• Question: What in your opinion is the most precious thing on planet Earth?

    Asked by elmo97 to Andrew, Marianne on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Consciousness. if we couldn’t apreciate planet earth what would be the point in it?

    • Photo: Andrew Maynard

      Andrew Maynard answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Hi elmo97,

      Tricky one. Human life is the obvious answer. But materials? There are lots of very rare materials that we depend on for modern technologies, where we would have a real problem if we ran out. One if these is the element Indium. It’s only found in a few places (China has quite a bit of it), but it is an essential component in flat screen displays, as it allows us to make transparent electrical conductors (the actual material is Indium Tin Oxide). Imagine if we suddenly ran out of the essential component of all computer and flat screen displays!

      Indium probably isn’t the most precious material. But it does show that the materials we depend on most might not be the most obvious ones!

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