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August 18, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200818103820.htm | Recent global warming trends are inconsistent with very high climate sensitivity | Research published this week in | Three scientists from the University of Exeter studied the output of complex climate models and compared them to temperature observations since the 1970s.Recent developments in cloud modelling have produced models that portray very large sensitivity to rising greenhouse gas concentrations.A subset of models even showed that a doubling of COThe lead author of the study, PhD candidate Femke Nijsse from the University of Exeter, said: "In evaluating the climate models we were able to exploit the fact that thanks to clean air regulation, air pollution in the form of climate-cooling aerosols have stopped increasing worldwide, allowing the greenhouse gas signal to dominate recent warming."The amount of warming that occurs after COThe study found that based on the latest generation of climate models the equilibrium climate sensitivity is likely between 1.9 and 3.4 °C.Co-author Mark Williamson, of Exeter's Global Systems Institute, added: "Global warming since 1970 also provides even better guidance on the rate of climate change in the future."We find a likely range for the 'Transient Climate Response' of 1.3-2.1°C, whether we use the latest models or the previous generation of models."The new study is only one piece of the puzzle.A recent review paper found that low estimates of climate sensitivity can be excluded because they are, in general, not consistent with climate changes in Earth's past.Co-author Professor Peter Cox explains the significance of these findings: "It is good to see that studies are now converging on a range of equilibrium climate sensitivity, and that both high and low values can be excluded."For over forty years, climate scientists have tried to pinpoint this quantity and it seems that we're finally getting close."The research was supported by the European Research Council ('ECCLES' project). | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 18, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200818094028.htm | Low humidity increases COVID-19 risk: Another reason to wear a mask | A study focused on the Greater Sydney area during the early epidemic stage of COVID-19 found an association between lower humidity and an increase in community transmission. | Now a second study by the same team confirms the risk.The study is published today in The research led by Professor Michael Ward, an epidemiologist in the Sydney School of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney, and two researchers from our partner institution Fudan University School of Public Health in Shanghai, China, is the second peer-reviewed study of a relationship between weather conditions and COVID-19 in Australia."This second study adds to a growing body of evidence that humidity is a key factor in the spread of COVID-19," Professor Ward said.Lower humidity can be defined as "dryer air." The study estimated that for a 1 percent decrease in relative humidity, COVID-19 cases might increase by 7-8 percent.The estimate is about a 2-fold increase in COVID-19 notifications for a 10 percent drop in relative humidity."Dry air appears to favour the spread of COVID-19, meaning time and place become important," he said. "Accumulating evidence shows that climate is a factor in COVID-19 spread, raising the prospect of seasonal disease outbreaks."Professor Ward said there are biological reasons why humidity matters in transmission of airborne viruses."When the humidity is lower, the air is drier and it makes the aerosols smaller," he said, adding that aerosols are smaller than droplets. "When you sneeze and cough those smaller infectious aerosols can stay suspended in the air for longer. That increases the exposure for other people. When the air is humid and the aerosols are larger and heavier, they fall and hit surfaces quicker."This suggests the need for people to wear a mask, both to prevent infectious aerosols escaping into the air in the case of an infectious individual, and exposure to infectious aerosols in the case of an uninfected individual," Professor Ward said.Further studies on humidity for the remainder of the year are needed to determine how the humidity relationship works and the extent to which it drives COVID-19 case notification rates. | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 18, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200818094009.htm | Low-cost home air quality monitors prove useful for wildfire smoke | Over the last few years of frequent and intense wildfire seasons, many parts of the U.S. have experienced hazardous air quality for days on end. At the same time a number of low-cost air quality monitors have come on the market, allowing consumers to check the pollutant levels in their own homes and neighborhoods. So, air quality scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) wanted to know: are these low-cost monitors any good? | The answer is: yes -- to a degree.Published recently in the journal Sensors, their study tested four models of low-cost air quality monitors during actual wildfire pollution events and found that their readings of PM2.5 -- or particulate matter under 2.5 microns, which has been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular issues -- were consistently higher than the reference monitor used by the regulatory agencies; however, since each monitor had a relatively consistent response to the smoke, it is possible to use the readings to estimate true PM2.5 levels. Overall, the researchers concluded that the monitors can provide actionable information."We compared the low-cost monitors to one that is used by regulatory agencies in air monitoring stations. It turns out their correlations are phenomenally good. When one goes up, the other goes up at the same time, and it is proportional. That gives us a lot of hope for being able to use them for real information," said Woody Delp, one of the lead authors of the study. "And it could let someone know how well their new portable air filter is reducing smoke particles. But from an absolute point of view, it's becoming clear these sensors require some adjustments and checks to use the numbers."For the study, titled "Wildfire Smoke Adjustment Factors for Low-Cost and Professional PM2.5 Monitors with Optical Sensors," Delp and co-author Brett Singer tested four low-cost air quality monitors:These devices, which cost in the range of a few hundred dollars, were compared to reference monitors used by regulatory agencies and researchers, which cost $20,000 or more. They also tested two monitors that are used by researchers and industrial hygienists and cost in the range of $5,000 to $10,000. Additionally, the researchers compared public data from PurpleAir PA-II monitors to nearby regulatory monitoring stations impacted by four wildfires in 2018.In the past, air quality monitoring has been limited to the high-priced professional monitors, making them inaccessible for personal use. The manufacturers recommend that the devices be calibrated to the specific pollution source of interest because the sensors use an optical sensing technique that responds differently to different sources. Pollution from a backyard barbecue or car exhaust may differ in size and density from pollution from a forest fire, and a forest fire may emit different types of particles than an urban fire.The low-cost monitors use the same optical sensing technique -- estimating particle concentrations based on light scattering -- but use mass-produced optical sensors that are not as precisely machined as those in the professional-grade devices. In contrast, the most expensive monitors, those used by regulatory agencies, are calibrated using gravimetric analysis, which is based on the weight of particles.With the air quality monitors deployed at Berkeley Lab inside a well-ventilated single-story laboratory building, the researchers collected data as the Camp Fire burned in Northern California in the fall of 2018. They found that the four low-cost monitors substantially overreported PM2.5 levels, by factors of 1.6 to 2.4 times higher than the readings on the regulatory reference monitor. However, the relative changes correlated well with both the regulatory and professional monitors.The researchers calculated an adjustment factor of approximately 0.48 when using PurpleAir PA-II monitors outdoors during the Camp, Carr, and Mendocino Complex Fires in California and the Pole Creek Fire in Utah (meaning the readings should be multiplied by 0.48 to estimate the true PM2.5 level). This correction is very close to one of the data conversion options ("LRAPA") given on the PurpleAir website.In a separate study earlier this year, Delp and Singer, along with first author Zhiqiang Wang, evaluated six low-cost air quality monitors by comparing their output to reference PM2.5 and PM10 measurements from 21 common residential sources, such as frying, grilling, microwaving popcorn, vacuuming, and burning candles. The study, published in the journal They found that for most pollution sources, the low-cost monitors tracked with the professional ones within a factor of two for PM2.5. Delp said the consumer monitors "enable people to identify activities that emit fine particulate matter inside their homes and to determine if operating filters or just keeping windows closed is effectively reducing exposure inside when there is very bad air pollution outside. For these purposes, they work as well as professional grade monitors, and appear to be very reliable.""We are impressed and excited by the usefulness and performance of these air quality monitors that cost under $300," said Singer, head of the Indoor Environment Group in Berkeley Lab's Energy Technologies Area.Both studies were supported by the Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Indoor Environments Division. | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200817123107.htm | Widespread electric vehicle adoption would save billions of dollars, thousands of lives | Northwestern University researchers have combined climate modeling with public health data to evaluate the impact of electric vehicles (EVs) on U.S. lives and the economy. | A new study found that if EVs replaced 25% of combustion-engine cars currently on the road, the United States would save approximately $17 billion annually by avoiding damages from climate change and air pollution. In more aggressive scenarios -- replacing 75% of cars with EVs and increasing renewable energy generation -- savings could reach as much as $70 billion annually."Vehicle electrification in the United States could prevent hundreds to thousands of premature deaths annually while reducing carbon emissions by hundreds of millions of tons," said Daniel Peters, who led the study. "This highlights the potential of co-beneficial solutions to climate change that not only curb greenhouse gas emissions but also reduce the health burden of harmful air pollution.""From an engineering and technological standpoint, people have been developing solutions to climate change for years," added Northwestern's Daniel Horton, senior author of the study. "But we need to rigorously assess these solutions. This study presents a nuanced look at EVs and energy generation and found that EV adoption not only reduces greenhouse gases but saves lives."The study was published online last week (August 13) in the journal During this research, Peters was an undergraduate researcher in Horton's laboratory at Northwestern. He now works for the Environmental Defense Fund. Horton is an assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.To conduct the study, Horton, Peters and their team looked at vehicle fleet and emissions data from 2014. If 25% of U.S. drivers adopted EVs in 2014 -- and the power required to charge their batteries came from 2014's energy generation infrastructure -- then 250 million tons of carbon dioxide (COAfter leaving tailpipes and smokestacks, pollutants interact with their environment, including background chemistry and meteorology."A good example is to look at nitrogen oxides (NOTo account for these interactions, the researchers used a chemistry-climate model developed at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Jordan Schnell, a postdoctoral fellow in Horton's lab, performed the model experiments that simultaneously simulate the atmosphere's weather and chemistry, including how emissions from combustion engines and power generation sources interact with each other and other emissions sources in their environments.With this model, the researchers simulated air pollutant changes across the lower 48 states, based on different levels of EV adoption and renewable energy generation. Then, they combined this information with publicly available county health data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This combination enabled the research team to assess health consequences from the air quality changes caused by each electrification scenario.The research team assigned dollar values to the avoided climate and health damages that could be brought about by EV adoption by applying the social cost of carbon and value of statistical life metrics to their emission change results. These commonly used policy tools attach a price tag to long-term health, environmental and agricultural damages."The social cost of carbon and value of statistical life are much-studied and much-debated metrics," Horton said. "But they are regularly used to make policy decisions. It helps put a tangible value on the consequences of emitting largely intangible gases into the public sphere that is our shared atmosphere." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200817123101.htm | New model for pricing carbon will help meet net-zero climate change goals | An article released today by researchers at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy in the journal | A carbon price is a fee on carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere that is unique in encouraging emissions reductions wherever and however they can be achieved at a low cost. How much to charge for each ton of emissions is perhaps the most crucial element of a carbon pricing policy. Economists have long focused on the social cost of carbon to calculate "correct" carbon prices because, in theory, it balances the benefits and costs of emissions reductions. The article highlights how the social cost of carbon, however, cannot be estimated with sufficient precision to provide any practical value to policymakers setting carbon prices.The Near-term to Net Zero approach estimates the carbon prices needed for consistency with a pathway to a net-zero emissions target, or the point where the overall balance between emissions produced and emissions taken out of the atmosphere equals zero. It uses the reliable information we have now and avoids the uncertainties of long-term changes we can't predict."The social cost of carbon is a useful concept, but the risks of climate change are far too complex for credible comprehensive damage estimates," said lead author Noah Kaufman, a research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. "Near-term to Net Zero enables policymakers to use both climate science and economics to chart an effective and efficient pathway to net-zero emissions."By pairing a net-zero emissions target with policies that can rapidly reduce emissions right away, the Near-term to Net Zero approach aligns with current climate policy discussions in the United States and the world. Carbon pricing developed using the Near-term to Net Zero approach complements the investments and other policy tools needed to constrain global warming from rising beyond dangerous levels, said Kaufman.The article provides illustrative estimates for Near-term to Net Zero carbon prices for the United States assuming three possible net-zero targets: 2040, 2050, and 2060. The energy model GCAM-USA is used to estimate carbon prices over the next 10 years needed to follow a straight line pathway to those goals, assuming that the carbon price is combined with complementary policies that address separate market failures: energy-efficiency policies, air-pollution regulations, and early-stage support for the deployment of low-carbon technologies.Near-term to Net Zero carbon prices in 2025, are $32, $52 and $93 per metric ton (in 2018 dollars) for net-zero targets in 2060, 2050, and 2040, respectively."There's no debate about the fact that climate change is happening now, and reducing our contribution to a warming planet is critical to our efforts to avoid the worst impacts of climate change," said Jason Bordoff, professor of practice in Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, and founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy. "This important research gives us another tool in the toolbox to figure out how we can get to net-zero as quickly as possible, and no later than 2050, by setting a price on carbon that, along with complementary policies, discourages continued pollution and creates incentives for innovation to deliver the clean energy the world needs." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200817123030.htm | Long-term exposure to traffic noise may impact weight gain in the UK population | Transport noise is a major problem in Europe, with over 100 million people living in areas where road traffic noise exceeds levels greater than 55dB, the health-based threshold set by the EU. A new study by the University of Oxford and the University of Leicester has found a connection between traffic noise and obesity. Long-term exposure to road traffic noise, such as living near a motorway or on a busy road, was associated with an increase in body mass index and waist circumference, which are key markers of obesity. The study was published today in the journal | 'While modest, the data revealed an association between those living in high traffic-noise areas and obesity, at around a 2% increase in obesity prevalence for every 10dB of added noise,' says lead author Dr Samuel Yutong Cai, a senior epidemiologist at the University of Oxford. 'The association persisted even when we accounted for a wide range of lifestyle factors, such as smoking, alcohol use, physical activity and diet, as well as when taking into account socio-economic status of both individuals and the overall area. Air pollution was also accounted for, especially those related to traffic.'This is the largest study to date on noise and obesity, looking at data on over 500,000 people from three European biobanks in the UK, Norway and the Netherlands. Links between noise and weight were found in the UK and Norway, but not the Netherlands cohort. While the study is unable to confirm a causal relationship, the results echo those from a number of previous studies conducted in other European countries.'It is well-known that unwanted noise can affect quality of life and disturb sleep,' says co-author Professor Anna Hansell, Director of the University of Leicester's Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability. 'Recent studies have raised concerns that it also may influence general health, with some studies suggesting links to heart attacks and diabetes. Road traffic noise may increase stress levels, which can result in putting on weight, especially around the waist.''On the individual level, sticking to a healthy lifestyle remains a top strategy to prevent obesity,' says Dr Cai. 'However, at the population level, these results could have some policy implications. Environmental policies that target reducing traffic noise exposure may help tackle many health problems, including obesity.'Led by Professor Hansell, work is ongoing to investigate other sources of noise in the UK, such as aircraft noise, and its effect on health outcomes. In the future, long-term follow-up studies would be valuable in providing more information on how the relationship between noise and weight functions.'As we emerge and recover from COVID-19, we would encourage the government to look at policies that could manage traffic better and make our public spaces safer, cleaner and quieter,' says Dr Cai. 'Air pollution is already a well-known health risk, but we now have increasing evidence that traffic noise is an equally important public health problem. The UK should take this opportunity to think about how we can, as a society, re-organise cities and communities to support our health and reap better health outcomes across the whole population.' | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200817104325.htm | Micro- and nanoplastics detectable in human tissues | Plastic pollution of land, water and air is a global problem. Even when plastic bags or water bottles break down to the point at which they are no longer an eyesore, tiny fragments can still contaminate the environment. Animals and humans can ingest the particles, with uncertain health consequences. Now, scientists report that they are among the first to examine micro- and nanoplastics in human organs and tissues. | The researchers will present their results today at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo."You can find plastics contaminating the environment at virtually every location on the globe, and in a few short decades, we've gone from seeing plastic as a wonderful benefit to considering it a threat," says Charles Rolsky, who is presenting the work at the meeting. "There's evidence that plastic is making its way into our bodies, but very few studies have looked for it there. And at this point, we don't know whether this plastic is just a nuisance or whether it represents a human health hazard."Scientists define microplastics as plastic fragments less than 5 mm, or about 0.2 inches, in diameter. Nanoplastics are even smaller, with diameters less than 0.001 mm. Research in wildlife and animal models has linked micro- and nanoplastic exposure to infertility, inflammation and cancer, but health outcomes in people are currently unknown. Previous studies have shown that plastics can pass through the human gastrointestinal tract, but Rolsky and Varun Kelkar, who is also presenting the research at the meeting, wondered if the tiny particles accumulate in human organs. Rolsky and Kelkar are graduate students in the lab of Rolf Halden, Ph.D., at Arizona State University.To find out, the researchers collaborated with Diego Mastroeni, Ph.D., to obtain samples from a large repository of brain and body tissues that was established to study neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's. The 47 samples were taken from lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys -- four organs likely to be exposed to, filter or collect microplastics. The team developed a procedure to extract plastics from the samples and analyze them by ?