A small, leafy, green peanut plant grows out of a patch of dirt. When David McLagan’s team sampled mercury isotopes in cassava, maize, and peanut crops (like the one shown here) grown downwind of a ...

Gold is everywhere in modern life, from jewelry to electronics to smartphones. The global electronics industry alone uses 280 tonsannually. And that demand keeps growing. But most people know little ...

For hundreds of years, the Amazon has been exploited for its gold. Today, the precious metal is just as sought after, but the remaining tiny gold particles are much harder to find. Mining often ...

In order to maximize gold extraction, mercury is often used to amalgamate with the metal. The gold is then produced by boiling away the mercury from the amalgam, a process which is hazardous owing to ...

Taking inspiration from a centuries-old-process for extracting gold from ore, researchers have used gold nanoparticles to strip mercury from contaminated water (ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/nn204313a).

Researchers have determined that the health risks taken on by artisanal, small-scale gold miners extend far beyond the miners themselves. Based on a study of gold-mining operations in Peru, the miners ...