Metal-Absorbing Plants Could Make Mining Greener | A Tiny Fern's Gigantic Genome

Science Friday - A podcast by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Plants called “hyperaccumulators” have evolved to absorb high levels of metals. Scientists want to harness them for greener metal mining. And, a little fern from New Caledonia is just a few inches tall, but its genome has 160.45 billion base pairs—50 times more DNA than a human.