A tree that bleeds metal • Hacker News Board

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#21

Post by Nursie » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 1:16 PM UTC

"Pycnandra acuminata is a large (up to 20m tall) rare rainforest tree, restricted to remaining patches of rainforest in New Caledonia," says Dr Antony van der Ent

If ever there was an appropriate name for a tree researcher!

This sounds like it could have multiple potential uses, if we can figure it out, and maybe if we can genericise it - Nickel is toxic, but its far from the only metal contaminant . If this could be adapted to, for instance, help process landfill sites, that could be big news.

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#22

Post by AllegedAlec » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 1:47 PM UTC

ginko wrote: post #7

So is this actually metallic nickel or just nickel ions?

Ions, given the colour. Metallic nickel is silvery, but Nickel II and III are greenish and greenish blue respectively.

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#23

Post by Retric » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 2:13 PM UTC

coherentpony wrote: post #19

Humans bleed metal too; there's iron in haemoglobin.

It's a different scale. Human blood is well under 0.08% iron, this tree has 25% nickel. So over 300x as concentrated.

PS: 4 grams of iron in a persons body, ~5kg of blood.

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#24

Post by willyt » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 2:14 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #3

Excerpt: some scientists are hopeful that hyperaccumulators could be used to "clean" soil where there has been a build-up of toxic material due to human activity. Other potential applications include phytomining - growing hyperaccumulator plants on nutrient-poor but metal-rich soils to extract the elements they take up.

They could mine contaminants from the WW! battlefields in the Zone Rouge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_Rouge

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#25

Post by samirm » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 2:28 PM UTC

Fascinating. Thanks.

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#26

Post by 13of40 » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 2:40 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #23

coherentpony wrote: post #19

Humans bleed metal too; there's iron in haemoglobin.

It's a different scale. Human blood is well under 0.08% iron, this tree has 25% nickel. So over 300x as concentrated. PS: 4 grams of iron in a persons body, ~5kg of blood.

The hemoglobin molecule itself only has something like one iron atom per 1000 non-iron atoms.

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#27

Post by throwaway5752 » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 2:50 PM UTC

peterlk wrote: post #15

Why does no one ever talk about these with respect to Mars? It seems like a research-worthy pursuit to see if we can engineer plants (bacteria?) like this to modify the climate of Mars, or to make artificial superstructures self-sustaining.

Because Mars doesn't have liquid water or an atmosphere, so most "efforts" (or at least pontificating) are on those primary problems that would preclude plant life.

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#28

Post by overcast » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

peterlk wrote: post #15

Why does no one ever talk about these with respect to Mars? It seems like a research-worthy pursuit to see if we can engineer plants (bacteria?) like this to modify the climate of Mars, or to make artificial superstructures self-sustaining.

Shouldn't it be a research-worthy pursuit to modify(fix) the climate of the planet we're already living on? I'm not sure what attempting to live on a desolate planet is going to do for us. Say we turn it into another Earth, now what? We ruin that one too?

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#29

Post by mr_overalls » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 3:05 PM UTC

Imagine doing a little genetic tinkering to produce a tree that bleeds gold or platinum.

Although I _am_ wondering if the three could incorporate enough metal to make increased lightning strikes a survival issue.

Re: A tree that bleeds metal

#30

Post by gbrown » Thu, Sep 06, 2018, 3:10 PM UTC

throwaway5752 wrote: post #27

peterlk wrote: post #15

Why does no one ever talk about these with respect to Mars? It seems like a research-worthy pursuit to see if we can engineer plants (bacteria?) like this to modify the climate of Mars, or to make artificial superstructures self-sustaining.

Because Mars doesn't have liquid water or an atmosphere, so most "efforts" (or at least pontificating) are on those primary problems that would preclude plant life.

Mars most definitely has an atmosphere... just not much of one.