eastern World, it 356 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:54,200 Speaker 1: wasn't traded much, and jade was also used in Central 357 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: America by one thousand BC. This is interesting, I'm reminded of. 358 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 1: We just recently recorded a couple of episodes about the Shanhaijing, 359 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:06,640 Speaker 1: the ancient mythic geography of the regions of China, and 360 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: if you just flip through that it seems to me 361 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: like the minerals most often mentioned when they're calling out 362 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: different mountains and seas are real gar and sinebar. Yeah, 363 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,439 Speaker 1: and and then then jade is mentioned a lot as 364 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 1: well as as desirable. Now, pure gold is one thing, 365 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 1: but throughout history gold crafts people have also turned to 366 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: gold plating or gold you know, guilding. But it wasn't 367 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: until that we see more durable guilding techniques that don't 368 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,400 Speaker 1: depend on just simply gluing it in place or bending 369 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: the gold foil around things. And of course one of 370 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:42,440 Speaker 1: the big advantages of this is, you know, you don't 371 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:44,200 Speaker 1: have to try and craft something out of just gold. 372 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,120 Speaker 1: You can have something made out of it, more durable metal, 373 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: something made out of wood, and you can put the 374 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: gold around it, and you know, this is the kind 375 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,359 Speaker 1: of craftmanship we see in a lot of gold artifacts 376 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: that that may come to mind when you think about 377 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: golden wonders now. Odden and Fagin also point out that 378 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:02,199 Speaker 1: the application of gold foil to silver and copper was 379 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:06,120 Speaker 1: largely superseded in Roman times and earlier in China by 380 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:10,080 Speaker 1: a process known as amalgam gilding. So what you do 381 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,160 Speaker 1: is you mix gold with mercury and slathered this all 382 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 1: over the metal, and then you heat it up and 383 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:18,239 Speaker 1: the mercury is driven off in a vapor, leaving the 384 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: gold coating. That sounds like that may have created some 385 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: health problems for some ancient metal workers. Yeah. Yeah, the 386 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: mercury vapors um to be avoided. Um. Now, the Romans 387 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: also used imitation gold made from copper zinc alloys and 388 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,239 Speaker 1: they would just polish this up to a high shine. Now, 389 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:39,440 Speaker 1: another gold purification process popular in Europe in the tenth 390 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 1: and eleventh centuries, is known as cupulation. And to understand this, 391 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: we have to turn back to silver, the moon metal. 392 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,480 Speaker 1: So silver was used in the Middle East since the 393 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,719 Speaker 1: fifth millennium BC, but on a much smaller scale. And 394 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: at this stage they would have used native silver occurring 395 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:59,040 Speaker 1: in rich silver ores that could be directly smelted. But 396 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:01,640 Speaker 1: most silver is found in lead ore, so you needed 397 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: a different method. Yeah. I believe this stuff was referred 398 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: to as galena. You can see this coming up in 399 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,679 Speaker 1: ancient texts. I think we also talked about it in 400 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 1: our Cupids, Lead and Narrow episode. But galena was this 401 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: naturally occurring mineral form of lead. I think the lead sulfide. 402 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: But this or was a really important source of silver 403 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 1: in the ancient world. So cupulation as a process emerges. 404 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,199 Speaker 1: It seems like somewhere around a thousand BC. During the process, 405 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,639 Speaker 1: the lead or is heated to about two thousand and 406 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: twelve degrees fahrenheit or eleven degrees celsius, and this oxidizes 407 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: the lead um to lead oxide uh into quote cratic 408 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,000 Speaker 1: and fake and quote which either blew away, poisoning everyone around, 409 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: or formed a molten mass of of of letharge. And 410 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: then the silver is what remains, and it's interesting. Plenty 411 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:54,080 Speaker 1: of the Elder described this process in the Natural History. 