Microscopic plastic particles have been found in the fats and lungs of two-thirds of the marine mammals in a graduate student’s study of ocean microplastics. The presence of polymer particles and fibers in these animals suggests that microplastics can travel out of the digestive tract and lodge in the tissues. The study, slated for the … Read more
Eat your broccoli. Leafy greens rich in Vitamin K — like broccoli and spinach — could be helping to keep your lungs healthy, a new study published in the journal ERJ Open Research revealed. A group of scientists in Denmark found that people with low levels of vitamin K were more likely to have poor … Read more
Hokkaido University researchers found that tiny nematode worm larvae surf electric fields to hitch rides on passing insects. Many living organisms are known to make use of electric fields. Some fish species use them to detect predators or prey, and insects such as bees use them to attract pollen while foraging. Now, a research group … Read more
New research confirms fracking causes slow, small earthquakes or tremors, whose origin was previously a mystery to scientists. The tremors are produced by the same processes that could create large, damaging earthquakes. Fracking is the high-pressure injection of fluids underground to extract oil and natural gas. Though it is typically done with wastewater, this study … Read more
Terrestrial carbon sinks can mitigate the greenhouse effect. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and other research institutions pooled various data sources and found that European carbon storage takes place mainly in surface biomass in East Europe. However, changes of land use in particular have caused this carbon sink to decline. The researchers report … Read more