The Real Value of Gold

Now that gold sells for around $720/troy ounce - projections point toward $800 - one should ask if this is the true value of this material as it provides little in the way of actual worth to society when it comes in the form of coins or bullion but when gold is judged on what it can do, it's real value emerges in ways that go far beyond the dollar value placed by gold bugs on this most treasured of metals.

Enter the age of the Gold Nanoparticle, a potential noninvasive "silver bullet" that could detect and treat cancer and other diseases with unparalleled efficiency without the side effects associated with chemo and radiation therapy.


Some projected uses of gold nanoparticles include the following:

Cancer Treatment: "Gold Nanoparticles Show Potential for Noninvasive Cancer Treatment"

Cancer Detection: "In the study, researchers found that the gold nanoparticles have 600 percent greater affinity for cancer cells than for noncancerous cells."

Cancer Treatment II: "By attaching strands of "antisense" DNA to nanometer-scale particles made of gold, scientists at Northwestern University have significantly enhanced the strands' ability to suppress the production of dangerous proteins--such as those that cause cancer."


Cancer Treatment & Other Diseases: "The future of Cancer detection and treatment may be in gold nanoparticles - tiny pieces of gold so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye. The potential of gold nanoparticles has been hindered by the difficulty of making them in a stable, nontoxic form that can be injected into a patient.

New research at the University of Missouri-Columbia has found that a plant extract can be used to overcome this problem, creating a new type of gold nanoparticle that is stable and nontoxic and can be administered orally or injected. "

Time frame: Two to three years, "In the future, this exciting new class of antisense material (with gold nanoparticles) could be used for the treatment of cancer and other diseases that have a genetic basis,” said Mirkin, who is George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, professor of medicine and professor of materials science and engineering."

Maybe Ray Kurzweil is right. If we can survive the "aughts", we just might have a shot at immortality.