412 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:56,920 Speaker 1: This is from book thirty three, and this is the 413 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,600 Speaker 1: Rackham translation. By the way, quote after these details, let 414 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 1: us speak about the varieties of silver ore, the next 415 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: madness of mankind. Silver is only found in deep shafts 416 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: and raises no hopes of its existence by any signs, 417 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: giving off no shining sparkle such as are seen in 418 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:17,120 Speaker 1: the case of gold. The ore is sometimes red, sometimes 419 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: ash colored. It cannot be smelted except when combined with 420 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:24,160 Speaker 1: lead or with the vein of lead called galena lead ore, 421 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:28,240 Speaker 1: which is usually found running near veins of silver ore. Also, 422 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: when submitted to the same process of firing, part of 423 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,960 Speaker 1: the ore precipitates as lead, while the silver floats on 424 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,400 Speaker 1: the surface like oil on water. Oh what a beautiful 425 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,679 Speaker 1: image there. Uh this this occurs in the same section. 426 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:44,160 Speaker 1: I just have to read this too. It this has 427 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: to do with with gold and mercury, because this is 428 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: also from plenty same translation quote. There is also a 429 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 1: mineral found in these veins of silver which contains a 430 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: humor in round drops that is always liquid and is 431 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,119 Speaker 1: called quicksilver. It acts as a poor pison on everything 432 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:05,360 Speaker 1: and breaks vessels by penetrating them with malignant corruption. All 433 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,359 Speaker 1: substances float on its surface except gold, which is the 434 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 1: only thing that it attracts to itself. Consequently, it is 435 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 1: also excellent for refining gold, as if it is briskly 436 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,680 Speaker 1: shaken in earthen vessels, it rejects all the impurities contained 437 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: in it. Now would this be referring to liquid mercury here? Yes, 438 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,680 Speaker 1: I believe so. Yeah, you can imagine the little of 439 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: the little round drops of it. You know. Uh, you 440 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 1: shouldn't play with liquid mercury because it can be highly toxic. 441 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,120 Speaker 1: But I have to say when I was a kid, 442 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: I took a part of thermostat one time and I 443 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: got at the old style mercury switch and a boy 444 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,879 Speaker 1: that was fun to play with even though you shouldn't. Well, 445 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: I never got to play with it, but my my 446 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,160 Speaker 1: my dad was a dentist, and so I remember him 447 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: showing me some mercury at one point and it was 448 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: really cool. Yeah. Now, in medieval Africa, another method of 449 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,880 Speaker 1: gold purification was in use. And this is really interesting, 450 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: um because it involves glass. Yeah. So is detailed by 451 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: Mark Walton, co director of the Center for Scientific Studies 452 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 1: in the Arts and discussed in the Atlas Obscure article. 453 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: Medieval Africans had a unique process for purifying gold with 454 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,159 Speaker 1: glass by Evan Nicole Brown. What they did is they 455 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: took or and other raw materials typically found in rivers 456 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: and mixed it with glass before heating it up. So glass, 457 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,679 Speaker 1: you wouldn't have thought of that, Yeah, I I wouldn't have. 458 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:30,359 Speaker 1: For so, gold is a nert So while the various 459 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 1: impurities and other materials melted into the glass, the gold remained. 460 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 1: And so Walton's team here they used sand, gold dust, 461 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: and recycled glass to reproduce the same process. It's pretty neat. Yeah. 462 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,000 Speaker 1: Apparently the context of this ancient process was that it 463 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: was taking place at a West African site known as 464 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,639 Speaker 1: tad Mecca, which is now in the Republic of Molly. 465 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: All right, well, let's turn now to the subject of 466 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: gold nano particles, and and this would the term gold 467 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,119 Speaker 1: nano particles, of course, would seem to be on the 468 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:02,960 Speaker 1: surface entirely connected with the modern age of gold, right, 469 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,399 Speaker 1: in which the skin of raw or the skin of 470 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:09,160 Speaker 1: ray has come to serve humans in in ways beyond 471 00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:12,720 Speaker 1: mere luster and monetary worth. Right. Well, anything now with 472 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: the prefix nanos smacks of like the modern technological age, 473 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:19,880 Speaker 1: you know, the idea of nanotechnology. But of course, another 474 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: way of looking at nanotechnology or nanoparticles is that you 475 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:25,919 Speaker 1: can just say, well, there's small particles of something that 476 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:28,560 Speaker 1: can be suspended in a liquid, which in some cases 477 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,360 