-Raman spectrometry. The researchers also created a computer program that converted information on plastic particle count into units of mass and surface area. They plan to share the tool online so that other researchers can report their results in a standardized manner. "This shared resource will help build a plastic exposure database so that we can compare exposures in organs and groups of people over time and geographic space," Halden says.The method allows the researchers to detect dozens of types of plastic components within human tissues, including polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene (PE). When paired with a previously developed mass spectrometry assay, plastic contamination was detected in every sample. Bisphenol A (BPA), still used in many food containers despite health concerns, was found in all 47 human samples.To the researchers' knowledge, their study is the first to examine micro- and nanoplastic occurrence in human organs from individuals with a known history of environmental exposure. "The tissue donors provided detailed information on their lifestyle, diet and occupational exposures," Halden says. "Because these donors have such well-defined histories, our study provides the first clues on potential micro- and nanoplastic exposure sources and routes."Should people be concerned about the high detection frequency of plastic components in human tissues? "We never want to be alarmist, but it is concerning that these non-biodegradable materials that are present everywhere can enter and accumulate in human tissues, and we don't know the possible health effects," Kelkar says. "Once we get a better idea of what's in the tissues, we can conduct epidemiological studies to assess human health outcomes. That way, we can start to understand the potential health risks, if any." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200817104321.htm | Ocean microbes could interact with pollution to influence climate | Oceans cover almost three-quarters of the globe, yet little is known about how gases and aerosols made by ocean microbes affect weather and climate, or how human-produced pollution could influence this process. Now, scientists report they've used an "ocean-in-a-lab" to show that air pollution can change the makeup of gases and aerosols that sea spray releases into the atmosphere and, in turn, potentially alter weather patterns. | The researchers will present their results today at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo."It's surprising that we don't know more about the central role of ocean microbes in controlling climate," says Kimberly Prather, Ph.D., the project's principal investigator. "They have the potential to influence atmospheric composition, cloud formation and weather. Humans can alter these natural processes in two ways: by changing the microbial community structure in the ocean, and by producing air pollutants that react with compounds that the microorganisms produce."Through natural biological processes, ocean microbes -- including bacteria, phytoplankton and viruses -- produce compounds that enter the atmosphere as gases or aerosols (tiny water droplets or particles in air that form when waves crash). In addition, the microorganisms themselves can be ejected from the ocean in the form of aerosolized droplets. Some of these particles can seed clouds, absorb or reflect sunlight, or otherwise influence atmospheric conditions and weather."There's a standard belief that one way the ocean can regulate the temperature of the planet is through emission of gases and particles," says Prather, who is at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. "Some scientists refer to the ocean as the 'planetary thermostat.'"Prather and colleagues wondered how humans might influence this thermostat. But first, they needed to learn how ocean microbes affect climate without humans. To find out, the researchers built a 108-foot-long wave channel and filled it with 3,400 gallons of seawater. They caused a phytoplankton bloom -- an overgrowth of microscopic algae that occurs naturally in oceans -- under certain conditions -- in this ocean-in-a-lab. They continuously monitored the gases and aerosols produced in the air above the water, measuring things such as aerosol size, composition, shape, enzymatic activity and pH. They also studied how natural changes in the microbial community, for example, introducing certain species of bacteria and phytoplankton, affected the cloud-forming potential of the aerosols. "The short answer is that the biology had very little effect on sea spray aerosol composition," Prather says. "Altering natural biological processes in seawater resulted in a very small change in the ability of the primary particles to form cloud droplets."In contrast, adding a small amount of an atmospheric oxidant (hydroxyl radical, which can be generated naturally and can be enhanced in polluted atmospheres) caused an immediate shift in the composition and cloud-forming potential of marine aerosols. According to Prather, the oxidant reacted with microbe-produced gases in the air, transforming them into compounds that changed the composition of the primary sea spray aerosol and formed new types of particles. Although the researchers don't know yet how other individual pollutants affect sea spray aerosols, Prather says that it's important to study the complete gas phase mixture of pollutants to mimic and understand real-world chemical reactions.The team is now also exploring how water pollution -- in particular, sewage discharge and pollution run-off that empty into coastal estuaries and oceans -- can restructure microbial communities and affect human health, climate and air quality. Previous studies have examined how human pollution impacts water quality; however, Prather's are the first studies focusing on how waterborne pollution that enters the surf zone impacts air quality and human health. Her research group is making measurements in the ocean and atmosphere in a region known to be impacted by pollution flowing in from a heavily polluted estuary. This project aims to understand which viruses, bacteria and other pollutants become airborne in the surf zone. | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200817123057.htm | Air pollution is a driver of residential electricity demand, study finds | A study conducted by Associate Professor Alberto Salvo from the Department of Economics at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences revealed that households respond to ambient air pollution by increasing electricity consumption, which in turn increases the carbon emissions that are co-produced in supplying the electricity. The study, set in Singapore, revealed that better air quality will bring about climate co-benefits -- in reducing electricity generation via lower household demand, and thus mitigating carbon emissions. | Assoc Prof Salvo said, "Urban areas in developing Asian nations are home to an expanding base of energy consumers, with energy supply likely to remain carbon intensive for decades in the absence of major technological or regulatory shifts. Understanding what drives energy demand across the socioeconomic distribution of Singapore households can provide insight on the future energy demand of urban populations in the region's cities as incomes rise. This is important for policymakers when forecasting and influencing future emissions paths in the context of climate change."The results of the study were published in the The study examined utility meter readings of 130,000 households -- a 1-in-10 random sample of all households in Singapore -- from 2012 to 2015. The same household's energy consumption was examined over time and compared with concurrent PM2.5 measurements (fine particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter) from the air-monitoring network, which is the standard for measuring air pollution.The findings showed that overall electricity demand grew by 1.1 per cent when PM2.5 rose by 10 micrograms per cubic metre (?g/m³). The reasons were two-fold: (i) increased air pollution led to households staying indoors more to mitigate the pollution impact; and (ii) PM2.5 pollution led to the closing of windows, and running of air-conditioners and air purifiers more intensively either to reduce indoor particle levels or provide relief from indoor heat. Besides electricity, the study found that households exposed to air pollution consumed more natural gas. Another study by Assoc Prof Salvo that was published in 2018 found that households consumed more water from the grid when exposed to air pollution.In terms of research design, the study had to contend with the fact that air pollution is not only a driver of electricity demand but also a product of fossil-fuel based electricity generation. "It was necessary to separate cause from effect. To do that, periodical land burning across Southeast Asia, which causes transboundary haze, was used as an instrument," Assoc Prof Salvo said.Delving deeper, the study found that PM2.5 had a larger percentage impact on electricity demand as household income and air conditioning access increase. It was observed that when PM2.5 increased by 10 ?g/m³, electricity consumption among condominium dwellers increased by 1.5 per cent, compared to a 0.75 per cent increase by households in one- to two-room apartments. This income differential was due to PM2.5 inducing higher-income households to turn on air-conditioners and air purifiers when at home. The 1.5 per cent increase in electricity consumption is equivalent to running the air-conditioning unit for another 10 hours per month. At the time of study, 14 per cent of one- and two-room apartments had air-conditioning, compared with 99 per cent of condominium apartments.To complement the observational evidence from utility meters, a review of product catalogues on air conditioners revealed that air-conditioner manufacturers promote indoor air quality as an additional product attribute to cooling. A 311-person survey on home energy behaviour also found that haze pollution induced sleeping with the windows closed, less dining out, and the increased use of the air conditioner and air purifier.Forty per cent of the developing world's population live in the tropics, and PM2.5 pollution ranges between 20 and 200 ?g/m³. However, only 8 per cent of the tropics' three billion people currently have air conditioners, compared to 76 per cent in Singapore.Assoc Prof Salvo said, "This study shows that households care about the quality of the air that they breathe, revealed through their spending on utilities, in particular, to power air-conditioners. Cleaner urban air will reduce energy demand, as households engage in less defensive behaviour, and this helps to mitigate carbon emissions."He added, "At the same time, lower-income households are less able to afford such defensive spending on utilities. This observed inequality in defensive behaviour may also exacerbate health inequalities, especially in developing countries. Overall, this research can contribute towards longer-term forecasting of energy demand as developing Asian countries face the twin issues of a rising urban middle class exposed to air pollution, and the need to cope with climate change."Moving forward, Assoc Prof Salvo will continue to explore -- with a focus on Asia -- how households respond to environmental harms and what such responses reveal about their preferences for environmental quality. | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 13, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200813142402.htm | Pollution linked to antibiotic resistance | Antibiotic resistance is an increasing health problem, but new research suggests it is not only caused by the overuse of antibiotics. It's also caused by pollution. | Using a process known as genomic analysis, University of Georgia scientists found a strong correlation between antibiotic resistance and heavy metal contamination in an environment.Jesse C. Thomas IV, an alumnus of the College of Public Health and the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, found commonalities in soils contaminated with heavy metals on the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina.According to the study, published in the July issue of the journal Hosts included Acidobacteriaoceae, Bradyrhizobium and Streptomyces. The bacteria had antibiotic-resistant genes, known as ARGs, for vancomycin, bacitracin and polymyxin. All three drugs are used to treat infections in humans.The bacteria also had an ARG for multidrug resistance, a strong defense gene that can resist heavy metals as well as antibiotics, according to Thomas, who was conducting his doctoral research at the time.When these ARGs were present in the soil, metal-resistant genes, or MRGs, were present for several metals including arsenic, copper, cadmium and zinc.Thomas, currently a biologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said microorganisms develop new strategies and countermeasures over time to protect themselves."The overuse of antibiotics in the environment adds additional selection pressure on microorganisms that accelerates their ability to resist multiple classes of antibiotics. But antibiotics aren't the only source of selection pressure," Thomas said. "Many bacteria possess genes that simultaneously work on multiple compounds that would be toxic to the cell, and this includes metals."Travis Glenn, professor in the public health college, advised Thomas during the study. He said more research needs to be done to determine if metal-resistant genes respond in the same way to bacteria as antibiotic-resistant genes.Unlike antibiotics, heavy metals don't degrade in the environment so "they can exert long-standing pressure," according to Glenn, who also directs the Institute of Bioinformatics.The study reports previous research identified antibiotic-resistance in heavy metal-contaminated streams on the site by examining water samples in the lab."When you expose the sample to a drug on a petri dish or assay, it only represents a fraction. This doesn't give you a complete picture. With genomic analysis we were able to get much further," Thomas said.The significance of the research is they can start to characterize bacterial communities and specific ARG and MRG genes in the environment, Glenn said.It is clear that there are several human pathogens that develop antibiotic resistance -- overuse is not the only cause, according to Thomas. Human activities like agriculture and the combustion of fossil fuels play a role."We need a better understanding of how bacteria are evolving over time," he said. "This can impact our drinking water and our food and eventually our health." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 13, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200813142337.htm | A watershed moment for US water quality | A new federal rule that determines how the Clean Water Act is implemented leaves millions of miles of streams and acres of wetlands unprotected based on selective interpretation of case law and a distortion of scientific evidence, researchers say in a new publication. | In a Policy Forum article published in the Aug. 14 issue of "It's so important to say, right out of the gates, that the new rule does not protect water in the way that the Clean Water Act was intended to protect water," said lead author Ma?eika Sullivan, director of the Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park at The Ohio State University.The rule went into effect on June 22.Left unprotected under the new rule are stand-alone wetlands across the country whose collective area is approximately the size of the state of West Virginia. Among the millions of miles of ephemeral streams -- those that flow after precipitation events -- losing federal protection are, for example, more than 95 percent of Arizona's streams, including many tributaries that flow into the Grand Canyon.The change means that now-unprotected waters may be subjected to a variety of harmful human activities such as dredging or filling in waters for development, or even unpermitted dumping of industrial waste into streams or wetlands. Some potential results: higher risk for floods, loss of biodiversity, and threats to drinking water and recreational fishing."We're talking about major roll-backs in protections that limit activities that impair, pollute and destroy these systems," said Sullivan, also associate professor in Ohio State's School of Environment and Natural Resources, who co-authored the article with colleagues specializing in aquatic science, conservation science and environmental law."And it comes at a time when we're really starting to understand multiple stressors on water -- not just urbanization or climate change or pollution, but how all these factors interact. And now we're removing protections and potentially undermining decades of taxpayer investment in improving water quality."It's a travesty, not just for us now, but for future generations. It could really be a watershed moment in that sense."Legal battles have been waged for years over which non-navigable U.S. waters should be protected under the Clean Water Act, and the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in with opinions in a 2006 case. Justice Antonin Scalia argued that non-navigable waters should be covered by federal law only if they have a "relatively permanent" flow and a continuous surface connection to traditionally protected waters. Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested a non-navigable water body should be protected if it has a "significant nexus" to a traditional navigable waterway -- meaning it can affect the physical, biological and chemical integrity of downstream waters.In 2015, the Obama administration implemented the Clean Water Rule, which classified all tributaries and most wetlands as "waters of the United States" that fall under federal jurisdiction. At the heart of that rule was a Connectivity Report produced by the Environmental Protection Agency, backed by a review of more than 1,200 scientific publications and input from 49 technical experts. The science supported protection for isolated or intermittent systems that, if polluted or destroyed, would decrease water quality downstream. Sullivan was a member of the EPA Scientific Advisory Board that confirmed the scientific underpinnings of the report and the rule.The language of the new Navigable Waters Protection Rule instead harkens back to Scalia's 2006 opinion, protecting waters with "relatively permanent" surface flows and excluding from federal jurisdiction all groundwater and all ephemeral bodies of water, as well as others."So what's extremely concerning from a policy standpoint is that the federal government is, at least in part, leaving science aside," Sullivan said. "This idea of connectivity is one of the most crucial components of the science that has largely been ignored in this rule. There are magnitudes of connectivity -- it could be frequency or how long it lasts. There are also different types of connectivity: biological, chemical and hydrologic."Further, just because a waterbody may be less connected to another doesn't necessarily mean it's less important for water quality."For human recreation and well-being, Sullivan said, small streams and wetlands are critical, both in their own right, as well as because they support larger, downstream ecosystems such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs."There are tendrils that extend into every aspect of our lives, from how we recreate and how we live, to our economy, with cultural implications for a lot of folks in the U.S. Water is fundamental to people's sense of place and where they belong," he said.Sullivan and colleagues cited an April 2020 Supreme Court decision that may influence outcomes of the more than 100 pending lawsuits filed in opposition to the new rule. In County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the court affirmed for the first time that pollutants that travel through groundwater and then emerge into surface waters are covered by the Clean Water Act.Until the litigation is sorted out, the authors urged mobilization of grassroots efforts among watershed councils, other agencies and academics to conserve and protect water -- a tall order, Sullivan acknowledged, when it comes to staying coordinated and coming up with resources."We're going to have to start thinking about this in a very different way," he said. "Everybody needs clean water, right? This isn't a political issue." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 13, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200813142333.htm | 'Critical' questions over disease risks from ocean plastics | Key knowledge gaps exist in our understanding of how ocean microplastics transport bacteria and viruses -- and whether this affects the health of humans and animals, researchers say. | With millions of tons of plastic reaching the world's oceans every year -- and trillions of particles floating on the surface -- the potential impacts of plastic pollution are vast.Plastic particles are known to carry specific combinations of metals, pollutants and pathogens (bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms that can cause disease).But the new study, by the University of Exeter and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), says critical questions remain about the role of microplastics in carrying pathogens, and possible threats to food production and safety.The paper focusses on aquaculture (seafood farming), which is expected to play a vital role in feeding the world's growing population, and already faces challenges due to diseases."Microplastic fragments differ markedly from natural floating particles, and there is growing evidence that they represent a potential reservoir of pathogens," said Dr Ceri Lewis, of Exeter's Global Systems Institute."Of particular concern are the increasing reports of the presence of numerous pathogens on plastic surfaces in oceans around the world."One study found antimicrobial-resistant bacteria at concentrations 100-5,000 times higher on microplastic surfaces than in surrounding seawater."However, the effects of all this on marine animals, aquaculture and ultimately human health are really unknown at this point."Many studies have suggested that disease transfer from plastic to ingesting organisms may occur, but this has not been demonstrated experimentally.Aquaculture is now the fastest-growing food sector, and bivalves (such as mussels and oysters) arguably offer the best route to increase production globally.However, bivalves are filter-feeders and are known to take in microplastic particles from seawater."Understanding any risk of pathogen transport associated with microplastic is important for the aquaculture industry," said lead author Jake Bowley, of the University of Exeter."Disease is one of the biggest issues faced by the industry."We mapped the abundance of sea-surface plastics against areas of intensive aquaculture, and the results show a number of areas of high aquaculture production in microplastic hotspots where pathogen transfer could theoretically occur."One such hotspot is in China, where 57 microplastic particles per individual have been reported in the commercially important Yesso clam."Dr Craig Baker-Austin, of Cefas, added: "Bacteria from a genus called vibrio -- a globally important group of human and animal pathogens that are increasing in incidence -- have been found in high levels on microplastics."Some vibrio bacteria are known to contribute to disease in bivalves, often causing mass mortality among larvae and in some cases mortality within adult bivalve populations."This research is funded by insurer AXA XL through their Ocean Risk Scholarships Programme.The programme funds PhD research that examines how the ocean is changing and how that will impact the current and future risk landscape.Geir Myre, AXA XL's Global Head of Aquaculture, serves as a risk supervisor to Jake Bowley, providing advice on how this research is relevant to AXA XL and the wider aquaculture insurance industry.Myre said: "Understanding the link between microplastics and the risk of transferring pathogens through shellfish is critical to our work to manage and transfer risk for the aquaculture industry."It's one of many emerging risks we must consider as a result of human impact on the ocean and highlights the connection between ocean risks and public health and safety."Dr Lewis added: "There is a lot we still need to know about the impact of plastic pollution."Shining a light on this pressing environmental, food safety and microbiological issue is really important."However, it's likely that any negative impacts will get worse if we continue to dump plastic into the oceans at the current rate."We urgently need to move to more sustainable and circular economy approaches to our use of plastic materials to drastically reduce the input of plastics into the environment." