
Lecturer and research scientist Sonia Henry, from Thionville-Yutz University Institute of Technology, touches a fig tree in the industrial wasteland of the U4 blast furnaceon in Uckange, north-eastern France on May 21, 2026. Vegetation grows among the disused blast furnaces of Uckange, remnants of Moselle's steel industry, where plants are used in an experimental natural method to decontaminate soil saturated with hydrocarbons and metals. (Photo by Jean-Christophe Verhaegen / AFP via Getty Images)