Speaker 1: have existed for hundreds or thousands of years. Yeah, all 478 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,399 Speaker 1: you need is a particle of matter that is between 479 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,840 Speaker 1: one and one hundred nanometers in diameter, so that that 480 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 1: in and of itself is by no means a modern reality, 481 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,919 Speaker 1: exclusively a modern reality. And the same can certainly be 482 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,000 Speaker 1: said of gold nanoparticles. So an author by the name 483 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,919 Speaker 1: of Chai Chan wrote an excellent article for Science History 484 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,439 Speaker 1: Institutes Distillations back in two thousand and eight titled from 485 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: Nanotech to Nanoscience, and in it, uh, the author points 486 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,879 Speaker 1: out that despite the terms popular emergence in the nineteen 487 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,879 Speaker 1: seventies and eighties, there're plenty of much older technologies that 488 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:05,960 Speaker 1: make use of what we think of today as nanotechnology, 489 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: and um, I'm not going to mention them all here, 490 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: but there's one that concerns gold, right, And I think 491 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: this was actually the example that Kate brought up in 492 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,919 Speaker 1: our email that inspired us to talk about this today. Yeah, 493 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,640 Speaker 1: So briefly, what it consisted of is during the six 494 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:24,159 Speaker 1: seventeenth and eighteen centuries, medieval artisans added gold chloride to 495 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:27,239 Speaker 1: molten glass to give it a red tint, and they 496 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: added silver nitrate to turn a yellow And recent scientific 497 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: analysis has revealed that this process works because of gold 498 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:39,440 Speaker 1: and silver nanoparticles in the glass reflecting red and yellow 499 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,640 Speaker 1: light acting as quantum dots. So some examples of what 500 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,640 Speaker 1: I guess we would call Renaissance stained glass actually did 501 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 1: involve nanotechnology, right. So it's something to keep in mind 502 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:52,680 Speaker 1: because the occasional, like if you hear someone say, well, 503 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: you know those Damascus steel swords that they used during 504 00:27:56,040 --> 00:28:00,600 Speaker 1: the Crusades, those had those that carbon nano tubes in them, 505 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: you know. So if you hear that, don't think, oh, well, 506 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: this is clearly an ancient alien garbage. No, no it's not. 507 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,720 Speaker 1: You don't need um like modern science to get things 508 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:16,119 Speaker 1: like carbon nanotubes and gold nanoparticles. Right, Maybe we'll have 509 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: to come back to Damascus steel sometime. Yeah, I think 510 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: I think we should. It would, at the very least 511 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:29,720 Speaker 1: would make a fun artifact. Thank thank Now. Another place 512 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:33,000 Speaker 1: that you often see gold nanoparticles brought up these days 513 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: is in the realm of medicine, especially experimental or cutting 514 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,960 Speaker 1: edge medicine. Uh. And there's one story I came across 515 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: that was pretty interesting. I'm not sure how it has 516 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,920 Speaker 1: held up since the time it was published, but I 517 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: have to mention it for some reasons that will become obvious. 518 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: What about injections of gold nanoparticles as a form of contraception. 519 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,640 Speaker 1: This has a King Midacy kind of feel to it already. Yeah, 520 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: so there is an original study here I want to 521 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: mention by winching Lee at all published in Nano Letters. 522 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:08,760 Speaker 1: In uh it's fairly technical, so I'm relying here mostly 523 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 1: on a summary right up, done at the time for 524 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,480 Speaker 1: Nature Materials by one of my favorite science writers, Philip Ball, 525 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: who writes a lot of good articles about physics and chemistry. 526 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 1: And Ball opens by saying, you know, there are a 527 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: number of potential uses for metallic nanoparticles in medicine, some 528 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: that are already being used, some that are being rolled 529 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: out as we speak. But one of the more interesting 530 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 1: and commonly explored options at the time of this study 531 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:41,440 Speaker 1: was to use metallic nanoparticles inside the body as antennae 532 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: to receive quote sub optical electromagnetic signals. So little metal 533 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 1: nanoparticles in the body working as an antenna to receive infrared, 534 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: microwave or radio signals or magnetic fields. And one thing 535 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:00,200 Speaker 1: this does is enable what Ball calls quote high really 536 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:04,920 Speaker 1: localized