Au
Gold
In 2013, researchers at Northwestern University stumbled upon a surprising discovery while working on an unrelated project. They were attempting to create a porous material when they mixed a starch called alpha-Cyclodextrin with gold salts. To their astonishment, the gold rapidly precipitated out of the solution.
This accidental finding led to the development of a new, environmentally friendly method for extracting gold from ore using benign starch instead of toxic cyanide.
