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Nature Materials 4, 16 (1 January 2005) | doi:10.1038/nmat1304

Material witness: Old masters

Philip Ball

Once again, ancient technology has provided inspiration to the modern materials scientist. Jonah Erlebacher and his co-workers at Johns Hopkins University have prepared nanoporous gold films, with potential applications in membrane technology and catalysis, by adapting the ancient technique of depletion gilding, used both in the Incan civilization and in medieval Europe (Adv.