Toxic waste, by definition, is harmful to living things, but there are actually a bunch of plants, animals, fungi, and microbes that can help us clean it up! Hosted by: Olivia Gordon ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters: Lazarus G, Kelly Landrum Jones, Sam Lutfi, Kevin Knupp, Nicholas Smith, D.A. Noe, alexander wadsworth, سلطان الخليفي, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, Charles Southerland, Bader AlGhamdi, James Harshaw, Patrick Merrithew, Patrick D. Ashmore, Candy, Tim Curwick, charles george, Saul, Mark Terrio-Cameron, Viraansh Bhanushali, Kevin Bealer, Philippe von Bergen, Chris Peters, Justin Lentz ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: scishow.tumblr.com Instagram: instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: discovermagazine.com/2013/julyaug/13-mushrooms-clean-up-oil-spills-nuclear-meltdowns-and-human-health motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/jp5k9x/the-plan-to-mop-up-the-worlds-largest-oil-spill-with-fungus www.livescience.com/20573-fungal-cleanup-newtown-creek.html blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/06/28/the-power-of-mushrooms-to-save-the-planet/ www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-resilient-community/how-mushrooms-eat-oil www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/science/earth/18enviro.html japantoday.com/category/national/sunflowers-used-to-clean-up-radiation www.sciencenews.org/sites/default/files/15003-14.pdf www.seeker.com/mussels-and-clams-can-clean-up-polluted-water-1768972732.html pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es5011576 pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es5033212 pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Triclocarban www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/clams/mussels.html www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180117131134.htm journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0189726 www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/ rydberg.biology.colostate.edu/phytoremediation/2006/webpage_trez/Pennycress.htm, news.cornell.edu/stories/2007/10/researchers-explore-power-plants-clean-soils link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00299-011-1013-2 www.nature.com/news/1999/990429/full/news990429-5.html pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es070507a www.theguardian.com/science/2017/apr/24/plastic-munching-worms-could-help-wage-war-on-waste-galleria-mellonella www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/25/plastic-eating-bugs-wax-moth-caterpillars-bee www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(17)30231-2 Images: www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/stock-photo/126482861 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pleurotus_ostreatus_JPG7.jpg www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/stock-photo-sunflower-field-in-the-summer-bulgaria/514381204 www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/stock-photo-field-of-sunflowers/200279231-001 www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/stock-photo-clams-in-a-white-background/927195038 commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anodonta_californiensis_FWS_19245.jpg commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corbicula_fluminea.jpg www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/stock-photo-hand-in-glove-holding-a-test-tube-of-clear/543560076 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ltshp.JPG en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sporophyte_of_Funaria.jpg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gebirgs-Hellerkraut.jpg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nicotiana_Tobacco_Plants_1909px.jpg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Galleria_mellonella_dorsal.jpg www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/138863.php