Look at these itty bitty little beauties--microscopic snails and other species that scientists say may be uniquely associated with cold, inactive deep sea hydrothermal vents

Read more about alpine pennycress and its role in the emerging field of "phytomining" in:

Critical Minerals? There’s a Plant for That

www.biographic.com/critical-min...

Known to scientists as hyperaccumulators, these plants undergird a developing industry that is looking to help secure the vital metals we want without wrecking the planet in the process.

But alpine pennycress (Noccaea caerulescens) is notable for far more than its penny disguise. The plant is one of a select group—representing just 0.21 percent of the world’s known vascular plant species—that have evolved the ability to pull impressive amounts of valuable metals out of the soil.

As a bonus treat, check out this thematically related piece:

What the Heck is Seaweed Mining?

by @moiradonovan.bsky.social

hakaimagazine.com/news/what-th...

And if you want even more detail, check out the original scientific review that inspired this piece:

Harnessing hyperaccumulator plants to recover technology-critical metals: where are we at?

by @lizrylott.bsky.social and @antonyent.bsky.social l

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Read more about the developing field of phytomining--including the recent scientific and commercial advances--in today's story by @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social:

Critical Minerals? There’s a Plant for That

www.biographic.com/critical-min...

That's where "phytomining" enters the picture.

This nascent industry is using special metal-accumulating plants to develop a less destructive way to mine--or should we say farm?--metals.

But what if there was another way?

What if there was a way to obtain the metals we want--nickel, cobalt, cadmium, zinc--without the need for destructive strip mining or deep sea adventures?