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 13, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200805124100.htm | Maldives records highest microplastic pollution | The amount of microplastic pollution in waters around the Maldives, a global tourist hot spot known for its beautiful coastline, is amongst the highest in the world and has the potential to severely impact marine life in shallow reefs and threaten the livelihoods of island communities. | Micro plastics are pieces of plastic waste that measure less than 5 millimetres long, and due to their often microscopic size are considered invisible water pollutants. Small pieces of plastic can break down over time from plastic bottles, textiles and clothing, and remain in the world's oceans.Marine scientists from Flinders University recorded the levels of plastic pollution in sand across 22 sites off the coast of Naifaru, the most populous island in Lhaviyani Atoll, to determine how much microplastic is present around the island. Microplastic distribution was found to be ubiquitous in the marine environment, with the results published in the Flinders University Honours student and lead researcher Toby Patti says micro plastics are highly concentrated in waters around Naifaru."The concentration of micro plastics found on Naifaru in the Maldives (55-1127.5 microplastics/kg) was greater than those previously found on a highly populated site at Tamil Nadu, India (3-611 microplastics/kg), and was a similar concentration to that found on inhabited and uninhabited islands elsewhere in the Maldives (197-822 particles/kg)."The high levels of harmful plastics were likely both transported by ocean currents from neighbouring countries in the Indian Ocean like India as well as from Maldivian land reclamation policies, poor sewerage & wastewater systems adding to an unsustainable environmental situation.Professor Karen Burke Da Silva says notorious 'rubbish islands' used as landfill sites are also contributing to the high concentration of microplastic found around the island."Current waste management practices in the Maldives cannot keep up with population growth and the pace of development. The small island nation encounters several challenges regarding waste management systems and has seen a 58% increase of waste generated per capita on local islands in the last decade," says Professor Burke Da Silva."Without a significant increase in waste reduction and rapid improvements in waste man,agement, small island communities will continue to generate high levels of microplastic pollution in marine environments, with potential to negatively impact the health of the ecosystem, marine organisms, and local island communities."Flinders University researchers are now looking at the stomach content of coral reef fish to see if they have bellies full of microplastics in a follow up study. | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 12, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200811120052.htm | Car passengers can reduce health risks from pollution by closing windows and changing route | Drivers and passengers can inhale significantly lower levels of air pollution by setting their vehicle's ventilation systems more effectively and taking a 'cleaner' route to their destination, a new study reveals. | Road transport emissions are major source of urban air pollution -- nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) coming from vehicle exhausts, plus non-exhaust emissions such as brake dust, tyre wear and road dust in the case of PM.Outdoor air pollution is estimated to contribute to 40,000 deaths in Britain annually and an estimated 7 million deaths globally -- linked to diseases ranging from lung cancer to stroke and respiratory infection.Scientists at the University of Birmingham have found that -- if vehicle ventilation is set correctly -- drivers and passengers are exposed to up to 49 % less PM2.5 and 34 % less Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) than the on-road levels. They have published their findings in the journal Lead author Dr. Vasileios Matthaios, from the University of Birmingham, commented: "Exposure to air pollution within the vehicle depends upon both the ventilation setting and the type of route. The lowest exposure to particles and gases is when the windows are closed with recirculation and air conditioning switched on."Drivers and passengers inhale more air pollution when traveling on urban roads, followed by ring-roads and sub-urban roads. However, because concentrations inside a vehicle are lower and occupants are not as active, they inhale less air pollution than people cycling or walking on the same routes."Researchers explored within-vehicle levels of NO2 and PM2.5 under different vehicle ventilation settings and driving routes during real-world driving experiments around the city of Birmingham.Four vehicles were driven on a consistent route of three contrasting road types, measuring simultaneous within-vehicle and ambient levels of particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, PM1), ultrafine particles number (UFP), lung surface deposited area (LSDA), nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)."Our findings show that vehicle passengers can modify their exposure and inhalation dose through ventilation setting and route choice -- this may have significant health impacts upon the most exposed groups such as professional drivers," Dr. Vasileios Matthaios added.Increasing urbanisation together with growth in vehicle ownership and passenger-journeys have contributed to growth in traffic-related ambient air pollution.Researchers noted that related health issues depend on an individual's exposure to air pollution and the vulnerability of the individual to a given dose. This, in turn, depends on route selection, time of day, transport type, respiration rate and, in the case of vehicles, ventilation options and efficacy and type of cabin filters.As part of the MMAP-VEX project 'Measuring and Modelling Air Pollution Within Vehicles -- Implications for daily EXposure and Human Health', University of Birmingham researchers will further investigate other aspects that affect within vehicle air pollution under real world driving conditions, including: | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 12, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200812115322.htm | Upcycling plastic waste toward sustainable energy storage | What if you could solve two of Earth's biggest problems in one stroke? UC Riverside engineers have developed a way to recycle plastic waste, such as soda or water bottles, into a nanomaterial useful for energy storage. | Mihri and Cengiz Ozkan and their students have been working for years on creating improved energy storage materials from sustainable sources, such as glass bottles, beach sand, Silly Putty, and portabella mushrooms. Their latest success could reduce plastic pollution and hasten the transition to 100% clean energy."Thirty percent of the global car fleet is expected to be electric by 2040, and high cost of raw battery materials is a challenge," said Mihri Ozkan, a professor of electrical engineering in UCR's Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering. "Using waste from landfill and upcycling plastic bottles could lower the total cost of batteries while making the battery production sustainable on top of eliminating plastic pollution worldwide."In an open-access article published in They first dissolved pieces of PET plastic bottles in a solvent. Then, using a process called electrospinning, they fabricated microscopic fibers from the polymer and carbonized the plastic threads in a furnace. After mixing with a binder and a conductive agent, the material was then dried and assembled into an electric double-layer supercapacitor within a coin-cell type format.When tested in the supercapacitor, the material contained the characteristics of both a double-layer capacitor formed by the arrangement of separated ionic and electronic charges, as well as redox reaction pseudo-capacitance that occurs when the ions are electrochemically absorbed onto surfaces of materials.Though they don't store as much energy as lithium-ion batteries, these supercapacitors can charge much faster, making batteries based on plastic waste a good option for many applications.By "doping" the electrospun fibers prior to carbonization with various chemicals and minerals such as boron, nitrogen, and phosphorus, the team plans to tune the final material to have improved electrical properties."At UCR, we have taken the first steps toward recycling plastic waste into a rechargeable energy storage device," said doctoral student and first author Arash Mirjalili. "We believe that this work has environmental and economic advantages and our approach can present opportunities for future research and development."The authors believe the process is scalable and marketable, and that it represents major progress toward keeping waste PET out of landfills and the oceans."The upcycling of PET plastic waste for energy storage applications could be considered the holy grail for green manufacturing of electrode materials from sustainable waste sources," said mechanical engineering professor Cengiz Ozkan. "This demonstration of a new class of electrodes in the making of supercapacitors will be followed by a new generation of Li-ion batteries in the future, so stay tuned." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 11, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200811120105.htm | Air pollution in Ireland associated with strokes, research finds | Scientists have found that air pollution in the winter is associated with more hospitalisations for all strokes in Dublin. | The study, led by researchers from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, is published in the current edition of During winter months in Ireland, particularly in Dublin, higher levels of fine particles, coarse particles, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are found in the air. The sources of these are solid fuel burning, such as coal, peat, and wood, as well as road traffic -- especially diesel engines.After accounting for other variables, such as temperature, humidity, day of the week and time, the researchers found that there was a statistically significant rise in the number of hospitalisations for strokes in Dublin zero to two days after a rise in air pollution.For higher levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, the researchers found both had an associated 3.5% higher risk of stroke. Higher levels of coarse particles correlated with a 3.2% higher risk, and finer particles correlated with a 2.4% higher risk.The study marks the first time there has been a link demonstrated between short-term air pollution and stroke in Ireland."Every year, more than 10,000 people in Ireland have a stroke. Our research adds evidence that there needs to be a national ban on solid fuel burning to help in our efforts to reduce this number," said Dr Colm Byrne, the study's lead author and clinical lecturer in the RCSI Department of Geriatric and Stroke Medicine.There was no significant association for all air pollutants found in the smaller urban area of Cork, but meta-analysis showed a significant association between hospitalisations for strokes and higher levels nitrogen dioxide and fine particles in the air."Because Ireland has relatively low air pollution when compared internationally, this highlights the need to introduce additional policy changes to reduce air pollution in all countries," said Professor David Williams, professor of stroke medicine at RCSI.The research was carried out by researchers from RCSI (Dr Colm Byrne, Prof. Kathleen Bennett, Prof. Anne Hickey, and Prof. David Williams) in collaboration with Dr Paul Kavanagh from the Health Intelligence Unit in the HSE, and Prof. Brian Broderick and Prof. Margaret O'Mahony from the Department of Environmental Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 10, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200810113214.htm | Agriculture replaces fossil fuels as largest human source of sulfur in the environment | A new paper out today in | As a result, University of Colorado Boulder researchers recommend greatly expanded monitoring of sulfur and examining possible negative impacts of this increase, including increasing levels of mercury in wetlands, soil degradation and a higher risk for asthma for populations in agricultural areas."Sulfur in agriculture is used in many different forms, and we haven't studied broadly how those different forms react in the soil," said Eve-Lyn Hinckley, lead author of the study, assistant professor of environmental studies and fellow at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado Boulder. "No one has looked comprehensively at the environmental and human health consequences of these [agricultural] additions."Sulfur is a naturally occurring element and an important plant nutrient, helping with the uptake of nitrogen. It's mined from underground through fossil fuel extraction and for the creation of fertilizers and pesticides. But sulfur is also highly reactive, meaning it will quickly undergo chemical transformations once its stable form surfaces -- affecting the health of ecosystems and reacting to form heavy metals that pose a danger to wildlife and people.Historically, coal-fired power plants were the largest source of reactive sulfur to the biosphere -- leading to acid rain in the 1960s and 1970s, and the degradation of forest and aquatic ecosystems across the northeastern U.S. and Europe. Research on this issue prompted the Clean Air Act and its amendments, which regulated air pollution and drove sulfur levels from atmospheric sources down to pre-industrial levels."This is a very different problem than the acid rain days," said Hinckley. "We've gone from widespread atmospheric deposition over remote forests to targeted additions of reactive sulfur to regional croplands. These amounts are much higher than what we saw at the peak of acid rain."A majority of the research that examines excess nutrient use in agriculture has been in respect to nitrogen and phosphorus. Scientists have known for a long time that these two chemicals can cause detrimental effects on the environment, including increased greenhouse gas emissions and algae blooms in downstream waters.Sulfur has long been applied to agricultural lands to improve the production and health of crops, serving as both a fertilizer and pesticide."We're moving it through our environment and ecosystems at a much faster rate than it would otherwise," said Hinckley.Some agricultural industries around the world have even been putting more sulfur directly on their fields. So far, only isolated studies have given scientists a glimpse into the effects of excess sulfur on soil health and surrounding waters.In the Florida Everglades, long-term research by the U.S. Geological Survey linked large applications of sulfur to sugarcane to the production of methyl mercury in the Everglades -- a potent neurotoxin that accumulates as it moves up the food chain, affecting each predator more than the prey it consumes. This threatens a variety of local wildlife that eat fish, as well as humans.So the researchers examined trends in sulfur applications across multiple important crops in the U.S.: corn in the Midwest; sugarcane in Florida; and wine grapes in California. Their models of sulfur in surface waters showed that in areas that are recovering from the impacts of acid rain, the amount of sulfur is again increasing.The researchers predict that increasing levels of sulfur will continue in many croplands around the world, including places like China and India that are still working to regulate fossil fuel emissions.Hinckley emphasized that simply documenting the impacts of increased sulfur on the environment and human health isn't enough -- increased monitoring and research should include farmers, regulatory agencies and land managers to increase collaboration and collective action on the issue."We have an imperative to understand the impact that we're having on the environment," said Hinckley. "And then we need to work together towards solutions to mitigate those effects."Co-authors of this paper include John Crawford, postdoctoral scholar at INSTAAR and researcher in the Sustainability Innovation Lab at Colorado (SILC) at the University of Colorado Boulder; and Charles T. Driscoll and Habibollah Fakhraei of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University. Fakhraei has since taken a position at Southern Illinois University. | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 7, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200807093756.htm | COVID recovery choices shape future climate | A post-lockdown economic recovery plan that incorporates and emphasises climate-friendly choices could help significantly in the battle against global warming, according to a new study. | This is despite the sudden reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants during lockdown having a negligible impact on holding down global temperature change.The researchers warn that even with some lockdown measures staying in place to the end of 2021, without more structural interventions global temperatures will only be roughly 0.01°C lower than expected by 2030.However, the international study, led by the University of Leeds, estimates that including climate policy measures as part of an economic recovery plan with strong green stimulus could prevent more than half of additional warming expected by 2050 under current policies.This would provide a good chance of global temperatures staying below the Paris Agreement's aspirational 1.5?C global warming limit and avoiding the risks and severe impacts that higher temperatures will bring.Piers Forster began working with his daughter, Harriet, after her A levels were cancelled. They analysed the newly accessible global mobility data from Google and Apple. They calculated how 10 different greenhouse gases and air pollutants changed between February and June 2020 in 123 countries. They then brought in a wider team to help with the detailed analysis.The team's findings, published today in The researchers also modelled options for post-lockdown recovery, showing that the current situation provides a unique opportunity to implement a structural economic change that could help us move towards a more resilient, net-zero emissions future.Study lead author Professor Piers Forster, director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at Leeds and Principal Investigator of the CONSTRAIN consortium, said: "The choices made now could give us a strong chance of avoiding 0.3?C of additional warming by mid-century, halving the expected warming under current policies. This could mean the difference between success and failure when it comes to avoiding dangerous climate change."The study also highlights the opportunities in lowering traffic pollution by encouraging low emissions vehicles, public transport and cycle lanes. The better air quality will immediately have important health effects -- and it will immediately start cooling the climate."Study co-author Harriet Forster, who has just completed her studies at Queen Margaret's School, said: "Our paper shows that the actual effect of lockdown on the climate is small. The important thing to recognise is that we've been given a massive opportunity to boost the economy by investing in green industries -- and this can make a huge difference to our future climate."I'm going to London next month to study art but I also did chemistry at A-level so was glad to use what I learned in my chemistry classes to do something useful."Study co-author Corinne Le Quéré from the University of East Anglia said: "The fall in emissions we experienced during COVID-19 is temporary and therefore it will do nothing to slow down climate change, but the Government responses could be a turning point if they focus on a green recovery, helping to avoid severe impacts from climate change."Study co-author Joeri Rogelj from the Grantham Institute -- Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London said: "Both sobering and hopeful, the flash crash in global emissions due to lockdown measures will have no measurable impact on global temperatures by 2030; but the decisions we make this year about how to recover from this crisis can put us on a solid track to meet the Paris Agreement. Out of this tragedy comes an opportunity, but unless it is seized a more polluting next decade is not excluded."Study co-author Matthew Gidden from Climate Analytics, Berlin said: "The lasting effect of COVID-19 on climate will not depend on what happens during the crisis, but what comes after. "Stimulus focused on green recovery and low-carbon investment can provide the economic kick start needed while putting the world on track to meet climate pledges."Study co-author Professor Mathew Evans. From Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, University of York and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science said: "The analysis of air quality observations from around the world showed us that the emissions reductions captured by Google and Apple's mobility data were pretty close to those actually being experienced."Study co-author Christoph Keller from Goddard Earth Sciences, Technology and Research (GESTAR) based in the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA GSFC said: "The decrease in human activity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has created a unique opportunity to better quantify the human impact on atmospheric air pollution."Near real-time analysis of observations, mobility data, and NASA model simulations offers quantitative insights into the impact of COVID-19 containment measures on air pollution. This study demonstrates how such information can help to advance our understanding of the complicated interactions between air quality and climate." