Building from Scratch (the ultimate quest?)

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CheMin uses X-ray diffraction, which is a standard geologic technique for identifying rocks. It was no small feat to bring this technology to Mars - scientists had to shrink a room-sized setup into something smaller than a standard microwave oven.

X-ray diffraction is helpful for identifying a rock's makeup because it tells you definitively what minerals are present. Chemical identification, which Curiosity can also do, is less precise - it might tell you you've got a carbon compound, for instance, but you wouldn't know whether it was graphite or diamond. CheMin can, because it distinguishes mineral structure by recording how their crystals interact with X-rays.

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The Extrac-TEC Heavy Particle Concentration (HPC) technology allows for cost-effective gravity separation of minerals of differing densities without the use of chemicals.

Based on our revolutionary, new patented transverse spiral concentrator belt and benefiting from almost 20 years of development experience, the system boasts fine gold recovery rates of 95%-98% down to 50microns.
The HPC Equipment is ideally suited to the following applications:

Mining (gold, platinum, diamonds, gemstones and other minerals):
gold prospecting, exploration and bulk sampling
alluvial and placer gold mining operations where gold trommels, sluice boxes and panning are traditionally used
alluvial mining of other minerals including diamond and gemstone recovery
reprocessing of material from tailings dumps
as a pre-concentration component in hard rock mines for fine gold recovery and mineral extraction - prior to, or in place of chemical processes
for any mineral extraction or concentration application where gravity concentration is used, as an alternative to spiral concentrators
Sand and Gravel operations where gold and/or other minerals are present.
For environmental cleanups / lead remediation projects in decontamination of polluted land, specifically for lead shot or bullet recovery from trap & skeet, pistol and rifle shooting ranges

Key benefits of the HPC technology include:

A broad material-size processing spectrum with high recovery rates.
Mobile, self-contained machines from 10 to 400 tons/hour are fully equipped, robust, reliable and easy to set up and use.
A continuous process with a simple, secure and highly efficient final recovery stage which produces a minimal volume of concentrate.
An environmentally friendly process with no chemicals and reduced water use.
Versatility/scalability offering solutions to a wide range of operating requirements.

The “bottom line” is high yield, cost effective and reliable equipment requiring minimal operator skills allowing for the profitable processing of lower grade ore bodies in any location worldwide.

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We’ve speculated here about whether 3D printers could lead toward nanofactories and noted recent progress in fast printing of arbitrarily complex three dimensional objects with 100-nanometer resolution. For the most part, 3D printers have been used to print solid objects made from plastic. Now chemist Leroy Cronin at Glasgow University is working on making 3D printers print molecules—becoming a universal chemistry set. A hat tip to KurzweilAI.net for pointing to this article by Tim Adams in The Observer. From “The ‘chemputer’ that could print out any drug“:

Professor Lee Cronin is a likably impatient presence, a one-man catalyst. “I just want to get stuff done fast,” he says. And: “I am a control freak in rehab.” Cronin, 39, is the leader of a world-class team of 45 researchers at Glasgow University, primarily making complex molecules. But that is not the extent of his ambition. A couple of years ago, at a TED conference, he described one goal as the creation of “inorganic life”, and went on to detail his efforts to generate “evolutionary algorithms” in inert matter. He still hopes to “create life” in the next year or two.

At the same time, one branch of that thinking has itself evolved into a new project: the notion of creating downloadable chemistry, with the ultimate aim of allowing people to “print” their own pharmaceuticals at home. Cronin’s latest TED talk asked the question: “Could we make a really cool universal chemistry set? Can we ‘app’ chemistry?” “Basically,” he tells me, in his office at the university, with half a grin, “what Apple did for music, I’d like to do for the discovery and distribution of prescription drugs.” …

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The EU project, named MICREAgents (EU contribution €3.4 M), plans to build autonomous self-assembling electronic micro-reagents that are almost as small as cells. These micro-reagents will exchange chemical and electronic information to jointly direct complex chemical reactions and analyses in the solutions they are poured into. Together with teams from Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Israel and New Zealand, the MICREAgents project heralds a major step beyond Lab-on-a-Chip devices towards the integration of chemistry and information technology.