Back when I used to prospect for gold in my handsome youth (pictured), I always told my fellow golddiggers Scrappy Pete, Fartin' Jim and Paris Hilton that the ocean floor had vast reservoirs of the color, and that's where we should be diggin'. They never believed me, but this list of the top "20 Things You Didn't Know About Gold" from Discover renders my hunch true, along with plenty of other factoids relating to everyone's favorite shiny metal.
"Nuggets" of wisdom include:
The metal is also virtually indestructible and has been highly valued throughout history, so humans have always recycled it. Upwards of 85 percent of all the gold ever found is still being used today.
and
For more than 70 years, the standard treatment for rheumatoid arthritis was regular injections of a liquid suspension of gold, which acts as an anti-inflammatory. Doctors still don’t know why.
Did you know, for instance, that the Aztecs called it "the excrement of the gods?" I told them back then flattery would get them nowhere, and well, it didn't, I guess. Poor Aztecs.
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