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