Think of bugs and ones thoughts end up with germs, bacteria, viruses and illness. However here is one bacterial bug that you may not want to keep at bay. It seems that researchers have found a metal tolerant bacteria that can withstand toxicity to produce gold.

At the Michigan State University researchers fed the bacteria known as “cupriavidus metallidurans” large amounts of gold chloride or liquid gold. In a week’s time the bacteria transformed this toxic material into a small gold nugget of 24 carat pure gold.

Kazem Kashefi who is an assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics said that what they were doing was microbial alchemy. It involved transforming a material that has no value into solid gold which has considerable value.

Does this mean that everyone can now get rich by growing their own gold at their home? Or can we look forward to making toxic waste heaps into the valuable precious metal gold?Unfortunately the answer is no. The process is too cost prohibitive for it to be managed on a large scale.

So biotechnology may throw up a few surprises every once in a while. It would be well worth conducting your own science project on just how useful some of these surprise results could be.