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 6, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200806153553.htm | 'Roaming reactions' study to shed new light on atmospheric molecules | A detailed study of roaming reactions -- where atoms of compounds split off and orbit other atoms to form unexpected new compounds -- could enable scientists to make much more accurate predictions about molecules in the atmosphere, including models of climate change, urban pollution and ozone depletion. | In a paper published today in the journal Professor Scott Kable, an atmospheric scientist who is also the head of UNSW's School of Chemistry, likens the study to lifting the hood on roaming reactions and seeing for the first time how the parts fit together. He says the study will give scientists new tools to understand the machinations of reactions in the atmosphere."Chemical reactions, where atoms are rearranged to make new substances, are occurring all the time in our atmosphere as a result of natural emission from plants and animals as well as human activity," Prof Kable says."Many of the key reactions in the atmosphere that contribute to photochemical smog and the production of carbon dioxide are initiated by sunlight, which can split molecules apart."For a long time, scientists thought these reactions happened in a simple way, that sunlight was absorbed and then the molecule explodes, sending atoms in different directions."But, in the last few years it was found that, where the energy from the sun was only just enough to break a chemical bond, the fragments perform an intimate dance before exchanging atoms and creating new, unanticipated, chemical products -- known as roaming reactions."Our research shows these 'roaming' reactions exhibit unusual and unexpected features."Prof Kable says in an experiment detailed in the paper, the researchers looked at the roaming reaction in formaldehyde (CH2O) and were surprised to see instead, two quite distinct signals, "which we could interpret as two distinct roaming mechanisms."Professor Joel Bowman, who oversaw simulations of the roaming reactions at Emory University in the US, observed that that "detailed modelling of these reactions not only agree with the experimental findings, they provide insight into the motion of the atoms during the reaction." Simulations of the experiment were also carried out at Cornell University (US).Professor Meredith Jordan from University of Sydney says the experiments and theory results suggest roaming reactions straddle the classical and quantum worlds of physics and chemistry."Analysing the results with the incredible detail in both experiments and simulations allowed us to understand the quantum mechanical nature of roaming reactions. We expect these characteristics to be present in all roaming reactions," she says.The results of this study will provide theoreticians with the data needed to hone their theories, which in turn will allow scientists to accurately predict the outcomes of sunlight-initiated reactions in the atmosphere.Prof Kable says the study could also benefit scientists working in the areas of combustion and astrophysics, who use complex models to describe how molecules interact with each other in gaseous form. | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 5, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200805140103.htm | New acid mine drainage treatment turns waste into valuable critical minerals | A new way to treat acid mine drainage (AMD) could help transform the environmental pollution problem into an important domestic source of the critical rare earth elements needed to produce technology ranging from smart phones to fighter jets, according to Penn State scientists. | "Acid mine drainage has been a significant environmental concern for many decades," said Mohammad Rezaee, assistant professor of mining engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State. "This research shows we can modify existing treatment processes in a way that not only addresses environmental concerns, but at the same time recovers valuable elements and actually decreases the cost of treatment."A team of Penn State scientists developed a two-stage treatment process that enabled them to recover higher concentrations of rare earth elements using smaller amounts of chemicals than previously possible, the scientists said."This technique represents an efficient, low-cost and environmentally friendly method to extract these valuable minerals that are used in a wide variety of consumer and industrial products," said Sarma Pisupati, professor of energy and mineral engineering and director of the Center for Critical Minerals at Penn State.Rare earth elements are a group of 17 minerals widely used in advanced technologies and designated by the U.S. as critical to the country's economic and national security. The U.S. currently imports nearly 100% of these materials, with China producing about 85% of the world supply.AMD from coal mining operations in Appalachia represents a promising domestic source of rare earth elements because it often contains high concentrations of the minerals, and because it is already being collected and treated due to environmental concerns, the scientists said."We are currently incurring costs just to treat the water, and in many cases, we are not even collecting all these minerals," Pisupati said. "Now we are able to turn what had been considered a waste product into a valuable resource."AMD occurs when pyrite rock -- iron sulfide -- unearthed by mining activity interacts with water and air and then oxidizes, creating sulfuric acid. The acid then breaks down surrounding rocks, causing toxic metals to dissolve into the water, the scientists said.Traditional treatment methods involve collecting the AMD in retention ponds and adding chemicals to neutralize the pH -- an indicator of how acidic or basic a substance is. This causes the dissolved metals to precipitate, or form into solids, and settle out of the water. Up to 70% of rare earth elements can be extracted as a sludge using this process, and the rest are released along with the treated water, according to researchers.The scientists found they could extract a higher concentration of rare earth elements and other critical minerals by adding carbon dioxide to the AMD and then bringing it to a neutral pH of 7, the target for environmental remediation, in two separate steps.Using this method, 90% of aluminum was recovered at a pH of 5 and 85% of rare earth elements were recovered by pH 7, the scientists reported in Adding carbon dioxide to AMD produces chemical reactions that result in the formation of solid minerals called carbonites, the scientists said. The rare earth elements bond with the extra carbonites and precipitate out of the water at lower pH values.The process, called carbon dioxide mineralization, is an emerging technology being used to remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This study represents the first time it has been used to recover large concentrations of rare earth elements from AMD, the scientists said.Recovering the same concentration of rare earth elements from AMD using traditional treatment methods would require adding additional chemicals to increase the pH beyond 7. The scientists said by lowering recovery costs, the new treatment method could make the domestic rare-earth-element market more competitive."With a simple modification of existing treatment processes, industry could use less chemicals and get more value out of AMD waste," Rezaee said. "This is the beauty of this research." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 5, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200805102014.htm | Drivers who keep their windows down are exposed to 80 percent more air pollution | Car users from the world's least affluent cities are exposed to a disproportionate amount of in-car air pollution because they rely heavily on opening their windows for ventilation, finds a first of its kind study from the University of Surrey. | According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year and nine out of 10 people breathe air with high levels of pollutants.In a study published by the The research team investigated PMThe study discovered that drivers in some of the world's poorest cities experienced higher levels of in-car pollution.Irrespective of the city and car model used, a windows-open setting showed the highest exposure, followed by fan-on and recirculation. Pollutionexposure for windows-open during off-peak hours was 91 percent and 40 percent less than morning and evening peak hours, respectively. The study also found that the windows-open setting exposed car passengers to hotspots of air pollution for up to a third of the total travel length.The study found that commuters who turn on the recirculation are exposed to around 80 percent less harmful particles than those who open their car windows. Car cabin filters were more effective in removing pollution than fine particles, suggesting that if new cars had more efficient filters, it could reduce the overall exposure of car commuters.Professor Prashant Kumar, Director of GCARE at the University of Surrey, said: "To be blunt, we need as many cars as possible off the road, or more green vehicles to reduce air pollution exposure. This is yet a distant dream in many ODA countries. Air-conditioned cars are unattainable for many poor and vulnerable commuters across the world, but our data is clear and coherent for all 10 participating cities."We must now work with our global partners to make sure they have the information needed to put in place programmes, policies and strategies to protect the most vulnerable in our communities and find realistic solutions to these serious problems."Professor Abdus Salam from the University of Dhaka said: "The study has drawn important conclusions that can help commuters make decisions in their day-to-day lives to protect their health. Simple choices, like travelling during off-peak hours, can go a long way in reducing their exposure to air pollution."Professor Adamson S. Muula from the University of Malawi said: "Working with the GCARE team and global collaborators on this study has been an insightful experience. We were given access to affordable technology to collect novel datasets that haven't been available for cities in this part of the world. We also got to see where our cities stand in comparison to other global cities in developing countries. This has allowed for the sharing of much needed knowledge and best practices."Professor David Sampson, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Surrey, said: "I commend Professor Kumar and his GCARE team for their continued global leadership in air quality challenges around the world. The collaborative research of the GCARE team represents best in class, taking evidence from quality science and turning it into leading-edge policy for the betterment of all."The study was part of the Clean Air Engineering for Cities (CArE-Cities) project. CArE-Cities is a seed funding project, awarded by the University of Surrey under the Research England's | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 5, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200805091658.htm | Disparities in a common air pollutant are visible from space | As a global center for petrochemical manufacturing, Houston, Texas, experiences some of the worst air quality in the country, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Evidence suggests that air pollution disproportionately affects low-income, non-white and Hispanic residents, but it's difficult to directly observe differences in pollutants between neighborhoods. Now, researchers reporting in | Nitrogen dioxide, a precursor to ground-level ozone and particulate matter, is produced mainly by vehicles and power plants. In Houston, petrochemical refineries and industrial activities also emit this pollutant, which has been linked to respiratory problems. Ground-based nitrogen dioxide monitors and low-resolution satellite observations have historically had limited abilities to capture differences among neighborhoods of the same city. Angelique Demetillo, Sally Pusede and colleagues wanted to use a new high-spatial-resolution dataset from a NASA spectrometer onboard an airplane to investigate neighborhood-level differences in nitrogen dioxide within Houston, and to see whether these differences correlated with race-ethnicity and income of the neighborhoods. They also wanted to use these airborne data to evaluate whether the recently launched, space-based TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) could resolve similar between-neighborhood differences.The researchers used the NASA airborne spectrometer data to examine differences in population-weighted nitrogen dioxide levels for different census tracts. The areas where the pollutant was highest were where more low-income, non-white and Hispanic people lived. In contrast, where the pollutant was lowest, high-income, white people tended to live there. Most of the disparities could be explained by proximity of the neighborhoods to industrial sources and heavy-duty diesel vehicles. The researchers then used the observations from TROPOMI in a similar analysis, demonstrating that these new space-based measurements could also detect pollution inequalities within Houston. While the aircraft measurements can be collected over one-month periods, the TROPOMI observations are made almost daily and have the potential to be useful to decision-makers as they allocate resources for reducing air pollution, propose emission requirements and invest in public transportation, the researchers say. | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 4, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200804144643.htm | In a warming world, New England's trees are storing more carbon | Climate change has increased the productivity of forests, according to a new study that synthesizes hundreds of thousands of carbon observations collected over the last quarter century at the Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research site, one of the most intensively studied forests in the world. | The study, published today in "It is remarkable that changes in climate and atmospheric chemistry within our own lifetimes have accelerated the rate at which forest are capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," says Adrien Finzi, Professor of Biology at Boston University and a co-lead author of the study.The volume of data brought together for the analysis -- by two dozen scientists from 11 institutions -- is unprecedented, as is the consistency of the results. Carbon measurements taken in air, soil, water, and trees are notoriously difficult to reconcile, in part because of the different timescales on which the processes operate. But when viewed together, a nearly complete carbon budget -- one of the holy grails of ecology -- emerges, documenting the flow of carbon through the forest in a complex, multi-decadal circuit."Our data show that the growth of trees is the engine that drives carbon storage in this forest ecosystem," says Audrey Barker Plotkin, Senior Ecologist at Harvard Forest and a co-lead author of the study. "Soils contain a lot of the forest's carbon -- about half of the total -- but that storage hasn't changed much in the past quarter-century."The trees show no signs of slowing their growth, even as they come into their second century of life. But the scientists note that what we see today may not be the forest's future. "It's entirely possible that other forest development processes like tree age may dampen or reverse the pattern we've observed," says Finzi.The study revealed other seeds of vulnerability resulting from climate change and human activity, such as the spread of invasive insects.At Harvard Forest, hemlock-dominated forests were accumulating carbon at similar rates to hardwood forests until the arrival of the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect, in the early 2000s. In 2014, as more trees began to die, the hemlock forest switched from a carbon "sink," which stores carbon, to a carbon "source," which releases more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than it captures.The research team also points to extreme storms, suburbanization, and the recent relaxation of federal air and water quality standards as pressures that could reverse the gains forests have made."Witnessing in real time the rapid decline of our beloved hemlock forest makes the threat of future losses very real," says Barker Plotkin. "It's important to recognize the vital service forests are providing now, and to safeguard those into the future." | Pollution | 2,020 |
August 4, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200804085923.htm | Surface clean-up technology won't solve ocean plastic problem | Clean-up devices that collect waste from the ocean surface won't solve the plastic pollution problem, a new study shows. | Researchers compared estimates of current and future plastic waste with the ability of floating clean-up devices to collect it -- and found the impact of such devices was "very modest." However, river barriers could be more effective and -- though they have no impact on plastic already in the oceans -- they could reduce pollution "significantly" if used in tandem with surface clean-up technology.The study -- by the University of Exeter, the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Jacobs University and Making Oceans Plastic Free -- focusses on floating plastic, as sunk waste is difficult or impossible to remove depending on size and location.The authors estimate that the amount of plastic reaching the ocean will peak in 2029, and surface plastic will hit more than 860,000 metric tonnes -- more than double the current estimated 399,000 -- by 2052 (when previous research suggested the rate of plastic pollution may finally reach zero)."The important message of this paper is that we can't keep polluting the oceans and hoping that technology will tidy up the mess," said Dr Jesse F. Abrams, of the Global Systems Institute and the Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, both at the University of Exeter."Even if we could collect all the plastic in the oceans -- which we can't -- it's really difficult to recycle, especially if plastic fragments have floated for a long time and been degraded or bio-fouled."The other major solutions are to bury or burn it -- but burying could contaminate the ground and burning leads to extra CO2 emissions to the atmosphere."Private initiatives proposing to collect plastic from oceans and rivers have gained widespread attention recently.One such scheme, called the Ocean Cleanup, aims to clean the "Pacific garbage patch" in the next 20 years using 600m floating barriers to collect plastic for recycling or incineration on land.The new study analysed the impact of deploying 200 such devices, running without downtime for 130 years -- from 2020 to 2150.In this scenario, global floating plastic debris would be reduced by 44,900 metric tonnes -- just over 5% of the estimated global total by the end of that period."The projected impact of both single and multiple clean up devices is very modest compared to the amount of plastic that is constantly entering the ocean," said Dr Sönke Hohn, of Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research."These devices are also relatively expensive to make and maintain per unit of plastic removed."As most plastic enters the oceans via rivers, the authors say a "complete halt" of such pollution entering the ocean using river barriers -- especially in key polluting rivers -- could prevent most of the pollution they otherwise predict over the next three decades.However, due to the importance of large rivers for global shipping, such barriers are unlikely to be installed on a large scale.Given the difficulty of recycling and the negative impacts of burying or burning plastic, the study says reducing disposal and increasing recycling rates are essential to tackle ocean pollution. "Plastic is an extremely versatile material with a wide range of consumer and industrial applications, but we need to look for more sustainable alternatives and rethink the way we produce, consume and dispose of plastic," said Professor Agostino Merico, of Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research and Jacobs University.Dr Roger Spranz, an author of the study, is a co-founder of non-profit organisation Making Oceans Plastic Free."We have developed expertise in changing behaviour to break plastic habits and stop plastic pollution at its source," Dr Spranz said."We are registered in Germany but the focus of our activities and collaborations is in Indonesia, the second-largest source of marine plastic pollution."Working with local partners, the implementation of our Tasini campaign in Indonesia has to date helped to prevent an estimated 20 million plastic bags and 50,000 plastic bottles from ending up in coastal areas and the ocean." