Plastic gobbling enzymes in worm spit may help ease pollution
Enzymes found in the saliva of wax worms can degrade one of the most common forms of plastic waste, according to research published Tuesday that could open up new ways of dealing with plastic pollution......»»
Satellite imagery now identifies plastic on remote beaches
Australian researchers have developed a new method for spotting plastic rubbish on our beaches and successfully field tested it on a remote stretch of coastline......»»
Improving air quality would avoid 80,000 vet visits every year, study finds
New research conducted by Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment has found that high levels of air pollution have led to significan.....»»
Microplastics increasing in freshwater, directly related to plastic production
Microplastics have been steadily increasing in freshwater environments for decades and are directly tied to rising global plastic production since the 1950s, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers. The finding.....»»
Neon Authorize: Granular access controls at the database layer
Neon, the serverless Postgres database built for developers, launched Neon Authorize. It enables developers to manage permissions and access controls with ease. This new offering leverages Postgres RLS (Row-Level Security) – a Postgres primitive th.....»»
"New wave" as start-up sweeps up Thai ocean plastic
As a long-tail boat arrives at a fishing village on the southern Thai island of Koh Chang, residents gather to sell their wares—not seafood, but plastic......»»
Open database of plastic products highlights substantial knowledge gaps
Plastics contain a vast number of chemicals, some of which greatly impact the environment and human health. However, information on the presence of individual substances in plastic products is oftentimes not publicly available......»»
Scientists identify gene that regulates pod width in snap beans
iSnap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a significant vegetable crop globally, with its immature pods harvested as the edible part. Pod dimensions–length, width, and thickness–affect the size and ease of harvest. This is particularly for manual plu.....»»
The growing scourge of plastic pollution: in numbers
Nations could agree in December on a world-first treaty to reduce the amount of plastic leaking into the environment which, if nothing is done, is forecast to triple by 2060......»»
Laboratory simulation finds smaller nanoparticles are subject to enhanced agglomeration in gastrointestinal tract
In a laboratory set-up simulating the human stomach and intestine, researchers at the University of Amsterdam have explored the fate of plastic nanoparticles during gastrointestinal digestion. In their paper published in the October issue of Chemosph.....»»
Unique multidomain enzymes from bacteria identified
Pharmaceutical scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have identified and characterized a unique multidomain enzyme capable of catalyzing two distinct types of reactions, both vital for making drug molecules......»»
Researchers warn against weakening Clean Air Act regulations
A new commentary published in the American Journal of Public Health has found that power plants' use of air pollution control devices saved up to 9,100 lives and up to $100 billion in health costs in 2023. These estimates reveal the substantial healt.....»»
An Indian village became Amur falcons" biggest protectors—how conservationists can harness the power of persuasion
Wildlife conservation is an exercise in human persuasion. It may seem counterintuitive that we hold the keys to the survival of wildlife, but 98% of all threatened species are threatened exclusively by human activities such as pollution, invasive spe.....»»
Tiny airborne particles within air pollution could be a silent killer
Long-term high ultrafine particle concentrations in New York state neighborhoods are linked to higher numbers of deaths. That is the key finding of our new research, published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials......»»
GM, Ford try to ease fleet customers" switch to EVs
Switching to an electric vehicle comes with a host of considerations, including when and where to charge it. For fleet operators, moving away from gasoline-powered vehicles also comes with business implications. Some companies might be interested.....»»
Indian capital chokes as "hazardous" air pollution returns
Acrid clouds engulfed India's capital on Wednesday as air pollution fueled by fireworks and farm stubble burning was ranked "hazardous" by monitors for the first time this winter......»»
Biodegradable microplastics study helps quantify their climate change and ecotoxicity impacts
Over 20 million tons of plastic are estimated to end up in the environment every year, with much of it breaking down into microplastics that are harmful to the health of humans and wildlife. Biodegradable and bio-based plastics made from organic mate.....»»
Tracking vampire worms with machine learning
Blood samples of patients infected with a parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis contain hidden information that marks different stages of the disease. In our recently published research, our team used machine learning to uncover that hidden info.....»»
Attribution studies reveal increasing effects of global warming on fire dynamics and public health
Climate change is increasingly influencing fire behavior worldwide and intensifying fire smoke, endangering public health from air pollution caused by fires. These are the results of two new climate change impact attribution studies, both published i.....»»
Loss of "nitrogen fixers" threatens biodiversity, ecosystems, say biologists
Mississippi State University is part of a European-American collaboration studying how human activities, like fertilizer use and pollution, are impacting nitrogen-fixing plants which are crucial for maintaining healthy ecosystems by adding nitrogen t.....»»
Microplastic pollution is everywhere, even in the exhaled breath of dolphins
Bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay in Florida and Barataria Bay in Louisiana are exhaling microplastic fibers, according to our new research published in the journal PLOS One......»»