Gold-metabolizing Fungi May Be Instrumental in Asteroid Mining
Unsplash free image
From the Daily Galaxy, this story is a great example of how scientists use nature to solve problems.
I have written before about mining asteroids and other celestial bodies in the hopes of extracting resources for human settlements. Settlers on rocky planets must create a sustainable situation and must find materials to repair and grow their operations on remote bases.
Australian scientists discovered the fungi Fusarium oxysporum metabolizing gold and became excited. The fungi can help identity and process ore deposits containing gold, making it accessible to miners.
The cosmos has an abundance of metals and materials that are difficult to access. Precious metals are found in ore deposits that must be identified and processed using chemicals and machines. In space, mining is difficult and a fugi such as the one found in Australia can help space settlers succeed in their quest for metals.
This could be a game changer. I am excited to see an organism that can process and seek gold and this bodes well as fungi are hearty and durable organisms that could survive in space.
Sources: