sunflowers aren't just yellow, they're EPIC :D

here's a super cute something i found out couple of days ago:

    know what was done to help in minimizing the potential nuclear damage that had occurred during the Chernobyl disaster or say, the Fukushima Daiichi disaster?

SUNFLOWERS WERE PLANTED.

 no kidding! 

here's a not-very-well know fact about this pretty, yellow heliotropic plant:

sunflowers can actually extract toxic substances from soil!

    areas where sunflowers have been planted are found to be relatively free of ingredients like lead, arsenic and uranium. after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, sunflowers were used to remove caesium-137 and strontium-90 from a nearby pond, in Ukraine. sunflowers utilize kalium, a common fertilizer, for their growth. in its absence, they absorb radioactive caesium instead which is similar to kalium.

    this treatment of environmental problems with the use of plants is known as phytoremediation and this particular process the sunflower takes part in - removal of contaminants by absorbing them from the soil is called phytoextraction or phytoaccumulation.

and why is this cool?

    well, obviously, it's eco-friendly. it doesn't mess with the soil structure or reduce soil productivity. it can clean up the soil without causing any kind of harm to soil quality. also, it's probably one of the cheapest soil-cleaning mechanisms out there.

isn't it amazing how nature's got a solution to EVERYTHING?

GO FLOWER POWER!! ^^