A group of Chinese researchers may have discovered the science behind King Midas’ magic touch. By toying around with atoms, they managed to turn copper into a material that shares similarities with gold. Time to retire? Not quite. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Liaoning used electrically-charged argon gas to produce a thin layer of gold-like sand on a piece of copper. However,... 

There is as yet no method to mimic Jesus Christ and turn water into wine, but German chemical engineers have proved they can perform miracles of alchemy. They are now finalizing the assembly of a rig that changes water into gasoline. The German company says it has developed an engineering installation capable of synthesizing petroleum-based fuels from water and carbon dioxide. The ‘power-to-liquid’... 

Iranian researcher Kazem Kashefi along with his American colleague Adam Brown has created gold in Michigan State University using bacteria in a way called ‘microbial alchemy’. Kashefi and Adam Brown used a special type of bacterium to turn liquid gold into more valuable 24-karat gold. They reported that the bacteria Cupriavidus metallidurans is capable of resisting the toxic effects of...