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 30, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200730123704.htm | Plastics, pathogens and baby formula: What's in your shellfish? | The first landmark study using next-generation technology to comprehensively examine contaminants in oysters in Myanmar reveals alarming findings: the widespread presence of human bacterial pathogens and human-derived microdebris materials, including plastics, kerosene, paint, talc and milk supplement powders. | The study -- led by scientists from the University of California, Irvine, in collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund, Cornell University and the University of Queensland -- was conducted in the eastern Andaman Sea through partnerships with local researchers in Myanmar in the densely populated but still rural Tanintharyi region. The study concludes that coastal urbanization and lack of sewage treatment increases contamination in seafood and can cause potential health risks to humans, even large distances from pollution sources.The area covered by the study spanned nine coral reefs off Myanmar's Mergui Archipelago, situated roughly 40 miles from Myeik, a city with a population of over 250,000 people. The study examined contaminants in seawater and in oysters using next-generation DNA sequencing to reveal 5,459 potential human pathogens belonging to 87 species of bacteria. More than half of these pathogens are considered detrimental to human health. In addition, the scientists used infrared spectroscopy to examine individual microdebris particles found in the oysters. Of the 1,225 individual microdebris particles examined, 78 different types of contaminant materials were found."While 48 percent of the microparticles were microplastics -- a finding representative across numerous ocean ecosystems -- many other particles were not plastic and originated from a variety of human-derived materials that are constituents of fuels, paints and cosmetics," said senior author Joleah Lamb, assistant professor of ecology & evolutionary biology at UCI. "We were particularly surprised to find three different brands of milk powder formula, which comprised 14 percent of the microdebris contaminants."Both types of contaminants -- pathogens and microparticles -- reflect the pervasive presence of sewage and runoff from human and animal sources. The implications for other coastal regions are significant, since coastal marine environments worldwide are being increasingly subjected to reduced water quality from urbanization that could be leading to the contamination of important fishery species on a global scale.Implications for human health are also significant. Oysters in this region and elsewhere are part of the local diet and typically consumed raw and whole. The contaminants found in this study indicate that even the Mergui Archipelago in largely rural Myanmar has significant and widespread pollution from runoff of agricultural and human waste that can affect downstream food sources over a wide area far from urban centers.Today more than half of seafood exports by value originate in developing countries, raising more general concerns about local food safety and food security worldwide."It's important to keep in mind that much of our seafood is imported from overseas, from places that may be contaminated, emphasizing the importance of both adequate testing and improvements to coastal water quality worldwide," said lead author Raechel Littman, a postdoctoral scholar in ecology & evolutionary biology at UCI.Apart from human bacterial pathogens, the predominance of microplastics and other types of microparticles present in seafood could have implications for both the environment and human health."Scientists are only beginning to explore the human health consequences from consuming microplastics," said Lamb.Many plastic particles can carry toxins, such as persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, like dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and bisphenol A (BPA), that subsequently enter the ocean and marine food webs, and can eventually be transferred to people through food. Therefore, the uptake of microplastics in the marine environment could have far-reaching consequences for human consumption of seafood and can be an emerging risk to public health globally.Also concerning is that over half of the microdebris contaminants detected in the Myanmar oyster tissues were composed of non-polymer materials that can be harmful to human health if ingested, such as kerosene, saponin and talc. Moreover, the prominence of milk supplement detected suggests a direct fecal-oral link between human waste and sewage making its way back into the food chain, thereby elevating the risk of contamination or disease transmission."This study in important in its global implications. There is strong evidence of transferability of the findings from Myanmar to other seafood sources around the world," said Douglas Rader, chief scientist for the EDF Oceans program and collaborator on this study. "These findings highlight both the risks of coastal urbanization and the importance of adequate wastewater and stormwater management. It also shows clearly the need for better science related to the potential impacts of these contaminants, and the need for better testing programs so that seafood consumers can rely on its wholesomeness. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 30, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200730113057.htm | Coastal cities leave up to 75% of seafloor exposed to harmful light pollution | The global expansion of coastal cities could leave more than three quarters of their neighbouring seafloor exposed to potentially harmful levels of light pollution. | A study led by the University of Plymouth (UK) showed that under both cloudy and clear skies, quantities of light used in everyday street lighting permeated all areas of the water column.This could pose a significant threat to coastal species, with recent research showing the presence of artificial skyglow can disrupt the lunar compass species use when covering long distances.However, the current study found that the colour of the wavelengths shone at the surface had a marked difference on how much biologically important light pollution reached the seafloor.Many of the white LEDs now being used to illuminate the world's towns and cities use a mixture of green, blue and red wavelengths to generate their brightness.Green and blue wavelengths left up to 76% and 70% of the three-dimensional seafloor area exposed to light pollution respectively, while the presence of red light was less than 1%.The research -- which also involved Bangor University, the University of Strathclyde and Plymouth Marine Laboratory -- is published in It is the first study in the world to quantify the extent to which biologically important artificial light is prevalent on the seafloor and could, in turn, be having a detrimental effect on marine species.Dr Thomas Davies, Lecturer in Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth and the paper's lead author, said: "The areas exposed here are not trivial. Our results focused on a busy marine area and demonstrate the light from coastal urban centres is widespread across the sea surface, sub surface and seafloor of adjacent marine habitats. But Plymouth is still just one coastal city with a population of 240,000 people."Seventy-five per cent of the world's megacities are now located in coastal regions and coastal populations are projected to more than double by 2060. So unless we take action now it is clear that biologically important light pollution on the seafloor is likely to be globally widespread, increasing in intensity and extent, and putting marine habitats at risk."The study focussed on Plymouth Sound and the Tamar Estuary which together form a busy waterway and are home to the largest naval port in Western Europe.It was conducted over four nights in 2018, when there was little or no moonlight, and blue, green, and red artificial light was shone at the sea surface during both clear and cloudy conditions, and at low and high tide.A combination of mapping and radiative transfer modelling tools were then used to measure exposure at the surface, beneath the surface, and at the seafloor.The researchers are now calling for a more comprehensive review of the full impacts of coastal light pollution, to try and mitigate against the most harmful effects as coastal cities grow globally.Dr Tim Smyth, Head of Science of Marine Biogeochemistry and Ocean Observations at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, said: "Light pollution from coastal cities is likely having deleterious impacts on seafloor ecosystems which provide vital ecosystem services. We investigated this by visiting the Tamar, Plym and Plymouth Sound for four successive nights in September 2018. The time-lapse video of our trips really highlights how bright our shorelines are at night. During the fieldwork we measured the above water light field and in-water optics as well as running in-water light modelling simulations, in order for us to map the light field across the whole of the Tamar Estuary network." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 29, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200729124416.htm | New fabric could help keep you cool in the summer, even without A/C | Air conditioning and other space cooling methods account for about 10% of all electricity consumption in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Now, researchers reporting in | Cooling off a person's body is much more efficient than cooling an entire room or building. Various clothing and textiles have been designed to do just that, but most have disadvantages, such as poor cooling capacity; large electricity consumption; complex, time-consuming manufacturing; and/or high cost. Yang Si, Bin Ding and colleagues wanted to develop a personal cooling fabric that could efficiently transfer heat away from the body, while also being breathable, water repellent and easy to make.The researchers made the new material by electrospinning a polymer (polyurethane), a water-repelling version of the polymer (fluorinated polyurethane) and a thermally conductive filler (boron nitride nanosheets) into nanofibrous membranes. These membranes repelled water from the outside, but they had large enough pores to allow sweat to evaporate from the skin and air to circulate. The boron nitride nanosheets coated the polymer nanofibers, forming a network that conducted heat from an inside source to the outside air. In tests, the thermal conductivity was higher than that of many other conventional or high-tech fabrics. The membrane could be useful not only for personal cooling, but also for solar energy collection, seawater desalination and thermal management of electronic devices, the researchers say. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 29, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200729114809.htm | COVID-19 provides rare opportunities for studying natural and human systems | Like the legendary falling apple that hit Isaac Newton and led to his groundbreaking insight on the nature of gravity, COVID-19 could provide unintended glimpses into how complex Earth systems operate, according to a new Stanford-led paper. The perspective, published July 29 in | "Without distracting from the most important priority -- which is clearly the health and well-being of people and communities -- the current easing of the human footprint is providing a unique window into the impacts of humans on the environment, including a number of questions that are critical for effective public policy," said lead author Noah Diffenbaugh, the Kara J Foundation Professor at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences.For example, the question of how much electrifying the vehicle fleet will improve air quality has until now relied heavily on theoretical arguments and computer models. The scale of recent emissions reductions, however, provides an opportunity to use atmospheric observations to check just how accurate those models are in simulating the impact of pollution-reduction interventions such as electric vehicle incentives.The researchers note that although many of the initial impacts of COVID sheltering, such as clear skies resulting from reduced pollutant emissions, could be perceived as beneficial to the environment, the longer-term impacts -- particularly related to the economic recession -- are less clear. To understand the impacts across both short and long timescales, they propose focusing on cascading effects along two pathways: (1) energy, emissions, climate and air quality; and (2) poverty, globalization, food and biodiversity.Given the complex interactions along these pathways, the researchers emphasize the need for techniques that can bring together multiple lines of evidence to reveal causes and effects. This includes bolstering and expanding coordinated efforts to study the impacts of the pandemic, including safe deployment of environmental sensors that can track changing conditions, computer models that simulate Earth's response to the sheltering measures and solutions-oriented research trials that lend insight into human behavior and decision making. The authors also call for a coordinated data repository where many different kinds of data can be made openly available to the public in a uniform format."Almost overnight, people across the world had to change the way they live, the way they work -- with many facing loss of income -- commute, buy food, educate their children and other energy-consuming behaviors," said Inês Azevedo, an associate professor of energy resources engineering in Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "It's critical for us to better understand how future societal disruptions and catastrophes could affect interactions among energy systems and other systems that serve society."A key factor in understanding how the pandemic's effects play out is its influence on human behavior and decision making."Human behavior contributes to, but is also affected by, changes in the Earth system, and COVID-19 is creating new challenges for ensuring people and corporations act to protect the planet," said co-author Margaret Levi, the Sara Miller McCune Director of Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and a professor of political science. "While government was not a central focus in this paper, it clarifies the roles that laws, regulations and investments play in the safety of the food supply and food workers, emissions controls and many other aspects of the health of the Earth and its inhabitants."Some of the pandemic's most lasting impacts on climate and air quality could occur via insights it provides into the calculation of policy parameters that measure the value that individuals and society place on different environmental trade-offs. The COVID-19 crisis is making these tradeoffs more explicit, the researchers point out. This is because governments, communities and individuals are making historic decisions reflecting underlying preferences for current and future consumption, as well as the tradeoff between different types of economic activity and individual and collective risk.These decisions can help quantify the parameters that are routinely used in environmental policymaking (such as the cost of human lives lost to air pollution or of climate change associated with carbon dioxide emissions). As those updated parameters are incorporated into actual policy decisions, they will have lasting effects on the regulations that impact the long-term trajectory of climate and air quality.Studying policy interventions designed to prevent socio-environmental damage -- such as the role of poverty in driving deforestation -- could also help vulnerable people weather poverty shocks from COVID-19 by providing a deeper understanding of how and where poverty and environmental degradation are most tightly linked. The researchers propose using the kinds of solution-oriented research trials that were awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Economics to study whether interventions such as payments for protection of natural resources are effective in staving off deforestation, over-fishing and other environmental damages."COVID-19 poses some of the biggest challenges we have faced in the last century," said paper co-author Chris Field, the Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies. "With every challenge, there are opportunities for learning, and this paper provides a map for expanding the set of opportunities."Diffenbaugh is also the Kimmelman Family senior fellow in the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Levi and Azevedo are also senior fellows at the Stanford Woods Institute. Stanford co-authors include Eric Appel, Marshall Burke, Sarah Fletcher, Rob Jackson, David Lobell, Kari Nadeau and Gabrielle Wong-Parodi. Additional co-authors are affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, San Diego; the Pierre Simon Laplace Institute; the University of California, Irvine; Columbia University; Purdue University; Northwestern University; the University of California, Davis; the University of Utah; the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry; the University of Colorado Boulder; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology; Washington State University; and the University of Michigan. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 28, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200728113610.htm | Pesticides can protect crops from hydrophobic pollutants | Researchers have revealed that commercial pesticides can be applied to crops in the | The team developed two approaches to control the functions of plant proteins related to the transport of hydrophobic pollutants.These findings will lead to these new functions of pesticides being utilized in agriculture, enabling safer crops to be produced.These results were published online in the international scientific journal Hydrophobic pollutants include dioxins, the insecticide dieldrin, and endocrine disruptors. These pollutants are highly toxic, and their manufacture and use are now prohibited. However, these substances were used in large quantities up until they were banned, causing widespread environmental pollution that also affects agricultural land.The When crops are found to have accumulated hydrophobic pollutants above the residual limit, all crops grown on the same land are unable to be sold, resulting in great economic losses for the producer. For this reason, much research has been conducted into ways to remove hydrophobic pollutants from agricultural soil, however a cost-effective and efficient method has yet to be found. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop technology for the cultivation of safer crops on arable land contaminated by hydrophobic pollutants.This study focused on pesticides that have been confirmed to be safe. The researchers tried two approaches designed to suppress the accumulation of hydrophobic pollutants via MLPs: utilizing a 'pesticide which suppresses MLP gene expression' and a 'MLP-binding pesticide'. They aimed to produce safer cucurbitaceous crops.The application of a pesticide that suppresses MLP gene expression reduces the concentration of MLPs in the roots and xylem sap (*3). This suggested that the concentrations of hydrophobic pollutants accumulated in the fruits via MLP would also be reduced.First, experiments were carried out to select a pesticide that could suppress MLP gene expression from five types of pesticide used on the The application of MLP-binding pesticide inhibits the binding of MLPs to hydrophobic pollutants in the roots. In other words, the amount of MLPs that binds to the pollutants is reduced. It was hypothesized that this approach would decrease the concentrations of hydrophobic pollutants accumulated in the fruits via MLPs.First of all, chemical arrays (*5) with approximately 22,000 compounds from the RIKEN NPDepo (*6) were used to identify compounds that bound to MLPs. The insecticide Colt that can be applied to crops in the This study revealed, for the first time in the world, that it is possible to cultivate safer crops in contaminated soil through the control of the plant's functions. This achievement could reduce the number of cases where producers experience economic losses due to being unable to sell crops grown in contaminated soil. Furthermore, this will also provide consumers with safe produce.A new method of utilizing pesticides has been revealed by this research. For the first time in the world, this study has revealed a novel aspect of pesticides beyond their original functions of preventing pests or weed growth. Pesticides are thought to be extremely safe because they have to pass numerous strict safety tests. Furthermore, the standardized treatment of crops with pesticides is simple and inexpensive. Therefore, it is anticipated that the method developed by this study to reduce hydrophobic pollutants using pesticides will become widespread across the globe.Hydrophobic pollutants are chemical substances that do not decompose easily in the environment and accumulate easily within organisms. They are highly toxic and have been shown to be carcinogenic and neurotoxic in humans. Hydrophobic pollutants include dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, and dieldrin. Their use and manufacture have been banned in 181 countries.This protein is found in many species of plants, including Xylem sap is a fluid found in the xylem, which is part of the vascular bundle along with phloem. It transports water and nutrients absorbed from the roots to the leaves and fruits.The chemical in a commercial pesticide that performs the product's main function (eg. insecticide or fungicide). Pesticides also contain ingredients other than their active ingredient, such as spreading agents, which ensure that the active ingredient adheres to the plants or the pests. This study confirmed that active ingredients in pesticides could control MLP functions.An organic chemical compound is immobilized on a chip, enabling a highly efficient evaluation of the compound's physical interactions with proteins of interest. It is difficult to immobilize varied types and complex structures of organic compounds, compared to immobilizing single-structured DNA for DNA arrays. RIKEN's Chemical Biology Research Group has developed an immobilization method using a carbene with non-specific avidity (divalent carbon that only has 6 valence electrons and no charge) that will bind with the compound regardless of its functional group.A chemical compound library being developed by the Chemical Resource Development Research Unit of RIKEN's Chemical Biology Research Group. In addition to collecting and storing natural compounds isolated from sources such as actinobacteria, they are also accepting deposits from researchers in order to build up a library of diverse chemical compounds.This research was supported by funding from the Japan Crop Protection Association and a Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant (No. 2019-5004). | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 23, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200723203945.htm | Plastic flow into ocean expected to triple by 2040, action could stem tide more than 80% | A new analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ finds that without immediate and sustained action, the annual flow of plastic into the ocean could nearly triple by 2040. But the study also identifies solutions that could cut this volume by more than 80 per cent using technologies that are available today, if key decision-makers are willing to make system-wide changes. | The findings from the scientific analysis were released today in a report, "Breaking the Plastic Wave: A Comprehensive Assessment of Pathways Towards Stopping Ocean Plastic Pollution." The release coincides with the July 23 publication of the technical underpinnings of the report in an article in the journal The research found that if no action is taken to address the projected growth in plastic production and consumption, the amount of plastic entering the ocean each year would grow from 11 million metric tons to 29 million metric tons over the next 20 years, equivalent to nearly 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of plastic on each metre of coastline worldwide. Because plastic remains in the ocean for hundreds of years and may never truly biodegrade, the cumulative amount of plastic in the ocean by 2040 could reach 600 million tons -- equivalent in weight to more than 3 million blue whales. And COVID-19 has presented additional challenges in the fight to end ocean-bound plastic pollution, as single-use plastic consumption has increased during the pandemic, according to the International Solid Waste Association.Working with scientists and experts around the world, Pew and SYSTEMIQ reached the report's conclusions using a first-of-its-kind economic model that quantifies the flow and amount of plastic in the global system and compares the quantity of ocean plastic pollution between 2016 and 2040 under six scenarios: from no change from the projected rising flow of plastic into the ocean (noted in the report as "business-as-usual") to a total overhaul (called the "system change scenario") of the world's plastics system, including its production, collection, consumption, and disposal/recycling. The model quantifies the associated cost, climate, and employment implications of each scenario.Although progress has been made in addressing the global plastic challenge, the report finds that current commitments by government and industry will reduce the amount of plastic flowing into the ocean only by 7 per cent by 2040. And without meaningful change, about 4 billion people worldwide are likely to be without organized waste collection services by 2040, contributing significantly to the projected amount of ocean plastic pollution; closing this gap would require connecting more than 500,000 people to collection services per day until 2040."Breaking the Plastic Wave" identifies eight measures that together could reduce by 2040 about 80 per cent of the plastic pollution that flows into the ocean annually, using technology and solutions available today. Among them are reducing growth in plastic production and consumption, substituting some plastics with alternatives such as paper and compostable materials, designing products and packaging for recycling, expanding waste collection rates in middle- and low-income countries, increasing recycling, and reducing plastic waste exports. In addition to improving ocean health, adopting the changes outlined in the report could generate savings of USD$70 billion for governments by 2040, relative to business-as-usual; reduce projected annual plastic-related greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent; and create 700,000 jobs.While the system change scenario reduces annual ocean plastic pollution rates by more than 80 per cent, it will take an unprecedented level of action and will still leave more than 5 million metric tons leaking into the ocean each year in 2040. Fully eliminating the flow of ocean plastic pollution will require dramatically increasing innovation and investment, with significant technological advances, new business models, and a greater emphasis on research and development."There's no single solution to ocean plastic pollution, but through rapid and concerted action we can break the plastic wave," said Tom Dillon, Pew's vice president for environment. "As this report shows, we can invest in a future of reduced waste, better health outcomes, greater job creation, and a cleaner and more resilient environment for both people and nature."Plastic pollution presents a unique challenge for producers and users of virgin, or new, plastics given regulatory changes, such as bans on single-use plastic items, and growing consumer concern about the impact of plastic waste in the environment. But it is also a unique opportunity for providers of new and existing materials and industries that use circular business models and reuse and refill systems, which are designed to keep products and materials in use for as long as possible."Our results indicate that the plastic crisis is solvable. It took a generation to create this challenge; this report shows we can solve it in one generation," said Martin Stuchtey, SYSTEMIQ's founder and managing partner. "'Breaking the Plastic Wave' leaves no viable excuse on the table; we have today all the solutions required to stem plastic flows by more than 80 per cent. What we now need is the industry and government resolve to do so." