Tiny amounts of crude oil on the water surface, less than one percent of the thickness of a hair, can damage seabird feathers, a University College Cork (UCC) study finds. Researchers from the Marine Ecology Group in UCC in Ireland, collected feathers from Manx shearwaters, a seabird species thought to be at-risk from oil pollution. … Read more
This summer’s megadrought in the Western U.S. and the failure of a Mississippi water treatment plant have demonstrated the need for alternative ways to access water during shortages. One solution to water scarcity is harvesting water from air. Dr. Xianming “Simon” Dai, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and … Read more
The world’s whitest paint — seen in this year’s edition of Guinness World Records and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” — keeps surfaces so cool that it could reduce the need for air conditioning. Now the Purdue University researchers who created the paint have developed a new formulation that is thinner and lighter — … Read more
A study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation, has found that exposure to phthalates in the womb is associated with reduced lung function during childhood. The findings of the study, published in Environmental Pollution , support the European Union’s current restrictions on the use … Read more
An analysis of sediments from five North Carolina lakes near coal-burning power plants has found that coal ash pollution of surface waters has been more persistent and widespread than was previously known. The findings, from scientists at Duke University and Appalachian State University, show that large quantities of coal ash have been transferred and deposited … Read more
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global road travel and commercial flight activity decreased by 50 percent and 60 percent, respectively, compared to pre-pandemic levels. During the lockdowns that cities imposed in the initial months of COVID, flight activity in particular was reduced to a near standstill, decreasing by 96 percent — nearly … Read more
Oil and gas producers rely on flaring to limit the venting of natural gas from their facilities, but new research led by the University of Michigan shows that in the real world, this practice is far less effective than estimated — releasing five times more methane in the U.S. than previously thought. Methane is known … Read more
After a two-year hiatus thanks to the pandemic, the Singapore Grand Prix — Formula One’s first ever night race — is roaring back this Sunday on a circuit that Oracle Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says he’s thrilled about. “We’re always very excited to come here because the track is amazing to drive,” the defending champion … Read more
In a review paper recently published in the journal Land Degradation and Development, Shrabya Timsina and Nora Hardy focused on the effects of surface gold mining in tropical regions, a growing environmental concern in recent years. According to a 2012 study, mining accounts for 7% of deforestation in developing nations and large-scale and artisanal, small-scale … Read more
A team of Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists has developed a system that uses carbon dioxide, CO2, to produce biodegradable plastics, or bioplastics, that could replace the nondegradable plastics used today. The research addresses two challenges: the accumulation of nondegradable plastics and the remediation of greenhouse gas emissions. Published Sept. 28 in Chem, the research … Read more