Environmental Science
The Process of Phytoremediation for Soil Cleanup
Quick fact
The hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens can pack more than 2% of its leaf dry weight with zinc without showing any signs of poisoning—a level that would kill most other plants.
Why this is interesting
What if scrubbing toxic soil required nothing more than a field of plants? Some plants have the surprising ability to absorb dangerous heavy metals as if they were drinking polluted water through a straw.