2026 Contest Results

Question posted January 5, 2026
What is the term for using plants to extract heavy metals from the soil for commercial value?

        

Answer: Phytomining (Answer “d”), is the commercial process of utilizing plants to chemically bond with certain metal ions so they can be extracted for monetary value. In theory, it causes minimal environmental effects compared to surface mining. Several startups are investigating the process for mining critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel from existing mine tailings. Surprisingly, scientists long ago imagined extracting dissolved minerals from ocean water, but the low concentration of minerals made that process uneconomical. Today, scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Sequim, WA are exploring whether a mineral-concentrating seaweed can reshape the way minerals are obtained. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytomining and

https://grist.org/energy/the-weirdest-ways-scientists-are-mining-for-critical-minerals-from-water-to-weeds/.