heating by wireless means. So just one weird and 537 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: quite fascinating example that the Ball brings up. Um. There 538 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: is a study by Huang at All called remote control 539 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: of ion channels and neurons through magnetic field heating of nanoparticles, 540 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 1: published in Nature Nanotechnology in two thousand ten. And ball 541 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 1: summary of the study goes like this quote. Manganese fairrighte 542 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:31,320 Speaker 1: nanoparticles six nanometers across fixed next to calcium ion channels 543 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: in vivo, meaning in the living organism. In the nematode 544 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: worm keen or hebditis elegans were used to trigger firing 545 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: of neurons in response to a radio frequency magnetic field, 546 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:48,880 Speaker 1: altering the direction of motion of the entire organism. So 547 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 1: potentially the control of the behavior of an animal like 548 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 1: a worm by injecting metallic nanoparticles and then heating them 549 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: up with a wireless signal. And Ball also points out 550 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:04,560 Speaker 1: that using similar techniques uh in a paper by Stanley 551 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,920 Speaker 1: at All there was a report that researchers were able 552 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:12,720 Speaker 1: to control calcium triggered insulin release in mice. So you 553 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:16,560 Speaker 1: can imagine that if you could use heating of nanoparticles 554 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: or communication with metallic nanoparticles, especially at localized organs within 555 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:25,960 Speaker 1: the body through wireless remote control signals, this could be 556 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: extremely useful in medicine. So by the time of the study, 557 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,760 Speaker 1: there is a precedent for using radio or infrared signaling 558 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: to control metallic nanoparticles injected within the body, often by 559 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,160 Speaker 1: heating them up, and this could be used to do 560 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 1: all kinds of things such as like targeted thermal destruction 561 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: of cancer cells, which is I think still alive possibility 562 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: in many cases. But this study by Lee at All 563 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: used the heating of injected metallic nanoparticles for a different purpose, 564 00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 1: which was to induce sterility in male mice. What that 565 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: means is the study design involved injecting gold nano rods 566 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:10,600 Speaker 1: into rodent testicles and then heating them with near infrared radiation, 567 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 1: and the researchers in this study suggested that a method 568 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 1: like this could potentially be useful as a contraceptive for 569 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: animals such as household pets. Uh And there are several 570 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: reasons that they argue in its favor. One is that allegedly, 571 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 1: despite involving gold, it is a very very tiny amount 572 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:31,040 Speaker 1: of gold. It would be very cheap, especially cheap compared 573 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,959 Speaker 1: to you know, expensive surgical techniques, so it would not 574 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 1: involve surgery. It would be controllable, meaning potentially non permanent, 575 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,320 Speaker 1: depending on how much heating of the testicular tissue you do. 576 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,640 Speaker 1: Apparently higher levels of heating would render permanent sterility, but 577 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,520 Speaker 1: lower levels of heating appear somewhat effective at just creating 578 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:56,440 Speaker 1: a temporary contraceptive effect. Uh. And also the they argue that, hey, 579 00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: gold nanoparticles appear to be basically non toxic within a 580 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: million bodies. Well, you know how VET bills are. I 581 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:06,840 Speaker 1: if I were to go to the vat end that 582 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 1: that were to tell me, I need you to literally 583 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: put gold inside this animal, I would be like, yeah, 584 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: that sounds about right. But but on the serious, serious note, 585 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,200 Speaker 1: if it we're you know, less invasive and we are 586 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 1: talking about a very small, tiny amount of gold, I 587 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:24,160 Speaker 1: could see this working. Yeah. But of course, as I 588 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:26,880 Speaker 1: was saying, the import of this research is not just 589 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,760 Speaker 1: in the specific use case they're describing. Of course, heat 590 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: in mail gonads will inhibit sperm production. Um. But the 591 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: ball notes once again quote because heat will inhibit sperm production, 592 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:42,720 Speaker 1: it seemed natural to extend earlier work on nanoparticle based 593 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:46,640 Speaker 1: photothermal treatment of cancer cells to this application. So he's 594 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:50,200 Speaker 1: drawing the connection there between the use and treatment of 595 