Search
Search the whole magazine.
Full-text search across every article — headlines, decks, body copy, pull quotes, captions and FAQs — plus our editorial and legal policies.
4 results for “ASGM mercury” in Science
Science · 3 November 2026
Made, Not Mined: Synthetic Gold and the Future of the Global Gold Trade
…· The most-discussed modern proposal uses neutrons from future fusion reactors to turn a mercury isotope into gold. Even on its own optimistic numbers it remains decades away and depends on fusion power existing at commercial scale. · Freshly transmuted gold can carry short-live…
Tomas Herrera · 25 min read
Science · 10 August 2026
Where Gold Actually Comes From
…d. · Can gold be manufactured artificially? It has been done, atom by atom, by bombarding mercury and platinum in reactors and accelerators. The yields are measured in micrograms and the cost per gram exceeds the market price by orders of magnitude. Transmutation is a demonstrati…
Tomas Herrera · 17 min read
Science · 8 August 2026
The Metal That Went Medical
Divide gold finely enough and it stops being gold-coloured, stops being inert in the way you expect, and starts doing work in places no bullion bar could reach — including the test strip that told you…
Amara Okonjo · 19 min read
Science · 9 August 2026
The Metallurgy of Karat
Pure gold is too soft to hold a stone, too soft to hold an edge, and the wrong colour for half the world's taste. Almost everything you own that is gold is a designed alloy — and the design is where t…
Tomas Herrera · 17 min read
