Nanocosmetics Used Since Ancient Egypt 252
Roland Piquepaille writes "French researchers have found that Egyptians, Greek and Romans were using nanotechnology to dye their hair several thousands years ago. Nanowerk Spotlight reports they were using lead compounds which generated lead sulfide (PbS) nanocrystals with a diameter of only 5 nanometers. At a moment where many people wonder if the use of nanoparticles is safe, it's good to know that nanotechnology has been widely used for a very long time."
Roland Piquepaille article (Score:4, Informative)
Real article link... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:If the ancient Egyptians used it... (Score:4, Informative)
The people who wore these hair dyes were typically of the upper classes. The upper classes might well live to something even we would recognize as an advanced age.
Pepi II is thought to have ruled for 94 years. Ramses II lived to see his 90th birthday and his heir was in his 60s when he took the throne, ruling for about another 20 years.
Do not confuse life expectency with ages that might well be fairly commonly attainable. A huge chunk of the the lower life expectency is due to high infant mortality and death during childbirth, scewing the statistics. If one made it to the 21st year; and didn't work on pyramids and such, one's life outlook was held to be something around the classic age of man; four score and ten. That's why it's the classic age.
KFG
Pewter ... not exactly (Score:3, Informative)
Pewter is not inherently a problem since it is primarily tin with a bit of copper, with possibly some other non-toxic metals. You can still get pewter drinking vessels and utensiles, which are safe to use.
The problem is that some pewter contains lead to add color and change the hardness. This is especially true of older pewter. This pewter is not safe.
Modern pewter is generally not a problem.
Re:Not exactly a ringing endorsement... (Score:4, Informative)
You are mistaken. It's just been outlawed in most first-world countries. It's still used in other places. It's also used in gaskets; I've seen gaskets with asbestos content personally. Anyway, you haven't looked very hard if you can't find current uses of Asbestos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos [wikipedia.org] has a whole section.
Re:Using "nanotechnology" to dye your hair... (Score:4, Informative)
He routinely submits stuff that is way out of date, common knowledge, or almost entirely irrelevant (like this), and it routinely gets accepted. There have been accusations of all sorts of stuff, primarily that Roland and the editors (a few in particular) have some sort of agreement, and what Roland gets out of it is the standard perks of having his site routinely linked off of the main page of
Re:Using "nanotechnology" to dye your hair... (Score:3, Informative)
There was a nanotech window treatment that made a bunch of people sick. Smoke from most any source is a bad nanoparticle, etc.
Re:safe? how about the long term? (Score:4, Informative)
Africa showed evidence of brain surgery as early as 3,000 B.C. in papyrus writings found in Egypt. "Brain," the actual word itself, is used here for the first time in any language. Egyptian knowledge of anatomy may have been rudimentary, but the ancient civilization did contribute important notations on the nervous system.
Re:safe? how about the long term? (Score:3, Informative)
"The Edwin Smith papyrus is the oldest known surgical text, dating back to the 1600s BC, although it contains information dating back to 3000 BC. It is an ancient Egyptian textbook on surgery, and describes in exquisite detail the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of numerous ailments."
http://www.medgadget.com/wiki/wiki/Surgery [medgadget.com]
It is a medical Wiki page, so believe at your own risk...
Re:Not exactly a ringing endorsement... (Score:3, Informative)