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Some plants are totally metal… and I'm not just talking about venus fly traps.
有些植物是含有金属元素的……我说的不仅仅是捕蝇草。
There are plants that literally ooze metal! And we're farming them!
有些植物简直会渗出金属！我们在种植金属！
But first, we gotta back it up a little bit.
但首先，我们要说明这一点。
In the ground beneath our feet, there can be all kinds of different metals.
在我们脚下的土地上，可以有各种不同的金属。
Not in the form you and I might picture them,
不是像你我想象的那样，
like in a can or in your car, but in a much more unrefined, elemental form.
就像在罐头里或者你的车里，但是以一种更粗糙，更原始的形式。
And turns out, some plants have evolved to absorb lots of metal from these soils, through their roots.
结果是，一些进化的植物已经通过它们的根从这些土壤中吸收了大量的金属。
These helpful superstars are called hyperaccumulators, and there are lots of different kinds.
这些乐于助人的超级明星被称为超富集植物，有很多不同的类型。
After sucking up all that tasty metal, hyperaccumulating plants do just that
在吸收了所有这些美味的金属之后，超富集植物就这样形成了，
they accumulate that metal in their bodies.
它们在体内积累这些金属。
If you can call them that. Do plants have bodies? Whatever, you get the point.
如果你能这样称呼它们的话。植物有身体吗？不管怎样，你明白我的意思了。
Now the metal is inside them, it's literally running through their vascular structures in their sap,
现在金属在它们的内部，在它们的汁液中，
or even their shoots, seeds, and leaves.
甚至在它们的芽、种子和叶子中，穿过它们的血管结构。
So now, we can extract it from the plant, which has so handily brought it all together for us.
所以现在，我们可以把它从植物中提取出来，方便我们把所有的提取物放在一起。
A group of researchers working on a small trial farm on the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo
一组研究人员正在婆罗洲岛马来西亚一侧的一个小型试验场工作，
is already trying this with a plant that accumulates nickel.
他们已经在用一种可以积累镍的植物做试验。
Every six to twelve months or so, the farmer can harvest about this length of metal-filled plant tissue,
每6到12个月左右，农民就可以收获大约这个长度的由金属填充的植物组织，
and through purification, then have all this metal, no mining required.
通过净化，然后获得所有这些金属，不需要采矿。
Nickel in particular is an essential component of stainless steel, like what you might see in your kitchen,
镍是不锈钢的重要组成部分，就像你在厨房里看到的一样，
and we're seeing increasing demand for both it and its derivatives
我们看到电动汽车电池甚至手机
for things like electric car batteries and even your cell phone.
对于镍和其派生产品的需求都在增长。
But mining it - just like mining other heavy metals and rare earth elements - is extremely destructive.
但是开采它-就像开采其他重金属和稀土元素一样-是极具破坏性的。
Not only because you're literally cutting open the earth,
不仅因为你是在真正地破坏地表，
but because you're leaving behind some really intense chemical pollution as you refine it, too.
还因为你在提炼的过程中造成了一些非常严重的化学污染。
The process we humans have traditionally used to extract the metal from its raw form in the ground is called "smelting,"
我们人类传统上用来从地下的金属原料中提取金属的过程被称为“熔炼”，
and it involves lots of energy-intensive heating and melting, plus purifying chemicals and lots of waste products.
它涉及大量的能源密集的加热和熔化，加上净化化学品和大量的废物。
So, as our world's boundless appetite for things like cobalt, zinc, and other heavy metals continues to grow,
因此，随着我们对钴、锌和其他重金属的无限需求不断增长，
we're seeing a serious environmental impact. That comes in the form of water, soil and air pollution
我们看到了这已经对环境造成了严重的不良影响。这是以水、土壤和空气污染的形式出现的
not only from smelting's byproducts, but also from the metal itself,
不仅来自冶炼的副产品，也来自金属本身，
which can be really poisonous when inhaled or ingested.
