<p>Onions and garlic can turn around a bland dish, but Indian biotechnologists have found another use for these roots: filtering heavy metals from toxic brews. </p><div class="vert-display-toggle collapsible relative flex flex-col items-center "><div class="vert-unit mt-4 mb-3 top-20"><div ad-type="mobile-desktop" class="ad-wrapper vert min-h-boombox flex items-start justify-center" data-ad-mapping="inline" data-ad-slot="Discover/inline-ad" id="div-inline-ad-0"></div></div><span aria-label="Advertisement" class="text-ad mt-1 text-[11px] uppercase">Advertisement</span></div><p>Scientists looking for new cleaning compounds mixed onion and garlic leftovers from canning factories with various industrial wastes. </p><p>The two Allium roots <a href="http://www.inderscience.com/offer.php?id=50898" title="">absorbed about 70 percent of toxins</a> — including arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead — and they could be reused to clean again. </p><div data-embedid="dcfb67aa-fdf4-4a19-b4c7-75c497a8de9c" id="insticator-embed-temp"></div><p><em>[This article originally appeared in print as "A Recipe for Toxic Cleanup."]</em></p>

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The March 2014 issue of Discover Magazine

Alien Worlds on Earth

Onions and garlic can filter heavy metals from toxic brews. 

Planet Earth

Onions as Toxic Cleanup Sponges 

Article

News

Breanna Draxler

Science

Onions and garlic can turn around a bland dish, but Indian biotechnologists have found another use for these roots: filtering heavy metals from toxic brews. Scientists looking for new cleaning compounds mixed onion and garlic leftovers from canning factories with various industrial wastes. The two Allium roots absorbed about 70 percent of toxins — including arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead — and they could be reused to clean again. [This article originally appeared in print as "A Recipe for Toxic Cleanup."]

Onions and garlic can filter heavy metals from toxic brews.

Discover Magazine’s award-winning journalism inspires and informs, delivering thought-provoking content that sparks meaningful conversations. With a focus on groundbreaking developments in science, technology, and the world around us, Discover highlights the impact of these innovations on our daily lives.

洋葱作为有毒清理海绵

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