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:54,080 Speaker 1: of appellation of cancer cells, of destruction of cancerous tissue 596 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:58,800 Speaker 1: through through remote heating of these metallic nanoparticles, to the 597 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:02,440 Speaker 1: destruction of sperm cells. And of course gold is a 598 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:06,240 Speaker 1: fairly nonreactive. Metal is mostly nonreactive within the body, so 599 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,480 Speaker 1: injections of gold were at least believed at the time 600 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: to be relatively non toxic. I was poking around, and 601 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,719 Speaker 1: that seems to gold is still, from what I can tell, 602 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:19,280 Speaker 1: believed to be relatively non toxic as far as internal 603 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 1: metals go in the body. Of course, there could be 604 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: some things I didn't come across, so I'm not saying 605 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:26,920 Speaker 1: like you will just go consume a bunch of gold. Now, 606 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:28,839 Speaker 1: another thing that you have to worry about if you 607 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 1: are injecting something into the body is how will the 608 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 1: immune system respond? And Ball rights that according to this study, 609 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: UH coding the gold nanoparticles in polyethylene glycol quote enables 610 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: them to evade the immune system. Lead All found that 611 00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:48,880 Speaker 1: peg coated gold nano rods about forty nanometers long injected 612 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 1: into the testes of male mice could raise the temperature 613 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,759 Speaker 1: up to forty five degrees C when are radiated with 614 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: an infrared laser. Now, I guess you're wondering, like, would 615 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:02,600 Speaker 1: this be painful? Apparently it would not take a painful 616 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,960 Speaker 1: amount of heat to be effective. Quote. The degree of heating, 617 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:10,600 Speaker 1: although not unduly uncomfortable essentially destroyed the testes and suppressed 618 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:15,799 Speaker 1: spermato genesis permanently, but milder heating meaning lower irradiation intensity, 619 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: impaired sperm production only temporarily. And they also showed that 620 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:24,080 Speaker 1: that the mice that it had the temporary thing appeared 621 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:28,400 Speaker 1: to regain normal reproductive function after some time had elapsed, 622 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: and that there were no major changes in their behavior 623 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: like eating or aggression or sexual activity after the treatment. 624 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:37,239 Speaker 1: So they say that at least in this state, the 625 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: procedure appeared probably safe and effective, but of course they're 626 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,000 Speaker 1: they're always the caveats. Ball notes that it's not clear 627 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,440 Speaker 1: whether the nano rods are ultimately voided from the body 628 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:52,640 Speaker 1: quote the concentration and the testes and epididymis declined over time, 629 00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:56,080 Speaker 1: but the particles seemed to accumulate in the spleen and 630 00:35:56,120 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 1: liver when obviously wonders about an extension to humans. That's 631 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,080 Speaker 1: certainly the author's long term goal, and they are confident 632 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,719 Speaker 1: that it should work in theory. It's just it's it 633 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,040 Speaker 1: is kind of um. It is interesting to think about 634 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 1: when we think back to that myth of Zeus Golden 635 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:15,080 Speaker 1: Shower and how um you know, that enables him to 636 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,960 Speaker 1: reproduce with the human and here we're talking about similar 637 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:22,800 Speaker 1: we're talking about golden particles being used, uh to prevent 638 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,000 Speaker 1: reproduction from taking place. Yeah. Now, I looked around and 639 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:28,680 Speaker 1: I haven't seen much follow up from this idea since 640 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:31,319 Speaker 1: the study was published in And I'm not sure what 641 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:33,480 Speaker 1: that means. I don't know if that means people have 642 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: looked into it and it is not such a hot 643 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:39,680 Speaker 1: idea after all, no pun intended, or maybe it's just 644 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:42,360 Speaker 1: waiting for somebody to do some more follow up research. 645 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,120 Speaker 1: I'm not sure. But assuming the basic method is sound, 646 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:48,040 Speaker 1: even if it were never like extended experimentally to humans 647 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:50,279 Speaker 1: or anything, the authors are trying to make the case 648 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,959 Speaker 1: that hey, having a less invasive method for effective contraception 649 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 1: on animals such as household pets and domestic animals could 650 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,120 Speaker 1: be extremely useful. You know, you have a you have 651 00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:05,920 Speaker 1: a cheaper, less invasive method of rendering household pet sterile. 