当吸入或摄入时，金属本身可能是真正有毒的。
So, being able to farm these metals, instead? Yes, please.
所以，能够种植这些金属，而不用开采？是的，请听我接着说。
The plants are basically natural, solar-powered smelters:
这些工厂基本上是天然的太阳能冶炼厂：
they do the whole thing for us in a totally self-contained way.
它们以完全独立的方式为我们做所有的事情。
And this concept is called "bioharvesting," or more specifically, "phytomining."
这个概念被称为“生物收获”，或者更确切地说，“植物采矿”。
Which basically means we're farming metal, which just sounds way too cool for this reality.
这基本上意味着我们在种植金属，在现实生活中这听起来太酷了。
But that's not all. Because remember that pollution I was just talking about?
但还不止这些。因为还记得我刚才说的污染吗？
In addition to being a sustainable source of heavy metals and maybe eventually rare earth elements,
除了作为重金属和可能最终稀土元素的可持续来源之外，
they can also be used to clean up heavy metal pollution.
它们还可用于清除重金属污染。
Another research group has been studying copper-and zinc- accumulating plants.
另一个研究小组一直在研究铜和锌的富集植物。
They've shown that plants - specifically Brassica juncea,
研究表明，植物--特别是芥菜
a kind of mustard plant and Sedum alfredii, a common Asian herb,
一种芥子植物和景天科景天属植物，是常见的亚洲草本植物，
could uptake heavy metals from a polluted copper-zinc mine.
可以从受污染的铜锌矿中吸收重金属。
This helped clean up the site, a process called phytoremediation.
这有助于清理现场，一个叫做植物修复的过程。
Then the team was able to process those plant tissues and use the bio-accumulated metal
然后研究小组能够处理这些植物组织，并利用生物积累的金属
to make carbon nanotubes and carbon zinc-oxide nanoparticles,
来制造碳纳米管和碳锌氧化物纳米颗粒，
both of which can be used to advance all kinds of exciting electronics and energy technologies.
令人兴奋的是这两种技术都可以用来推进各种电子和能源技术的发展。
So, not only did you clean up the pollution,
所以，你不仅清理了污染，
but you then were able to still use that material instead of having to find a way of safely disposing of it,
而且你还可以使用这些材料，而不是去寻找一种安全的处理方法，
and you made something really useful out of it.
你用它做了些很有用的事情。
It kinda feels like we could really be on our way to getting this recycling thing down, you guys.
伙计们，这感觉就像我们真的可以以我们的方式来回收这些东西。
Exciting as it is, all of this is still in its beginning stages.
这一切虽然令人兴奋，但仍处于起步阶段。
Scientists are working hard on optimizing growing techniques and understanding ideal growth and accumulation conditions
科学家们正在努力优化生长技术，了解理想的生长和积累条件，
to make this phytomining thing a really strong competitor to the existing methods.
使这种植物栽培方法成为现有方法的有力竞争者。
They even say with further development of the science, they think this process could expand all over the globe,
他们甚至说，随着科学的进一步发展，他们认为这个过程可以推广到全球，
really changing what we mean when we say a "grassroots solution."
真正改变我们所说的“基层解决方案”。
One last fact: scientists think that it may have been helpful for hyperaccumulators
最后一个事实就是：科学家们认为，超富集植物进化出将这些金属
to evolve the ability to store these metals in their tissues so they would be toxic to predators.
储存在组织中的能力，从而植物本身对掠食者是有毒的，这可能是对自己有帮助的。
Pretty cool. If you want more surprising melding of nature and tech,
太酷了。如果你想了解更多惊人的关于自然和科技的融合，
check out my other video on graphene-enhanced mushrooms over here.
看看我的另一个关于石墨烯强化蘑菇的视频。
And keep coming back to Seeker for all of your news on botanical advancements.
并浏览Seeker网站上所有关于植物研究进展的新闻。
As always, thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you next time!
像往常一样，非常感谢收看，我们下次再见！
