The golden pothos is not a showy plant. It's neither beautiful nor fragrant. Yet this fast-growing vine with its smooth heart-shaped leaves is actually a dark horse when it comes to filtering pollutants out of indoor air. At least that was the theory posited - and now proved - by Matthew Ursprung, a senior mechanical engineering major at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), in his award-winning research study on the effect of golden pothos on reducing the level of formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds in a ground-based simulated spacecraft cabin.