Strawberry Fields Forever?

The Rolling Stones may have kept going for fifty years but real flower power may now be making a comeback. A research group led by the University of Warwick are to embark on a programme using flowers, such as Alyssum, that can soak up particular elements and chemicals to restore poisoned soils. In addition to removing elements such as arsenic and platinum from contaminated land the team hope to develop suitable biorefining processes to recover high value materials.