Can Seaweed Mining Become the Next Billion Dollar Industry?

A tiny branch of the US Department of Energy focused on high-risk projects just awarded $5 million dollars to three startup ventures that are each independently "investigating whether seaweed can serve as a practical source of critical materials, such as platinum and rhodium, as well as rare earth elements, including neodymium, lanthanum, yttrium, and dysprosium." 

Aside from protecting coastlines, sheltering marine life and even serving as a food source for humans ... scientists think seaweed may also be quite good at capturing and storing these precious minerals. The interesting thing is that in order for this to make financial sense, these researchers need to find a way to extract the minerals WITHOUT destroying the seaweed in the process. 

This makes it different from many other forms of mining that leave land barren or destroyed afterwards. In fact, environmental advocates hope that this sort of mining, if it works, could eventually replace more destructive types and help protect the Earth in the long run.