Detecting Toxic Mercury With Gold And Dna

摘要

Gold and mercury have a history of association. Mercury or quicksilver is commonly used in mining areas to isolate the gold from the ore. Now, reversely, researchers are using gold to detect trace mercury from our environment. Mercury is widely recognized as the second most toxic element on the planet. Mercury released into the air through burning fossil fuels, can seep into our waters, our land, making agricultural and sea products unsafe. Mercury has been found in batteries, in latex paint (before its ban in 1990) that protects walls from mildew - and other consumer products. Throughout the centuries, mercury toxicity has been reported. Found even in Egyptian tombs, mercury could have been used as early as 1500 BC. In the late 18th century, the phrase "mad as a hatter" was coined because of the chronic mercury exposure that hat makers faced in the process. Mercury, in the form of methyl mercury, we now know, is a neurotoxin which has an effect on the brain.