By Nevin Thompson In mid-October, the Japanese government announced plans to dump water contaminated with radioactive isotopes from a nuclear disaster site in Fukushima, sparking alarm all over the world. Japanese news service Kyodo reported on October 16 that the Japanese government had announced that…
By Stacy Malkan, Children’s Health Defense Waking Times Chlorpyrifos insecticides were introduced by Dow Chemical in 1965 and have been used widely in agricultural settings. Commonly known as the active ingredient in the brand names Dursban and Lorsban, chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide, acaricide and…
Soil microbial fuel cells proven to be capable of creating energy to filter a person’s daily drinking water in Brazil test Fuel cells that create energy using chemical reactions in soil-based organisms in successful field test in North-East Brazil They can be used to produce…
To see wildlife in the Triangle, sometimes you need go no further than your own backyard. A new study helps explain why some animals are sometimes more often found in suburban areas than wild ones: because people are feeding them – sometimes accidentally – and…
Microplastics (plastics <5mm) and their negative health impacts have been studied in oceans, rivers, and even soils, and scientists are beginning to grapple with the myriad human health impacts their presence might have. One understudied, but critical, link in the cycle is groundwater, which is…
Imagine a mobile phone charger that doesn’t need a wireless or main power source. Or a pacemaker with inbuilt organic energy sources within the human body. Australian researchers led by Flinders University are picking up the challenge of ‘scavenging’ invisible power from low-frequency vibrations in…
While plastics recycling is not new science, current processes don’t make it economically worthwhile– waste plastics get “down-cycled” into lower grade, less useful material. It’s a challenge that continues to be an obstacle in tackling a growing global pollution crisis in single use plastics. A…
New research shows that high levels of microplastics (MPs) are released from infant-feeding bottles (IFBs) during formula preparation. The research also indicates a strong relationship between heat and MP release, such that warmer liquids (formula or water used to sterilise bottles) result in far greater…
By Tyler Durden Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is expected to release more than one million tonnes of treated radioactive water from the destroyed nuclear power plant into the ocean after the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, according to the Asian Nikkei Review. More than…
By Elias Marat Thousands of dead seal pups have washed ashore on the coast of Namibia, raising grave concerns from conservationist groups. Locals were in shock after an estimated 5,000 premature cape fur seal pups washed up along the coast of Pelican Point peninsula, turning…
By Zico Cozier The FSO Nabarima, a huge oil tanker containing approximately 1.3 million barrels of crude oil, has taken on water and is leaning to one side off a remote stretch of Venezuela’s coast in the Gulf of Paria. As authorities in Trinidad and…
By Tyler Durden Fracking has been one of the keys to helping the U.S. achieve its energy independence and become the world’s largest oil and gas producer over the last ten years. But now, it looks like it may be coming with some unintended consequences,…
A peer-reviewed study by scientists at the Environmental Working Group estimates that more than 200 million Americans could have the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS in their drinking water at a concentration of 1 part per trillion, or ppt, or higher. Independent scientific studies…
Plastic gathered from remote corners of the South Pacific Ocean, including nesting areas of New Zealand albatrosses, has confirmed the global threat of plastic pollution to seabirds. Published on 12 October in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, the study looks for patterns…
Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have significantly boosted the output from a system that can extract drinkable water directly from the air even in dry regions, using heat from the sun or another source. The system, which builds on a design initially developed three years…
Millions of people plant pollinator gardens in an effort to provide monarch butterflies with food along their annual migration route from overwintering sites in the highland forests of central Mexico to summer breeding grounds in the United States and southern Canada. For the first time,…
Phosphorus is essential in agriculture to maintain higher production levels, where it is applied as a fertilizer. Some of the world regions are experiencing high population growth rates, which means more phosphorus will be needed to produce an increasing amount of food needed in the…
By Cap Allon The European Union’s Earth observation program said Tuesday that the ozone hole over Antarctica has swelled to its largest size and deepest level in at least 15 years, to become among the most notable ever recorded. Clare Nullis of the WMO explains…
The loss of flowering plants and the widespread use of pesticides could be a double punch to wild bee populations. In a new study, researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that the combined threats reduced blue orchard bee reproduction by 57 percent and…
Researchers harnessed the atomic motion of graphene to generate an electrical current that could lead to a chip to replace batteries. A team of University of Arkansas physicists has successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene’s thermal motion and converting it into an electrical…
