Superplants - Or how to make money from saving the environment

Superplants - Or how to make money from saving the environment

Some discoveries sound almost too fantastic to be credible. Did you know that there are plants that can suck heavy metals out of the ground? And to such an extent that they can be used to clean contaminated soils or to cultivate valuable commodities in a field as easily as grain or vegetables. Phytomining is one of the most exciting scientific discoveries in years and the field is still in its infancy.

The film "Superplants" investigates the phenomenon of phytomining and meets leading scientists in New Caledonia, Australia, France and Germany.

Since the discovery of these super plants, scientists around the world have been engaged in a race for the most spectacular potential applications. On the Pacific island of New Caledonia, they are being used to make contaminated soils fertile again. In Albania, farmers are now growing nickel plants on formerly barren land. And in a French laboratory, researchers are testing an even more startling variant: what if, one could use these plants to not only extract poisonous heavy metals from the ground but expensive precious metals too? It is already working for platinum - and there are even plants that can enrich themselves with gold.
The possibilities seem endless. And the research has only just begun, because for many long years the potential of super plants has been completely underestimated; the stories about trees whose sap comprises 25% nickel, or of plants that can extract highly poisonous cadmium from the ground sounded completely incredible. Now we have a unique opportunity to see a scientific revolution as it develops.