652 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,040 Speaker 1: That would be a good thing for the world. Yeah, 653 00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:10,440 Speaker 1: I just don't want anybody then stealing my cat and 654 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:15,040 Speaker 1: trying to melt down for her gold, her precious gold. 655 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:19,320 Speaker 1: But whether or not gold based thermal contraception for humans 656 00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:23,239 Speaker 1: or other animals whatever, actually go anywhere. Gold nanoparticles show 657 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,040 Speaker 1: lots of promise in all kinds of other medical research, 658 00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:28,640 Speaker 1: especially as I was saying earlier, in things like the 659 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:32,719 Speaker 1: treatment of cancer. Gold nanoparticles tend to be strong candidates 660 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:34,719 Speaker 1: for use within the body, again because they can be 661 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:39,000 Speaker 1: used for all kinds of diagnostics and targeting of specific tissues, 662 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,560 Speaker 1: but they're thought to be relatively non toxic and tolerated 663 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:45,360 Speaker 1: by the immune system. If you just do searches on 664 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:48,960 Speaker 1: the medical literature, tons of stuff about gold nanoparticles study 665 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,359 Speaker 1: use will will come up. There are tons of them. 666 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:53,319 Speaker 1: But just to pick one example of this kind of 667 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:55,319 Speaker 1: thing that I came across, this is from a couple 668 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,880 Speaker 1: of years ago published by A. Restinahad at All in 669 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,719 Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen in p n A s Gold nanoshell 670 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:07,680 Speaker 1: localized photothermal ablation of prostate tumors in a clinical pilot 671 00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:12,000 Speaker 1: device study. So this is looking at using gold nanoparticles 672 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:18,319 Speaker 1: to allow the thermal destruction like targeted heating of cancerous 673 00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:22,360 Speaker 1: tissues within the prostate gland or around the prostate gland, 674 00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:25,840 Speaker 1: heating of that through directed near infrared light, and this 675 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,000 Speaker 1: kind of thing seems to be a pretty promising method 676 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,960 Speaker 1: for destroying cancer cells without harming the rest of the 677 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,480 Speaker 1: body too much, and the authors point out that this 678 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:37,759 Speaker 1: thing can be really important for UH for cancers such 679 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:41,920 Speaker 1: as prostate cancer, because prostate cancer tends to well, as 680 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:45,440 Speaker 1: they write, quote, the prostate is near several vital structures 681 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:50,040 Speaker 1: such as the urethra, neurovascular bundle, UH, and whole gland. 682 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:53,799 Speaker 1: Treatments for prostate cancer can disrupt normal urinary, bowel and 683 00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:58,200 Speaker 1: sexual functioning. So having some kind of ultra focal method 684 00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:01,319 Speaker 1: for destroying the cancerous tissue without harming too much of 685 00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:04,719 Speaker 1: the surrounding tissue is especially useful for organs like this 686 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:06,480 Speaker 1: within the body. And this isn't the only one, and 687 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:09,120 Speaker 1: there are other organs like this, So of course I 688 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: have to wonder if we're at an age of of dawning, 689 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:16,800 Speaker 1: you know, gold nanoparticle or otherwise metallic nanoparticle based treatments 690 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:20,200 Speaker 1: and diagnostics throughout the medical world, how will this manifest 691 00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:24,200 Speaker 1: in science fiction adaptations of the Mida Smith. Yeah, yeah, 692 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:26,200 Speaker 1: there's a lot of I mean, the myth itself, like 693 00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:27,960 Speaker 1: we're saying, it's so many ways to interpret it and 694 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:33,120 Speaker 1: look at it. It's already right for just continual reevaluation, 695 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:35,719 Speaker 1: but now we have new ways to think about the 696 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:38,800 Speaker 1: material central to it, new ways to think about gold, 697 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:41,640 Speaker 1: new uses for gold. Yeah, it turns everything on its head. 698 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:43,560 Speaker 1: And of course I also love the idea of a 699 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:46,680 Speaker 1: god taking on the form of gold nanoparticles like that, 700 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:49,600 Speaker 1: that in and of itself sounds pretty rad well. I 701 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,200 Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if somebody picks up on like the 702 00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:56,120 Speaker 1: studies like the control of a nematode behavior via injection 703 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:59,520 Speaker 1: of those weren't gold nanoparticles but metallic nanoparticles to like 704 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,840 Speaker 1: heated and make it move one direction rather than another. 