(Current Affairs) Science & Technology, Defence, Environment | December: 2013

Science & Technology, Defense, Environment

Gold in the Eucalyptus Trees Discovered

Researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Perth, in the month of October 2013 revealed that they found tiny particles of gold in the eucalyptus trees. The researchers explained that the discovery of hidden gold in trees can help the future prospectors to find out more about the precious metal. The Australian researchers explained that the trees were on the top of gold deposits which were rooted deep in the ground. In order to search for the moisture, these trees suck more of gold. The Geochemist at CSIRO, Melvyn Lintern explained that seeing the gold particles in leaves was surprising. Certain trees on which the research was done, brought the gold from a depth of 30 metres, which is equal to the 10-storey building. This gold was found in resource-rich Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia, which, in late 1800s was a primary site of the major gold rush. In order to analyse the extremely small particles at the high resolution, the scientists made use of CSIRO’s Maia detector at Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne for X-ray imaging.

The scientists found out that gold particles with the diameter onefifth of a human hair were present in the trees. Melvyn Lintern also explained that the eucalyptus acts as a hydraulic pump. The roots of these trees extend to tens of metres into the ground. Because the gold is toxic for the plants, therefore, it eventually moved into the leaves as well as the branches where it can be shed to ground. The researchers made use of the technique called biogeochemical sampling in order to give indication of gold’s presence beneath the surface. The same method can also used for finding out other metals like copper and zinc. The researchers also explored the gold in leaves of other trees like Acacia Mulga. The latest discoveries of gold fell by 45 percent in past 10 years. In the year 2011, the US Geological Survey revealed that there was around 51000 tonnes of gold
remaining in reserve of the world.

World’s First Bionic Man

Scientists developed the world’s first robot human (Bionic man) made entirely of prosthetic parts. The bionic man can walk, talk and has a beating heart. Bionic man was assembled from prosthetic body parts and artificial organs donated by laboratories around the world. The bionic man also has a nearly complete set of artificial organs including an artificial heart, blood, lungs (and windpipe), pancreas, spleen, kidney and functional circulatory system. He also sports a cochlear implant, speech recognition and speech production systems. The engineers equipped the bionic man with a sophisticated chatbot programme that can carry on a conversation. It also has a pair of robotic ankles and feet from BiOM in Bedford, Massachusetts, designed and worn by bioengineer Hugh Herr of MIT’s Media Lab, who lost his own legs after getting trapped in a blizzard as a teenager.

To support his prosthetic legs, the bionic man wears a robotic exoskeleton dubbed Rex .It was made by REX Bionics in New Zealand. He lacks a few major organs including liver, stomach and intestines, which are too complex to replicate in a lab. His brain can mimic certain functions of the human brain and he has a retinal prosthesis. Roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of Shadow Robot Co in England developed the bionic man. The robot was modeled in some physical aspects after Bertolt Meyer, a social psychologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, who wears one of the world’s most advanced bionic hands. The total cost for development of the robot is around 1 million US Dollars.

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