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Mining Metals Using Plants and Trees?

Posted by Hemos on from the storing-up-the-evil dept.

elroySF writes "An MIT Technology Review article says "...Scientists reported Monday that they have bioengineered a plant capable of absorbing arsenic from soil and sequenced the complete set of genes for a microbe that can remove heavy metals from water." It goes on to say "...Some scientists even see the day when trees and grasses will be used to mine metals and minerals without disturbing the soil." " We had a story about this a while back.

1 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Control? by sheepab · · Score: 0, Troll

    How do we control these plants? What happens if they get into the wild, which would eventually happen due to human error. I cant even imagine the impact these plants would have on our ecosystem. On the other hand, can we genetically engineer some plants to repair our ozone layer quicker? Has anyone ever thought of that?

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