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Invisible Allies

Radiolab

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How Can We Keep Legionnaires From Growing?

The ancient Greeks and the ancient Roman civilizations found that drinking water out of copper-containing vessels Inhibited bacterial growth, far more so than a wooden cup. The Egyptians used copper plumbing in ancient China They kept their water in copper to stay fresher for longer So copper was discovered 11,000 years ago Whoa I know, which is a very long time ago Weren't we just barely starting farms at that point? Yeah, this was like pre-ironage For a long time, copper was the only metal that was known And it was used for just about anything where using a metal was required.

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