A new patent is on the books that could change natural resource extraction and environmental issues. What effects do you see for the economy as the technology is developed? The patent is called "Trapping Discrete Particles in Fluids": Summary: The invention describes a way to target and trap a specific particle (atom, molecule, bacterium, photon, ion, virus, etc.) that can be extracted from a moving fluid flow. Since every particle has a unique and identifiable shape and/or electromagnetic signature, a trap can be built to target it. The fluid is assumed to be moving and the trap is to be placed in the flow to capture the specific particle. Other particles would not be captured unless specifically targeted. Once trapped, the particle can be returned to the flow or be pulled out, the trap cleaned and replaced to catch a new particle. This can be used to remove specific particles from the fluid flow for mining purposes or to clean the fluid (EG. removing sodium molecules from flowing water or removing a virus from the blood stream). http://www.google.com/patents/about/12_460_880_Trapping_discrete_particles_i.html?id=GsbyAAAAEBAJ