[Lamplighter]

I enjoyed this editorial that follows along TW's ideas oft-exressed about innovation...

NY Times
HILLARY ROSNER
10/18/12

A Chemist Comes Very Close to a Midas Touch

Throughout the centuries, alchemists tried in vain to transform
common metals like iron and lead into precious ones like gold or platinum.
Today, Paul Chirik, a professor of chemistry at Princeton, has managed a new twist on the timeworn pursuit.

Dr. Chirik, 39, has learned how to make iron function like platinum,
in chemical reactions that are crucial to manufacturing scores of basic materials.
While he can’t, sadly, transmute a lump of iron ore into a pile of valuable jewelry,
his version of alchemy is far more practical, and the implications are wide-ranging.

<snip>

Dr. Chirik’s work involves dissolved catalysts, which are mixed into the end product.
The molecules of the catalyst dissipate during the reaction.
For instance, a solution containing platinum is used to make silicone emulsifiers,
compounds that in turn feed products like makeup, cookware and glue.
Tiny amounts of the expensive metal are scattered in all these things;
your jeans, for instance, contain unrecoverable particles of platinum.

<snip>

“When you buy jeans, some weird element on the periodic table was used to make them,”
Dr. Chirik said. “Or you think you’re doing something good by buying a Prius,
but it’s got all this neodymium in it that comes out of a pit mine in Mongolia.

“If you can transition to a completely earth-abundant world,” he said, “you can have a huge impact.”