Researchers at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro have found that Russian Thistle -- a.k.a. tumbleweed -- absorbs a substantial amount of depleted uranium from the soil (at least while still rooted -- once they start tumblin', they aren't doing much good). This is good news for efforts to clean up weapons test ranges and battlefields. The lowly tumbleweed may prove to be a useful addition to traditional remediation.

Of course, the unanticipated consequence headlines practically write themselves, here...

still, bioremediation is a good thing, and we're happy to enlist the Russian Thistle in the cause.

Posted by: Alex Steffen on November 15, 2004 10:27 PM