705 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,319 Speaker 1: Surely somebody will take that idea way too far. Yeah, 706 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 1: I mean in fiction, not in reality. I'm not he's 707 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 1: going to create a nanoparticle mind control device seems implausible 708 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:15,400 Speaker 1: at the human level, by the way. Well, and as 709 00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:17,840 Speaker 1: far as just injected metal goes, I mean, two examples 710 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,080 Speaker 1: of that from science fiction come to mind. There's, of course, 711 00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:22,240 Speaker 1: the one of the X Men movies. There's a scene 712 00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:27,000 Speaker 1: where prison guards injected with some sort of a metallic liquid, 713 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:31,400 Speaker 1: which then enables Magneto to manipulate him too much iron 714 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,680 Speaker 1: in your blood. Yes, yeah, that's pretty good scene. Is 715 00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:36,480 Speaker 1: that recall I was that? I guess it was X 716 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:38,360 Speaker 1: two x two. Yeah, that was the one that was 717 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:40,280 Speaker 1: the one of Brian Cox in it. That that was. 718 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:45,879 Speaker 1: But then also on the the animated series the Legend 719 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:50,040 Speaker 1: of Cora, which involves earth beenders, firebenders, water benders, but 720 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:52,760 Speaker 1: then of one variety of earth Beenders or metal benders 721 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:56,839 Speaker 1: who essentially have made neeto like control over metals. So 722 00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,400 Speaker 1: there's manipulation of metallic based poisons within the human body, 723 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:03,799 Speaker 1: which are are pretty interested. But I don't recall them 724 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,040 Speaker 1: bending gold at any point. It could be wrong. Maybe 725 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,160 Speaker 1: maybe it happens in Um like some of the comic 726 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:11,400 Speaker 1: books or something. But so I don't know Avatar Legend 727 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:14,239 Speaker 1: of Cora fans out there, if there's gold bending going on, 728 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:17,760 Speaker 1: let me know about it. Hey, explain the whole bender 729 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:20,440 Speaker 1: thing to me. I've never watched Avatar. I don't I 730 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:22,400 Speaker 1: don't know what it is, though I've seen people on 731 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:25,320 Speaker 1: the Internet talking about Airbenders and other kind of benders. 732 00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:27,920 Speaker 1: What are the benders? Okay, Well, first of all, Um 733 00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:31,880 Speaker 1: Avatar is a tremendous show. Avatar The Last Airbender is 734 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:33,920 Speaker 1: just really great. I didn't watch it until this summer 735 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:35,520 Speaker 1: and I watched it with the family, and it's just 736 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,400 Speaker 1: just wonderful, just a great show started to finish and 737 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:40,360 Speaker 1: in Legend of Kor is the sequel to it. But 738 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:44,440 Speaker 1: basically in this world, which is like a uh, you 739 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,040 Speaker 1: know based it's it's not our world. It's some sort 740 00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:50,239 Speaker 1: of a you know, alien parallel type of world with 741 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,360 Speaker 1: a lot of hybrid creatures. But and it's also based 742 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:57,160 Speaker 1: in a large part on Asian cultures and Asian mythologies. 743 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:00,560 Speaker 1: But you have people selected you I guess, kind of 744 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:04,640 Speaker 1: the mutants who are born with the ability to control 745 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,600 Speaker 1: with their mind and with their body certain elements, so 746 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:12,359 Speaker 1: like firebenders can move fire around and use fire magic essentially, um. 747 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:15,200 Speaker 1: And then you have water benders, the airbenders, and then 748 00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:20,239 Speaker 1: the earth Benders, and this factors into like nationalities and politics. 749 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:22,920 Speaker 1: And then you have somebody that is the Avatar, and 750 00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,719 Speaker 1: the Avatar is like the you know, like the I 751 00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:28,000 Speaker 1: guess they're like a bodhisatva or something. You know, they're 752 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:32,920 Speaker 1: um there, there's only one at a time, and there's 753 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,879 Speaker 1: like reincarnation involved, and they are able to bend all 754 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:38,319 Speaker 1: the elements and are supposed to be a force of 755 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:42,280 Speaker 1: balance in the world. So why is there a last Airbender. Well, 756 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,640 Speaker 1: because of the the politics and the nationalities. So the 757 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:50,919 Speaker 1: Fire Nation tries to wipe out the Air Nation, and 758 00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:53,960 Speaker 1: they thought they had achieved it because the different the 759 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:57,359 Speaker 1: the different Avatar is born in a different nation. So 760 00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:00,600 Speaker 1: like one generation, the Avatar is born of ire Bender 761 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:02,840 Speaker 1: and then has to and then learns to use the 762 00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:06,640 Speaker 1: other bending powers. But then the next Avatar, the next reincarnation, 763 00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:09,960 Speaker 1: will be born with you know, with a different starting ability. 