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 23, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200723143728.htm | COVID-19 lockdown caused 50 percent global reduction in human-linked Earth vibrations | The lack of human activity during lockdown caused human-linked vibrations in the Earth to drop by an average of 50% between March and May 2020. | This quiet period, likely caused by the total global effect of social distancing measures, closure of services and industry, and drops in tourism and travel, is the longest and most pronounced quiet period of seismic noise in recorded history.The new research, led by the Royal Observatory of Belgium and five other institutions around the world including Imperial College London, showed that the dampening of 'seismic noise' caused by humans was more pronounced in more densely populated areas.The relative quietness allowed researchers to listen in to previously concealed earthquake signals, and could help us differentiate between human and natural seismic noise more clearly than ever before.Co-author Dr Stephen Hicks, from Imperial's Department of Earth Science and Engineering, said: "This quiet period is likely the longest and largest dampening of human-caused seismic noise since we started monitoring the Earth in detail using vast monitoring networks of seismometers."Our study uniquely highlights just how much human activities impact the solid Earth, and could let us see more clearly than ever what differentiates human and natural noise."The paper is published today in Measured by instruments called seismometers, seismic noise is caused by vibrations within the Earth, which travel like waves. The waves can be triggered by earthquakes, volcanoes, and bombs -- but also by daily human activity like travel and industry.Although 2020 has not seen a reduction in earthquakes, the drop in human-caused seismic noise is unprecedented. The strongest drops were found in urban areas, but the study also found signatures of the lockdown on sensors buried hundreds of metres underground and in more remote areas.Human-generated noise usually dampens during quiet periods like over the Christmas/New Year period and Chinese New Year, and during weekends and overnight. However, the drop in vibrations caused by COVID-19 lockdown measures eclipse even those seen during these periods.Some researchers are dubbing this drop in anthropogenic (human-caused) noise and pollution the 'anthropause'.Dr Hicks said: "This is the first global study of the impact of the coronavirus anthropause on the solid Earth beneath our feet."To gather the data, researchers looked at seismic data from a global network of 268 seismic stations in 117 countries and found significant noise reductions compared to before any lockdown at 185 of those stations. Beginning in China in late January 2020, and followed by Europe and the rest of the world in March to April 2020, researchers tracked the 'wave' of quietening between March and May as worldwide lockdown measures took hold.The largest drops in vibrations were seen in the most densely populated areas, like Singapore and New York City, but drops were also seen in remote areas like Germany's Black Forest and Rundu in Namibia. Citizen-owned seismometers, which tend to measure more localised noise, noted large drops around universities and schools around Cornwall, UK and Boston, USA -- a drop in noise 20 per cent larger than seen during school holidays. Countries like Barbados, where lockdown coincided with the tourist season, saw a 50 per cent decrease in noise. This coincided with flight data that suggested tourists returned home in the weeks before official lockdown.Over the past few decades, seismic noise has gradually increased as economies and populations have grown.The drastic changes to daily life caused by the pandemic have provided a unique opportunity to study their environmental impacts, such as reductions in emissions and pollution in the atmosphere. The changes have also given us the opportunity to listen in to the Earth's natural vibrations without the distortions of human input.The study reports the first evidence that previously concealed earthquake signals, especially during daytime, appeared much clearer on seismometers in urban areas during lockdown.The researchers say the lockdown quietening could also help them differentiate between human-caused noise and natural signals that might warn of upcoming natural disasters.Lead author Dr Thomas Lecocq from the Royal Observatory of Belgium said: "With increasing urbanisation and growing global populations, more people will be living in geologically hazardous areas. It will therefore become more important than ever to differentiate between natural and human-caused noise so that we can 'listen in' and better monitor the ground movements beneath our feet. This study could help to kick-start this new field of study."The study's authors hope that their work will spawn further research on the seismic lockdown, as well as finding previously hidden signals from earthquakes and volcanoes.Dr Hicks said: "The lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic may have given us a glimmer of insight into how human and natural noise interact within the Earth. We hope this insight will spawn new studies that help us listen better to the Earth and understand natural signals we would otherwise have missed." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 23, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200723143718.htm | Boats and ships leave baby reef fish vulnerable to predators | Juvenile fishes have one of the highest mortality rates compared to other life stages. Within two days of settling into a reef almost 60 percent are consumed by predators. Our recent study found noisy boats and ships can also affect the prey response of these young fishes. | When exposed to the noise of vessels, juvenile fishes decreased their activity, which reduced their swimming distance. Previous research found more active fishes learn faster about their environment and potential predators, which results in a higher chance of survival.We also found juveniles exposed to boat and ship noise were slower to escape when exposed to a simulated predator attack. This is highly relevant as the timing of the escape response to a predator is critical for success -- a slower fish is more likely to get eaten.Noise pollution is mostly concentrated in coastal areas. The higher the human population the higher the incidence of recreational boating activities such as diving and recreational fishing. More than 250,000 boats are registered in the Great Barrier Reef region and this number is projected to increase 500 percent by 2040. This means vessel noise is not only already widespread, but increasing along the Great Barrier Reef.Our results suggest boat and ship noise could increase the mortality of juvenile fishes during their critical period of growth (and remember, ~60 percent already die within two days). In areas such as the Great Barrier Reef, fishes are likely exposed to recreational boats and ships multiple times throughout their life. An increase in the mortality rate could have implications for population structure and community dynamics.Human-made noise is easier to manage compared to other pollutants, which provides an opportunity to mitigate its effects on coral reef communities. The main goal of our research is to investigate the effects of noise on reef fishes in order to provide governmental institutions with information for its management and regulation. Future research will investigate the long-term effects of noise pollution on fishes and whether there are interactive effects with other stressors. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 23, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200723115849.htm | Mercury remains a persistent poison in Connecticut's Still River | Western Connecticut is known for rolling hills, rich history, and industry, such as hat making. Once called the "Hat City of the World," Danbury thrived. Anyone familiar with Lewis Carroll's Mad Hatter may also be aware of the dangers of hat making, due to the industry's use of the potent toxin mercury. Starting in the late 1700s, Danbury hat factories were a point source of pollution, dumping large quantities of mercury into the nearby Still River. | Fashions change, the use of mercury in hat making was outlawed in 1940, and now all that remains of the once-thriving hatting industry in Danbury is its history -- or is it?A group of researchers from UConn and Wesleyan University spent four years studying a stretch of the Still River, and found that the industrial waste of a century ago is still very much present in 2020.Kayla Anatone '12 (CAHNR), a current PhD student at Wesleyan University, was interested in the local history but also in learning if "legacy" mercury was impacting the environment and making its way into the food web. She and co-authors from the UConn Marine Sciences department -- including PhD student Gunnar Hansen, Professor Robert Mason, Assistant Research Professor Zofia Baumann and Wesleyan University Professor Barry Chernoff -- recently published the findings in Baumann says there have been studies performed to measure some aspects of mercury pollution in the river, however the data has not been summarized in a systematic way, and this study is the first comprehensive investigation of the Still River.Baumann explains that mercury is a global pollutant, with multiple sources. Though the element is naturally occurring at low levels, mercury emissions have tripled since the industrial revolution, when mercury-enriched coal and other fossil fuels were used to power industry. Mercury can be used in various processes and products, from filling thermometers to filling cavities in teeth, but in the case of hat making it was used to soften the felt to make it more pliable for shaping.To make the tracing of mercury through the environment even more complex, Anatone explains mercury can exist in numerous compounds and in either inorganic or organic forms. If mercury is in an inorganic form it does not move as easily through the food web. However some bacteria can convert the mercury to organic molecules, making them more "bioavailable" and readily enter the food web."The organic forms are the forms we are most concerned about, because organic mercury can accumulate in organisms such as humans and wildlife, and cause detrimental effects such as neurological damage," says Anatone.The researchers performed the studies by sampling water, sediments, and tissues from a fish called the Eastern Blacknose Dace from seven sites on the river over the course of four years. Some of the sample sites were taken at former factory sites and some were reference sites for comparison. The results were staggering."The Still River watershed has significantly high levels of mercury in the fish no matter where the fish are from along the river," says Anatone. "Fish muscle tissue from six out of seven of the sites had concentrations that exceed EPA guidance levels for weekly mercury consumption. That was especially surprising because the fish are only about three inches in size and for them to be accumulating so much mercury, I just didn't expect it."Anatone explains that they also found very high amounts of mercury persisting in the sediments: "All of the Still River sites which previously had hatting factories and direct point source pollution have concentrations in the sediment that exceeded the background levels of mercury found in sediments in other Connecticut sites."Baumann says one aspect of the study is somewhat unexpected: "One of the really interesting findings in this study was that despite the very high concentrations of mercury in the sediments, at least it is my feeling based on the data that we have, is that a lot of the mercury is not bioavailable. Around one percent is available for further uptake in the food web, and that is what we are worried about essentially. Even though it is a pretty low percentage, it is impressive to see that it resulted in such high levels of bioaccumulation in the fish."Anatone and Baumann hope that this research will inspire conversations and action."Research like this is the only way to find out how things are really moving in the ecosystem," says Baumann. "These studies are what you can use to inform decision-makers. Do we need to remediate? Should we let it be? Should we warn people who angle there regularly? This info is really needed."Anatone says at the very least, it is important to set fishing guidelines for these areas: "We studied Eastern Blacknose Dace. Humans don't eat dace but humans eat trout and trout eat the dace. I think it is important that guidelines for fishing are put into place, like catch and release, or these areas are made off-limits for fishing."Though Anatone will be graduating shortly and will not be doing any further sampling, she is hopeful this research will motivate others to continue to study the Still River and the impacts of legacy mercury on the ecosystem and food web."This research is not simple, it takes a lot of effort and time. It would be interesting to carry on this work and measure in other organisms such as trout."Baumann adds that the river presents a unique system for studying how mercury cycles through New England streams, especially now with the changing climate, this work is important: "We want people to get curious about this." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 22, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200722134900.htm | Biotelemetry provides unique glimpse into whitespotted eagle rays' behavior | The whitespotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari), found in estuaries and lagoons throughout Florida, is listed as "near threatened" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "Red List of Threatened Species." Keeping tabs on this highly mobile species for conservation efforts can be extremely challenging, especially for extended periods of time. | Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute used uniquely coded transmitters and acoustic telemetry to give them a leading edge to unravel fine-scale movement, behavior, and habitat use of whitespotted eagle rays in Florida's Indian River Lagoon. Biotelemetry provided the researchers with unique insights into this species' occupancy, which is not apparent at the landscape-scale.Despite being a state-protected species in Florida for more than two decades, this study is the first to characterize the ecology and fine-scale habitat use of whitespotted rays in Florida while also identifying areas of potential interactions between this species and multiple environmental threats. For the study, researchers followed seven mature individuals (six males and one female) and individually tracked them for a total of 119.6 hours. They used a tracking vessel to continuously and manually track the rays between June 2017 and August 2018.Results of the study, published in the journal "Understanding channel use is crucial to evaluating risks and potentially developing strategies to mitigate negative impacts to the whitespotted eagle ray, as both channel and inlet habitats have high levels of human activity such as boating and fishing and are prone to coastal development impacts from dredging," said Breanna DeGroot, M.S., lead author, research technician and former graduate student working with Matt Ajemian, Ph.D., co-author and an assistant research professor at FAU's Harbor Branch. "In addition, these high traffic areas experience increased noise and chemical pollution."Rays also spent a larger proportion of time in the channels and inlet during the lighter and warmer portions of the day and used shallower depths during the cooler and darker portions of the day. Rate of movement significantly increased with temperature, suggesting that rays are more active during warmer periods. While previous studies have found that whitespotted eagle rays are influenced by tidal cycles, this study did not find any tidal patterns in ray habitat use or distribution.Because more clammers work on lease sites during the day, interactions between the rays and growout sites may therefore be underestimated. Findings from this study will help to inform statewide conservation plans for the species and provide critical information to hard clam aquaculture farmers and restoration managers for the successful production of bivalves in the area."As coastal populations and development increase, there is more potential for whitespotted eagle rays to interact with human activities," said Ajemian. "In addition, intense coastal development such as dredging, construction, and pollution have been linked to habitat alteration, which may change the abundance and distribution of this species as has been documented with shark species in degraded habitats."As whitespotted eagle rays already display an affinity for these modified habitats, increased interactions with humans and added pollution and/or disturbances could result in changes to the species' movement patterns and health. Ultimately, such human-induced habitat alterations could reduce the overall productivity of estuarine areas and, with time, exacerbate pressures already facing populations of aetobatid rays. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 22, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200722083811.htm | Dragonflies reveal mercury pollution levels across US national parks | A citizen science program that began over a decade ago has confirmed the use of dragonflies to measure mercury pollution, according to a study in | The national research effort, which grew from a regional project to collect dragonfly larvae, found that the young form of the insect predator can be used as a "biosentinel" to indicate the amount of mercury that is present in fish, amphibians and birds.The finding will make it easier to conduct mercury research and could lead to a national registry of pollution data on the toxic metal."Researchers needed a proxy for fish since that is what people and animals eat," said Celia Chen, director of Dartmouth's Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program and a co-author of the study. "Fish can be hard to work with for a national-level research program, so it's helpful to be able to focus our research on dragonfly larvae."Dragonflies occupy diverse freshwater habitats across six continents and have tissues that take up mercury in its toxic form. As predators, dragonflies operate in the food web in a manner that is similar to fish, birds and amphibians that also accumulate mercury in their body tissues.The study includes data from thousands of larval dragonfly specimens collected from nearly 500 locations across 100 sites within the U.S. National Park System. The survey was collected from 2009 through 2018 as part of the national Dragonfly Mercury Project."The support of citizen scientists around the country created the opportunity for this study to have such significance. This is a terrific example of how public outreach around science can bring results that help the entire country," said Chen.Methylmercury, the organic form of the toxic metal mercury, poses risks to humans and wildlife through the consumption of fish. Mercury pollution comes from power plants, mining and other industrial sites. It is transported in the atmosphere and then deposited in the natural environment, where wildlife can be exposed to it.Fish and aquatic birds are commonly used to monitor mercury levels but are difficult to work with in a large-scale project because of their size, migratory patterns, and the diversity of species. Dragonfly larvae are easy to collect and make the citizen science research project possible."It is extremely rewarding to assist teachers and their students to engage in data-driven, real-world research impacting their communities. I see a lot of enthusiasm from students eager to take part in 'real' science," said Kate Buckman, a research scientist who serves as Dartmouth's coordinator for the citizen science program.As part of the decade-long study, researchers came up with the first-ever survey of mercury pollution in the U.S. National Park System. The research found that about two-thirds of the aquatic sites studied within the national parks are polluted with moderate-to-extreme levels of mercury.The finding of mercury within park sites is not an indicator that the source of pollution is in the parks themselves. Mercury is distributed widely within the atmosphere and is deposited in the protected areas as it is in other water bodies across the country.Given that the parks studied stretch across the entire U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, the findings reflect levels of mercury throughout the country."To date, we have not conducted such a broad scale survey on mercury in the U.S. The beauty of the dragonfly data set is that it is national, covers a huge area with different systems, and has the potential to create a national baseline of mercury pollution information," said Chen.The study also found that faster moving bodies of water, such as rivers and streams, featured more mercury pollution than slower moving systems including lakes, ponds, and wetlands.According to the paper: "Collectively, this continental-scale study demonstrates the utility of dragonfly larvae for estimating the potential mercury risk to fish and wildlife in aquatic ecosystems and provides a framework for engaging citizen science as a component of landscape [mercury] monitoring programs."In the citizen science project, students and park visitors conduct field studies and collect the dragonfly specimens. National Park rangers help guide the citizen scientists through the protected sites.The original project was launched by Dr. Sarah Nelson at the University of Maine and the Schoodic Institute in 2007. Dartmouth's Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program developed a regional effort in New Hampshire and Vermont in 2010. The project was expanded nationally by the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.The citizen science project in the Upper Valley region of New England typically runs in the fall with participation from high school students in New Hampshire and Vermont.Researchers from the USGS, National Park Service, University of Maine, Appalachian Mountain Club and Dartmouth participated in this study. Collin Eagles-Smith from the USGS served as the paper's lead author. Sarah Nelson who launched the original project is now director of research at the Appalachian Mountain Club. