After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, scientists explored an unusual way of dealing with radioactive contamination by using plants to absorb radionuclides from the environment. Sunflowers emerged as a promising candidate because their roots can take up certain radioactive elements, including cesium and strontium, from contaminated water. Experiments near Chernobyl showed that sunflowers could remove…

Isabella GarryPhoto: Society for Science When Isabella Garry learned that microplastics can enter the human body through food, water and the air, she began looking for a solution that went beyond simply avoiding plastic. The seventh-grader from Central Middle School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, tested natural plant compounds in a laboratory-made stomach environment to see…

A six-month trial of live facial recognition at London railway stations cost British Transport Police (BTP) £320,786 and scanned more than 500,000 faces, but it produced just one alert from the police watchlist. That alert turned out to be a false identification, with no arrest resulting directly from the technology during the trial period. The…