Voila! Nanotechs Turn Gold Red and Green

It's not exactly alchemy, but it's close,— maybe the modern equivalent.

Scientists in the U.K. have used nanotechnology to change the color of gold. What once had a gold tint now links red and green, to an extent.

Using principles of nanophotonics, the scientists embossed minuscule raised patterns on the surface of the gold, fundamentally altering the way the metal reacts to light. The trick is in how we perceive it, of course. To the human eye, the gold now looks like it has a reddish or greenish appearance.

The embossing was done on the magical metal of gold, but the scientists said that they could have just as easily used other more boring metals like silver or aluminum. The type of metal isn't a hindrance because the same technique would be used. It's not just red or green, either.

All of the colors of the rainbow are possible. As for the real world, the lead scientist is hopping to market the idea to those wanting to make jewelry or secure banknotes.

Family Heirloom a 4-billion-year-old Meteorite

It's not often that you find an ancient space artifact is propping up your homescape, but that's what has happened to a Kentucky couple, George and Donna Lewis. Turns out the 33-pound rock that they've been using as a doorstop is a rare meteorite estimated at 4.5 billion years old.

The date and material have been confirmed by testing done at Eastern Kentucky University. The rock is thought to be part of a known meteorite strike that created similar debris in Tazewell, Tenn., in the 1850s. Indeed, the doorstop in question was found in a cow pasture near the town of Tazewell in the 1930s and passed down two generations to Donna Lewis. Her grandfather, Tilmon Brooks, isn't around anymore to discuss the findings, or his find, but he would surely be pleased to know that he held onto something that could have great value, and not just of the sentimental kind.

The meteorite has not survived untouched. Somewhere along the way, someone painted it green. (It had been a garden ornament before the Lewises turned it into a doorstop.) That paint job hasn't diminished the rock's radioactivity, however, as George Lewis discovered when he did a hover with a metal detector.

The rock, weighing in at 33 pounds, is the second-largest known find from that Tazewell strike. The largest known meteorite from the strike weighs 100 pounds.

The Lewises' piece of space debris was on display at a recent Eastern Kentucky science fair, where several students were notably excited by the rock and its origin. The meteorite will remain in the public domain.