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 22, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200722093452.htm | COVID-19 shutdown led to increased solar power output | As the Covid-19 shutdowns and stay-at-home orders brought much of the world's travel and commerce to a standstill, people around the world started noticing clearer skies as a result of lower levels of air pollution. Now, researchers have been able to demonstrate that those clearer skies had a measurable impact on the output from solar photovoltaic panels, leading to a more than 8 percent increase in the power output from installations in Delhi. | While such an improved output was not unexpected, the researchers say this is the first study to demonstrate and quantify the impact of the reduced air pollution on solar output. The effect should apply to solar installations worldwide, but would normally be very difficult to measure against a background of natural variations in solar panel output caused by everything from clouds to dust on the panels. The extraordinary conditions triggered by the pandemic, with its sudden cessation of normal activities, combined with high-quality air-pollution data from one of the world's smoggiest cities, afforded the opportunity to harness data from an unprecedented, unplanned natural experiment.The findings are reported in the journal The study was an extension of previous research the team has been conducting in Delhi for several years. The impetus for the work came after an unusual weather pattern in 2013 swept a concentrated plume of smoke from forest fires in Indonesia across a vast swath of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, where Peters, who had just arrived in the region, found "it was so bad that you couldn't see the buildings on the other side of the street."Since he was already doing research on solar photovoltaics, Peters decided to investigate what effects the air pollution was having on solar panel output. The team had good long-term data on both solar panel output and solar insolation, gathered at the same time by monitoring stations set up adjacent to the solar installations. They saw that during the 18-day-long haze event, the performance of some types of solar panels decreased, while others stayed the same or increased slightly. That distinction proved useful in teasing apart the effects of pollution from other variables that could be at play, such as weather conditions.Peters later learned that a high-quality, years-long record of actual measurements of fine particulate air pollution (particles less than 2.5 micrometers in size) had been collected every hour, year after year, at the U.S. Embassy in Delhi. That provided the necessary baseline for determining the actual effects of pollution on solar panel output; the researchers compared the air pollution data from the embassy with meteorological data on cloudiness and the solar irradiation data from the sensors.They identified a roughly 10 percent overall reduction in output from the solar installations in Delhi because of pollution -- enough to make a significant dent in the facilities' financial projections.To see how the Covid-19 shutdowns had affected the situation, they were able to use the mathematical tools they had developed, along with the embassy's ongoing data collection, to see the impact of reductions in travel and factory operations. They compared the data from before and after India went into mandatory lockdown on March 24, and also compared this with data from the previous three years.Pollution levels were down by about 50 percent after the shutdown, they found. As a result, the total output from the solar panels was increased by 8.3 percent in late March, and by 5.9 percent in April, they calculated."These deviations are much larger than the typical variations we have" within a year or from year to year, Peters says -- three to four times greater. "So we can't explain this with just fluctuations." The amount of difference, he says, is roughly the difference between the expected performance of a solar panel in Houston versus one in Toronto.An 8 percent increase in output might not sound like much, Buonassisi says, but "the margins of profit are very small for these businesses." If a solar company was expecting to get a 2 percent profit margin out of their expected 100 percent panel output, and suddenly they are getting 108 percent output, that means their margin has increased fivefold, from 2 percent to 10 percent, he points out.The findings provide real data on what can happen in the future as emissions are reduced globally, he says. "This is the first real quantitative evaluation where you almost have a switch that you can turn on and off for air pollution, and you can see the effect," he says. "You have an opportunity to baseline these models with and without air pollution."By doing so, he says, "it gives a glimpse into a world with significantly less air pollution." It also demonstrates that the very act of increasing the usage of solar electricity, and thus displacing fossil-fuel generation that produces air pollution, makes those panels more efficient all the time.Putting solar panels on one's house, he says, "is helping not only yourself, not only putting money in your pocket, but it's also helping everybody else out there who already has solar panels installed, as well as everyone else who will install them over the next 20 years." In a way, a rising tide of solar panels raises all solar panels.Though the focus was on Delhi, because the effects there are so strong and easy to detect, this effect "is true anywhere where you have some kind of air pollution. If you reduce it, it will have beneficial consequences for solar panels," Peters says.Even so, not every claim of such effects is necessarily real, he says, and the details do matter. For example, clearer skies were also noted across much of Europe as a result of the shutdowns, and some news reports described exceptional output levels from solar farms in Germany and in the U.K. But the researchers say that just turned out to be a coincidence."The air pollution levels in Germany and Great Britain are generally so low that most PV installations are not significantly affected by them," Peters says. After checking the data, what contributed most to those high levels of solar output this spring, he says, turned out to be just "extremely nice weather," which produced record numbers of sunlight hours.The research team included C. Brabec and J. Hauch at the Helmholtz-Institute Erlangen-Nuremberg for Renewable Energies, in Germany, where Peters also now works, and A. Nobre at Cleantech Solar in Singapore. The work was supported by the Bavarian State Government. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 20, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200720093249.htm | Regular exercise helps prevent high blood pressure, even in areas of high air pollution | People who regularly exercise tend to have a lower risk of high blood pressure, even if they live in areas where air pollution is relatively high, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal | The risk-benefit relationship between air pollution and physical activity is an important public concern because more than 91% of people worldwide live in areas where air quality does not meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines."Extended outdoor activity in urban areas increases the intake of air pollutants, which can worsen the harmful health effects of air pollution," said study author Xiang Qian Lao, Ph.D., an associate professor at the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shatin, Hong Kong. "While we found that high physical activity combined with lower air pollution exposure was linked to lower risk of high blood pressure, physical activity continued to have a protective effect even when people were exposed to high pollution levels. The message is that physical activity, even in polluted air, is an important high blood pressure prevention strategy."Researchers studied more than 140,000 non-hypertensive adults in Taiwan and followed them for an average of 5 years. Researchers classified the weekly physical activity levels of each adult as inactive, moderately active or highly active.Researchers also classified level of exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as low, moderate and high. PM2.5 is the most commonly used indicator of air pollution. High blood pressure was defined as 140/90 mm Hg. The American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology 2017 Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults defines high blood pressure as 130/80 mm Hg.The researchers found:Overall, people who are highly active and exposed to low levels of pollution had a lower risk of developing high blood pressure. People who were inactive and exposed to highly polluted air had a higher high blood pressure risk.Each increase in PM2.5 level was associated with a 38% increase in risk of incident hypertension, whereas each increase in physical activity level lead to a 6% lower risk of hypertension. This suggests that reducing air pollution is more effective in preventing high blood pressure.The benefits of regular physical activity held up regardless of pollution level. People who exercised moderately had a 4% lower risk of high blood pressure than those who didn't exercise. People who exercised at a high level had a 13% lower risk of high blood pressure than the non-exercisers."This is the largest study to analyze the combined effects of air pollution and regular physical activity on high blood pressure. Our findings indicate that regular physical activity is a safe approach for people living in relatively polluted regions to prevent high blood pressure. Exercise should be promoted even in polluted areas. The findings also put a spotlight on how strongly pollution can impact blood pressure, and how important it is to control pollution levels to prevent high blood pressure," Lao said.In 2004, the American Heart Association issued a scientific statement concluding exposure to air pollution contributes to cardiovascular illness and death. A 2010 update elaborated on those risks, which include heart attack, stroke, arrhythmia and heart failure. Writing group author Russell V. Luepker, M.D., M.S., a volunteer expert for the American Heart Association said, "This study confirms our understanding of the role of physical activity in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases including hypertension. It also reminds us of the importance of air pollution in the development of cardiovascular diseases. The link between pollution and cardiovascular disease may include the development of hypertension along with other factors associated with particulate matter in air pollution."The findings of this study are limited and cannot be generalized to other populations with higher exposure to air pollution because it only included people living in Taiwan, where ambient air was moderately polluted (the annual PM2.5 concentration was 2.6 times of the limit recommended by the World Health Organization). Researchers did not distinguish between outdoor and indoor physical activity, meaning they could not exclusively examine the association of PM2.5 and hypertension relative to physical activity outdoors or indoors. Researchers also included indoor cigarette smoking as a variable. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200717133229.htm | Pesticides speed the spread of deadly waterborne pathogens | Widespread use of pesticides and other agrochemicals can speed the transmission of the debilitating disease schistosomiasis, while also upsetting the ecological balances in aquatic environments that prevent infections, finds a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. | Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, is caused by parasitic worms that develop and multiply inside freshwater snails and is transmitted through contact with contaminated water. The infection, which can trigger lifelong liver and kidney damage, affects hundreds of millions of people every year and is second only to malaria among parasitic diseases, in terms of its global impact on human health.The study, published in the journal "We know that dam construction and irrigation expansion increase schistosomiasis transmission in low-income settings by disrupting freshwater ecosystems," said UC Berkeley's Christopher Hoover, a doctoral student in environmental health sciences and lead author of the study. "We were shocked by the strength of evidence we found also linking agrochemical pollution to the amplification of schistosomiasis transmission."The findings come as the connections between environment and infectious disease have been laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is caused by an emerging pathogen thought to be linked to wildlife."Environmental pollutants can increase our exposure and susceptibility to infectious diseases," said Justin Remais, chair of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and senior author of the study. "From dioxins decreasing resistance to influenza virus, to air pollutants increasing COVID-19 mortality, to arsenic impacting lower respiratory tract and enteric infections -- research has shown that reducing pollution is an important way to protect populations from infectious diseases."After combing through nearly 1,000 studies gathered in a systematic literature review, the research team identified 144 experiments that provided data connecting agrochemical concentrations to components of the schistosome life cycle. They then incorporated these data into a mathematical model that captures the transmission dynamics of the parasite. The model simulates concentrations of common agrochemicals following their application to agricultural fields and estimates the resulting impacts on infections in the nearby human population.The researchers found that even low concentrations of common pesticides -- including atrazine, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos -- can increase rates of transmission and interfere with efforts to control schistosomiasis. Agrochemical amplification of parasite transmission was not inconsequential. In the study communities in the Senegal River Basin in West Africa, the excess burden of disease attributable to agrochemical pollution was on par with disease caused by lead exposure, high sodium diets and low physical activity."We need to develop policies that protect public health by limiting the amplification of schistosomiasis transmission by agrochemical pollution," Hoover said. "More than 90% of schistosomiasis cases occur in areas of sub-Saharan Africa, where agrochemical use is expanding. If we can devise ways to maintain the agricultural benefits of these chemicals, while limiting their overuse in schistosomiasis-endemic areas, we could prevent additional harm to public health within communities that already experience a high and unacceptable burden of disease." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 16, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200716101621.htm | COVID-19 lockdown reduced dangerous air pollutants in five Indian cities by up to 54 percent | A team of 10 interdisciplinary researchers from the University of Surrey's renowned Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), including PhD students and post-doctoral researchers, have united to develop a rapid assessment of the impact COVID-19 has had on air quality. | Figures from the World Health Organisation show the ongoing pandemic has caused more than 477,000 deaths worldwide as of June 2020, 14,000 of which occurred in India. On 25 March 2020, a complete lockdown of internal and external boarders together with social isolation measures came into effect in India, affecting the lives and mobility of its 1.3 billion population.In this recent study, published by In their work, titled "Temporary reduction in fine particulate matter due to 'anthropogenic emissions switch-off' during COVID-19 lockdown in Indian cities," the GCARE team compared these lockdown air pollution figures with those from similar periods of the preceding five years.The results showed that the lockdown reduced concentrations of harmful particles across all five cities, from a 10% reduction in Mumbai up to a 54% reduction in Delhi. These reductions in PM2.5 were found to be comparable to reductions in other cities across the world, such as in Vienna (60%) and Shanghai (42%).The team from GCARE also investigated the monetary value of avoided premature mortality due to reduced PM2.5 concentrations, and calculated that the reduction may have saved 630 people from premature death and $690 million in health costs in India.The team point out that the present lockdown situation offers observational opportunities regarding potential control systems and regulations for improved urban air quality. An integrated approach might help in understanding overall impacts of COVID-19 lockdown-style interventions and support the implementation of relevant policy frameworks.Professor Prashant Kumar, Director of GCARE at the University of Surrey, said: "COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on the lives and livelihoods of billions across the world. This tragic global event has allowed us to quantify the impact that human activity has had over our environment and, in particular, our air quality."While the reduction in PM2.5 pollution may not be surprising, the size of the reduction should make us all take notice of the impact we have been having on the planet. This is an opportunity for us all to discuss and debate what the 'new normal' should look like -- particularly when it comes to the quality of the air we breathe."This work is supported by the NERC-funded ASAP-Delhi project (NE/P016510/1) and the EPSRC-funded INHALE project (EP/T003189/1). It builds upon GCARE's previous work into the efficacy of odd-even trials in Delhi, key pollution challenges of land-locked Delhi and other Indian megacities and proposing mitigation strategies to tackle the issue, a spatial distribution mapping method of pollutants across Delhi, and on their most recent work on a long-term assessment of ambient particulate matter and trace gases in the Delhi-NCR region. