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Chemists have often pondered why the germ Delftia acidovorans is frequently found on the surface of tiny gold nuggets. Its presence led scientists to speculate it may be creating the particles from soluble gold ions of gold dissolved in water. However, the puzzle was how D. acidovorans did this trick, as soluble gold is toxic.
The answer, suggest researchers, lies in a molecule excreted by the microbe that both shields the organism and transforms the poisonous ions into particles. This finding is the first demonstration that a secreted metabolite can protect against toxic gold and cause gold biomineralisation, the process by which living organisms produce minerals, they wrote in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. The molecule, delftibactin A, is capable of achieving this feat within seconds in pH-neutral conditions at room temperature.
Study co-author Nathan Magarvey of Ontarios McMaster University said the study was not designed to show whether it would be viable to use germs to grow gold from water in the lab. However, such processes seem distinctly possible, he said. Previous research had shown that another bacterium found on gold, Ischiadicus metallidurans, deals with toxicity by storing the ions inside its cells.
Bacteria need some metals, such as iron, to grow, whereas others, like silver, will kill them. Soluble gold is found in the ocean, groundwater and other natural water sources, while solid gold is mainly formed through geological processes underground. Magarvey said the study may implicate D. acidovorans in secondary deposits such as nuggets found in rivers.
Researchers study bacterium that can lay the golden egg - Taipei Times
The unemployment rate for civilian government workers dropped to 3.6 percent in March from 3.8 percent in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In February, there were 828,000 unemployed federal, state and local governments in the United States. In March, that declined to 786,000.
In July 2012, the unemployment rate for government workers was as high as 5.7 percent, according to the BLS, and the rate has been in a steady decline since. The current unemployment for government workers at 3.6 percent is the lowest rate since April 2011.
Since July, times have been very good for government in the United States, with governments managing to add 618,000 workers to their payrolls. In March, there were 20,633,000 total government workers in the U.S. In July the government employed 20,015,000 people.
The report also noted that within government, that employment for the U.S. Postal Service, which is planning to cut Saturday mail delivery, fell by 12,000 in March. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts someone as a government worker if they are not in the military and they are currently employed by any level of governmentlocal, state or federalor they are unemployed, they are looking for work, and their last job was for any level of government.
3.6 Percent Unemployment--for Government Workers | CNS News
Since President Barack Obama was first inaugurated in January 2009, 9,460,000 people have dropped out of the labor force. The BLS counts a person as not in the civilian labor force if they are at least 16 years old, are not in the military or an institution such as a prison, mental hospital or nursing home, and have not actively looked for a job in the last four weeks. The department counts a person as in the civilian labor force if they are at least 16, are not in the military or an institution such as a prison, mental hospital or nursing home, and either do have a job or have actively looked for one in the last four weeks.
The number of people that BLS considers "in the labor force" affects the unemployment rate--which is the percentage of people "in the labor force" who are unable to find a job during the month. If someone previously considered "not in the labor force" were to go out and search for a job and not find one, they would have to be counted as in the labor force for that period--and thus would increase the unemployment rate. To the degree that Americans choose to simply drop out of the labor force rather than search unsuccessful for a job they decrease the unemployment rate.
In keeping with the increase in the number of people not in the labor force, the labor force participation rate decreased from 63.5 percent in February to 63.3 percent in March. The labor force participation rate is the percentage of Americans in the civilian population over age 16 who did not have a job or seek a job during the month. In January 2009, when Obama was first inaugurated, there were 80,507,000 people not in the labor force compared to the 89,967,000 who were not in the labor force in March.
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According to BLS, the number of women not in the labor force grew to 49 million in March, up from 48.7 million in February, continuing a trend of women leaving the labor force in every month of 2013.
White House chief economist Alan Krueger said that the March jobs report which showed the lowest job creation in months was another sign that the economy continues to recover. While more work remains to be done, todays employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression, Krueger said Friday on the White House blog.
Krueger said that the March report was evidence that country needed to continue the policies of President Obama. It is critical that we continue the policies that are helping to build an economy that creates jobs and works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007.
315,000 Women Leave Labor Force in March | CNS News
The unemployment rates for African Americans fell for the first time in 2013 to 13.3 percent from 13.8 percent in February. The rate for Latinos also fell to 9.2 percent from 9.6 percent, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday.
However, thousands of Latino and African American workers dropped out of the labor force in March, the weakest job creation month in some time.
148,000 African Americans left the labor force in March, according to BLS, swelling the number of African Americans not in the labor force to 11.7 million.
282,000 Latinos left the labor force in March, swelling the number of Latinos not in the labor force to 12.9 million from 12.6 million in February.
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