764 00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:12,600 Speaker 1: Wouldn't that be suicidal though? If the Fire Nation wipes 765 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:14,840 Speaker 1: out the Air Nation because the fire needs air in 766 00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:18,480 Speaker 1: order to you know, sustain itself exactly, and that's why 767 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:20,720 Speaker 1: you needed an Avatar to come around and bring balance 768 00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:23,680 Speaker 1: back to the world. I see. But also the show 769 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,160 Speaker 1: is especially avatar, it's also really funny. It has some 770 00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:27,920 Speaker 1: great humor in it, so it's not it's not all 771 00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:31,120 Speaker 1: like just serious, but it balances those two things. Well, 772 00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,280 Speaker 1: it's it's it can be really funny, it can be cute, 773 00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:36,720 Speaker 1: but it can also be very seriously minded, has great drama. 774 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,520 Speaker 1: It's it's really one of the best animated series I've 775 00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:44,239 Speaker 1: ever seen this episode paid for by the Last Airbender. Yeah, yeah, 776 00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:47,520 Speaker 1: I mean not really, but yeah, okay, you've convinced me. Yeah, 777 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:50,640 Speaker 1: it's going on the list at least. All Right, Well, 778 00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:53,319 Speaker 1: I guess that's it for for Gold though. That's all 779 00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:56,560 Speaker 1: the gold bending we're gonna do today. But obviously gold 780 00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:58,880 Speaker 1: will continue to come up again, either as a material 781 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:01,120 Speaker 1: related to something we're talking about. I'm sure it'll come 782 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:04,560 Speaker 1: up in future part of Fact episodes and who know, 783 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:07,239 Speaker 1: you know we could come back and discuss the electronic 784 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:10,399 Speaker 1: side of gold in the future. Oh yeah, absolutely, Maybe 785 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:12,960 Speaker 1: we'll do a weird house cinema that involves gold. I'm 786 00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:15,000 Speaker 1: sure there are plenty of things to choose from. There's 787 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,399 Speaker 1: a movie that's right at the tip of my tongue, 788 00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:19,600 Speaker 1: but I can't think of what it is. It's got 789 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:23,160 Speaker 1: a gold monster. Well, there's the Hideous Sun Demon, and 790 00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:25,919 Speaker 1: then I think there's some sort of there's doctor There's 791 00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:28,880 Speaker 1: Doctor Goldfoot in the Big Machini Machine. That's what I'm thinking, 792 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:33,200 Speaker 1: not a gold monster at all. The Doctor Goldfoot in 793 00:44:33,239 --> 00:44:35,600 Speaker 1: the Bikini Machine is a movie where Vincent Price has 794 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:37,680 Speaker 1: a big machine. It's like the like quiz Nos of 795 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:40,200 Speaker 1: them that you stick the sandwich in, except what comes 796 00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:43,040 Speaker 1: out of it is like I think Ladies and Bikini's 797 00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:46,560 Speaker 1: Frankie Avalon's in that. Yeah, he plays a secret agent. 798 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:49,680 Speaker 1: It's a comedy. It's like a parody film of James 799 00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 1: Bond type stuff. So he's this is the comedic Goldfinger 800 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:57,520 Speaker 1: basically all right, all right, Well maybe we'll put it 801 00:44:57,560 --> 00:44:59,440 Speaker 1: on the list In the meantime, if you want to 802 00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:01,239 Speaker 1: check out other episodes of Stuff to Blow your Mind, 803 00:45:01,239 --> 00:45:04,759 Speaker 1: just remember core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursday's Artifact on 804 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:08,360 Speaker 1: Wednesday's Listener Mail on Monday's Friday. That's our time to 805 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:11,160 Speaker 1: do a little weird house cinema where we we put 806 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:13,359 Speaker 1: most of the science aside and we just focus on 807 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:16,799 Speaker 1: a cinematic weirdness, one film at a time, and you 808 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:19,239 Speaker 1: can find the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed 809 00:45:19,239 --> 00:45:21,440 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast, wherever that happens to be, 810 00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:23,759 Speaker 1: if they give you the power to do so. We 811 00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:27,399 Speaker 1: just asked you rate, review, and subscribe huge things as 812 00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:30,960 Speaker 1: always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If 813 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:32,440 Speaker 1: you would like to get in touch with us with 814 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:35,000 Speaker 1: feedback on this episode or any other to suggest a 815 00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: topic for the future, or just to say hello. You 816 00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:40,319 Speaker 1: can email us at contact at Stuff to Blow Your 817 00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:50,600 Speaker 1: Mind dot com Stuff to Blow your Mind. It's production 818 00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:53,080 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart 819 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:56,320 Speaker 1: Radio with the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 820 00:45:56,360 --> 00:46:09,399 Speaker 1: you listening to your favorite shows, The Little Presenting four 821 00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:12,960 Speaker 1: foot f