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 15, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200715163555.htm | Does eating fish protect our brains from air pollution? | Older women who eat more than one to two servings a week of baked or broiled fish or shellfish may consume enough omega-3 fatty acids to counteract the effects of air pollution on the brain, according to a new study published in the July 15, 2020, online issue of | Researchers found that among older women who lived in areas with high levels of air pollution, those who had the lowest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood had more brain shrinkage than women who had the highest levels."Fish are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids and easy to add to the diet," said study author Ka He, M.D., Sc.D., of Columbia University in New York. "Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to fight inflammation and maintain brain structure in aging brains. They have also been found to reduce brain damage caused by neurotoxins like lead and mercury. So we explored if omega-3 fatty acids have a protective effect against another neurotoxin, the fine particulate matter found in air pollution."The study involved 1,315 women with an average age of 70 who did not have dementia at the start of the study. The women completed questionnaires about diet, physical activity, and medical history.Researchers used the diet questionnaire to calculate the average amount of fish each woman consumed each week, including broiled or baked fish, canned tuna, tuna salad, tuna casserole and non-fried shellfish. Fried fish was not included because research has shown deep frying damages omega-3 fatty acids.Participants were given blood tests. Researchers measured the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in their red blood cells and then divided the women into four groups based on the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood.Researchers used the women's home addresses to determine their three-year average exposure to air pollution. Participants then had brain scans with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure various areas of the brain including white matter, which is composed of nerve fibers that send signals throughout the brain, and the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with memory.After adjusting for age, education, smoking and other factors that could affect brain shrinkage, researchers found that women who had the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood had greater volumes of white matter than those with the lowest levels. Those in the highest group had 410 cubic centimeters (cm3) white matter, compared to 403 cm3 for those in the lowest group. The researchers found that for each quartile increase in air pollution levels, the average white matter volume was 11.52 cm3 smaller among people with lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids and 0.12 cm3 smaller among those with higher levels.Women with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood also had greater volumes of the hippocampus."Our findings suggest that higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood from fish consumption may preserve brain volume as women age and possibly protect against the potential toxic effects of air pollution," said He. "It's important to note that our study only found an association between brain volume and eating fish. It does not prove that eating fish preserves brain volume. And since separate studies have found some species of fish may contain environmental toxins, it's important to talk to a doctor about what types of fish to eat before adding more fish to your diet."A limitation of the study was that most participants were older white women, so the results cannot be generalized to others. Also, researchers were only able to examine exposures to later-life air pollution, not early or mid-life exposures, so future studies should look at exposures to air pollution across a person's lifespan.The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 15, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200715142300.htm | Identifying sources of deadly air pollution in the United States | A new study from University of Minnesota researchers provides an unprecedented look at the causes of poor air quality in the United States and its effects on human health. | The research, to be published Wednesday in the journal "People usually think of power plants and cars, but nowadays, livestock and wood stoves are as big of a problem. It's also our farms and our homes." said Sumil Thakrar, postdoctoral research associate in the Departments of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering and Applied Economics.The researchers found that while some sectors of the economy, such as electricity production and transportation, have reduced pollution amid government regulations, others have received less attention, including agriculture and residential buildings.Researchers examined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data on all pollution sources in the United States, including their location and how much pollution they emit. They then used newly-developed computer models to determine where pollution travels and how it affects human health.Researchers focused on one particularly harmful pollutant: fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5, which is associated with heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and other diseases. In examining the data, they discovered that about half of all PM2.5 air pollution-related deaths are from burning fossil fuels, with the remaining largely from animal agriculture, dust from construction and roads, and burning wood for heating and cooking."Essentially we're asking, 'what's killing people and how do we stop it?'" Thakrar said. "The first step in reducing deaths is learning the impact of each and every emission source."In the U.S., air quality is largely regulated by the federal government, which sets maximum allowable levels of pollution in different areas. States and local governments are then charged with enforcing those limits. The authors suggest regulators can improve this broad-brush approach by focusing instead on reducing emissions from specific sources."Targeting particularly damaging pollution sources is a more efficient, and likely more effective, way of regulating air quality," said Jason Hill, professor in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering within the University's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and College of Science and Engineering. "Think of springing a leak in your boat while out fishing. Why fret too much about how much water is coming in when what you really should be doing is plugging the hole?"The researchers also report a surprising finding about the sources of PM2.5 responsible for harming human health. Most people are familiar with PM2.5 as soot -- such as the exhaust from a dirty bus -- or road dust. But PM2.5 also forms from other pollutants like ammonia.Ammonia is released from animal manure and the fertilization of crops. However, unlike many other sources of PM2.5, ammonia is not regulated to any large extent, despite being responsible for about 20,000 deaths, or one-fifth of all deaths caused by PM2.5 pollution from human activity.To improve air quality in the future, the authors suggest more drastic reductions of emissions from sources that are already regulated, such as electricity generation and passenger vehicles. They also suggest novel ways to target pollutant sources that have not been as extensively regulated, such as manure management, changing personal diets and improving formulations of cleaning supplies, paints and inks.This research -- the underlying data and results of which are available to the public -- can complement current efforts to mitigate climate change and other environmental problems."Our work provides key insights into the sources of damage caused by air pollution and suggests ways to reduce impacts," said Thakrar. "We hope policymakers and the public will use this to improve the lives of Americans." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 15, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200710100938.htm | Oil spill clean-up gets doggone hairy | Dog fur is particularly good at cleaning up crude oil, according to a new study investigating sustainable options to clean up oil spill disasters. Together with human hair recycled from salons, recycled dog fur can be used as an effective and sustainable way to mop up dangerous environmental contaminants on land. | Oil spill disasters on land cause long-term damage for communities and the natural environment, polluting soils and sediments and contaminating groundwater.Current methods using synthetic sorbent materials can be effective for cleaning up oil spills, but these materials are often expensive and generate large volumes of non-biodegradable plastic wastes. Now the first comparison of natural-origin sorbent materials for land-based oil spills, including peat moss, recycled human hair, and dog fur, shows that sustainable, cheaper and biodegradable options can be developed.The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) project found that dog fur and human hair products -- recycled from salon wastes and dog groomers -- can be just as good as synthetic fabrics at cleaning up crude oil spills on hard land surfaces like highway roads, pavement, and sealed concrete floors. Polypropylene, a plastic, is a widely-used fabric used to clean up oil spills in aquatic environments."Dog fur in particular was surprisingly good at oil spill clean-up, and felted mats from human hair and fur were very easy to apply and remove from the spills." lead author of the study, UTS Environmental Scientist Dr Megan Murray, said. Dr Murray investigates environmentally-friendly solutions for contamination and leads The Phyto Lab research group at UTS School of Life Sciences."This is a very exciting finding for land managers who respond to spilled oil from trucks, storage tanks, or leaking oil pipelines. All of these land scenarios can be treated effectively with sustainable-origin sorbents," she said.The sorbents tested included two commercially-available products, propylene and loose peat moss, as well as sustainable-origin prototypes including felted mats made of dog fur and human hair. Prototype oil-spill sorbent booms filled with dog fur and human hair were also tested. Crude oil was used to replicate an oil spill. The results of the study are published in The research team simulated three types of land surfaces; non-porous hard surfaces, semi-porous surfaces, and sand, to recreate common oil-spill scenarios."We found that loose peat moss is not as effective at cleaning up oil spills on land compared to dog fur and hair products, and it is not useful at all for sandy environments." Dr Murray said."Based on this research, we recommend peat moss is no longer used for this purpose. Given that peat moss is a limited resource and harvesting it requires degrading wetland ecosystems, we think this is a very important finding." she said.The research concluded that, for now, sandy environments like coastal beaches can still benefit from the use of polypropylene sorbents, but further exploration of sustainable-origin sorbents is planned.The researchers say that future applications from the research include investigating felted mats of sustainable-origin sorbents for river bank stabilisation, as well as the removal of pollutants from flowing polluted waters, similar to existing membrane technology. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 14, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200714082858.htm | Road verges could be havens for pollinators | Better-managed road verges can help boost pollinating insects, new research shows. | Pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hoverflies benefit from the plants and flowers in road verges, which form a network of "corridors" that provide food and shelter.While there are downsides of living by the road, including exposure to pollution and the risk of being hit by vehicles, the researchers found that the benefits for insects far outweigh the costs.The team of scientists, led by the University of Exeter, reviewed more than 140 studies.They found that verges can be dramatically improved for pollinators by measures such as creating flower-rich verges, reducing mowing and limiting the impacts of street lighting."There is huge untapped potential to improve road verges for pollinators through management," said lead author Ben Phillips, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall."In many cases, this involves mowing less, and at the right times, to increase flowers and reduce the amount of pollinators, eggs and larvae killed."We can help pollinators further by reducing impacts of road pollution."This includes light pollution, which can be addressed by limiting how long streetlights are switched on for, as these confuse nocturnal insects."The study was a collaboration between the universities of Exeter, East Anglia and Cambridge, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the conservation charity Buglife, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.Andrew Whitehouse, from Buglife, said: "Buglife's B-Lines initiative has identified the lack of connected wildflower-rich habitats as a major contributor to the decline in our pollinating insects."This new research shows the potential that road verges have to help to reverse insect declines."By making small changes to the management of our road verge network, local authorities and others involved in road verge management can make a significant difference to support nature's recovery."Since writing the review, verges have undergone quite a transition due to the COVID-19 lockdown.Claire Wallace, from the University of East Anglia, said: "There were lots of reports of road verges not being mown because councils and contractors weren't operating as normal."This gave us a brief glimpse of the benefits of wilder verges for nature, with plants such as orchids popping up all over the place where they hadn't been seen before."Ben Phillips said: "In Cornwall, however, it is really positive that the council has just changed its policy of mowing verges in urban areas eight times per year."Now they will only do this twice or three times a year, so this will be a big local change."The results of the work support an ongoing campaign by conservation charity Plantlife to save wildlife on road verges. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 10, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200709141538.htm | Socio-economic, environmental impacts of COVID-19 quantified | The first comprehensive study of the pandemic shows consumption losses amount to more than US$3.8 trillion, triggering full-time equivalent job losses of 147 million and the biggest-ever drop in greenhouse gas emissions. | The international group of researchers, using a global and highly detailed model, found that most directly hit was the travel sector and regions of Asia, Europe, the United States, with cascading multiplier effects across the entire world economy because of globalisation.The loss of connectivity imposed to prevent the virus spreading triggers an economic 'contagion', causing major disruptions to trade, tourism, energy and finance sectors, while easing environmental pressures most in some of the hardest-hit areas.This study focuses on 'live' data to 22 May (with the exception of air travel, for which only a 12-month forecast exists), differing from most assessments of the economic impacts of the pandemic based on scenario analyses and/or projections -- and it is the first to provide an overview of the combined economic, social and environmental impacts, including indirect effects, of the coronavirus.The findings publish today in the international scientific journal Corresponding author Dr Arunima Malik, from Integrated Sustainability Analysis (ISA) and University of Sydney Business School, said the experience of previous financial shocks showed that, without structural change, environmental gains were unlikely to be sustained during economic recovery."We are experiencing the worst economic shock since the Great Depression, while at the same time we have experienced the greatest drop in greenhouse gas emissions since the burning of fossil fuels began," Dr Malik said."In addition to the sudden drop in climate-change inducing greenhouse gasses, prevented deaths from air pollution are of major significance."The contrast between the socio-economic and the environmental variables reveals the dilemma of the global socio-economic system -- our study highlights the interconnected nature of international supply chains, with observable global spillover effects across a range of industry sectors, such as manufacturing, tourism and transport."The University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Dr Michael Spence said it was wonderful to see significant applications come to life through a collaborative platform seeded a decade ago with University of Sydney funding."Thanks to pioneering work here at Sydney in collaboration with other world leaders in footprinting, it's now possible to simulate the world economy quickly and accurately to see how society and the environment are impacted by changes in our consumption," Dr Spence said."This research was conducted in the cloud-based Global MRIO Lab and it is these sorts of global, multidisciplinary collaborations that will help us tackle the complex issues of our time."To chart the world economy and post-disaster impacts using global multi-regional input-output (MRIO) analysis or GMRIO, researchers worked in the open-source Global MRIO Lab. This customisable database is an extension of the Australian Industrial Ecology Lab (IE Lab) led by the University of Sydney.The advancement of GMRIO has underpinned the increasing popularity and uptake of so-called consumption-based accounting, or footprinting, which avoids loopholes such as 'carbon leakage' where pollution is externalised to the producers, rather than consumers of goods and services. The Global MRIO Lab includes data from statistical agencies, including National Accounts and Eurostat and international trade data such as UN Comtrade. The lab is powered by supercomputers calculating the impacts of international trade along billions of supply chains extending to 221 countries.Input-output (I-O) models were developed in the 1930s by Nobel Prize Laureate Wassily Leontief to analyse the relationships between consumption and production in the economy; I-O or multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models take account of actual data, from I-O records worldwide. Global MRIO or GMRIO models now not only extend to global value chains (GVCs) incorporating all orders of production but are also able to answer flexible and complex questions to a high degree of accuracy within a relatively short time lag. Once assembled, tables can be quickly updated, limited only by the timeliness of the data to hand.Lead author Professor Manfred Lenzen, also from ISA and a recent co-author of the "Scientists' warning on affluence," said that the Australian-funded and University of Sydney-led innovation of the IO Labs had really catalysed new research efficiency in Australia. "Whilst the Labs were initially developed by a dedicated team from eight Universities and the CSIRO, supported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are now hundreds of users, answering questions ranging from building sustainable cities, avoiding food waste, and carbon-footprinting tourism, to hedging against major disasters such as tropical cyclones," said Professor Lenzen.For this study into COVID-19, 38 regions in the world were analysed and 26 sectors. In order to incorporate as much information as possible, co-authors were allocated countries with which they had language skills and familiarity, with data translated from sources in 12 languages ranging from Arabic to Hindi and Spanish.The international team of researchers are from: University of Sydney; Edinburgh Napier University; University of Queensland; UNSW Sydney; Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia; National Institute for Environmental Studies & Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan; Yachay Tech University, Ecuador; Duke University; Beijing Normal University.* Previous significant drops in greenhouse gas emissions were during the global financial crisis in 2009 (0.46Gt) and as a result of land-use changes (under the Kyoto Protocol) in 1998 (2.02Gt). | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 10, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200710100944.htm | Less impact from wildfire smoke on climate | New research revealed that tiny, sunlight-absorbing particles in wildfire smoke may have less impact on climate than widely hypothesized because reactions as the plume mixes with clean air reduce its absorbing power and climate-warming effect. In a unique megafire study, a Los Alamos National Laboratory-led research team studied the properties of smoke from Arizona's massive Woodbury Fire last summer using a powerful set of observing techniques. | "These observations may be useful for those trying to represent organic light absorbing aerosols, or brown carbon, in climate models by identifying how they age, as well as understanding processes affecting how strongly they absorb light and cause warming," said James Lee, lead author on a paper released in The Woodbury Fire burned nearly 124,000 acres for more than a month before it was contained. With powerful instruments including an aerosol mass spectrometer at Los Alamos' Center for Aerosol Forensic Experiments (CAFÉ), researchers from Los Alamos and New Mexico Tech measured the chemical, physical, and optical properties of ambient aerosol and trace gas concentrations in four large plumes in real time. The team found that the composition of the plumes as well as aerosol properties within the plumes are more varied than expected. More oxidation of smoke lowers its sunlight absorbing potential and lessens its climatic impact."Wildfire plumes are complex and change quickly," said Allison Aiken, an atmospheric chemist at Los Alamos and coauthor of the study. "Particles at the plume's center have different shapes and chemistries than at its edge."The team was able to observe intact and more-disperse plumes that aged more than half a day while traveling 300 miles across New Mexico, retaining relatively unchanged aerosols at the plume's core but providing valuable insight to how the smoke transforms as it mixes with cleaner air."This is important as we need to capture the physicochemical changes that occur as plumes are transported long distances to model the climate impacts correctly and to understand the human health impacts at different locations and distances from the source," Aiken said.While the team observed that the Woodbury fire emissions contained brown carbon that absorbed light at a potency that validated previous observations, this was only the case in the core of the plumes. At the edges, organic aerosols absorbed far less light.Fine-scale results revealed that mixing and oxidation lightened the brown carbon, reducing its ability to absorb light and cause warming. This implies that the warming effects of wildfire brown carbon is likely smaller than published model assessments. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 9, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200709210509.htm | Study sheds light on bushfires' microclimate impact | A study examining the urban microclimatic impact of the 2019-20 Australian bushfires has uncovered how they affect local meteorological and air quality. | Its findings could help understand the potential consequences of an increased rate and extension of bushfires, and especially regarding improving risk preparedness and coping strategies.The research was carried out by scientists from The University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales, Sydney. They monitored air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, precipitation, wind (speed and direction), solar radiation, UV radiation, UV index, and a range of particulate matter pollution (PM1, PM2.5 and PM10) at a site in Sydney from 20th of December 2019 to 13th of January 2020, when hundreds of bushfires were ravaging the bordering areas.The study is published today in the IOP Publishing journal "Our study aims to unveil the connection between weather anomalies and livability of urban areas, by using multi-parameter measurements and a multifocal approach."During the team's monitoring period, extreme pollution, heat wave and drought were recorded simultaneously. The PM10 content reached a maximum of 160 ?g/m3, the temperature peaked at 46.2°C, while the accumulated rain was 13.6 mm.Lead author Dr Giulia Ulpiani, from The University of Sydney, said: "We found that specific combinations of air temperature and relative humidity were conducive to higher/lower levels of pollutant accumulation, reflecting findings from previous studies. In general, higher PM concentration was recorded for night-time and early morning, especially after daytime overheating events (with temperatures above 35°C). We also found that long-transport mechanisms and complex interactions between prevailing and local winds could have played a major role, making it difficult to establish definite correlations between PMs and single environmental parameters."Intense rain splashing was also associated with the most intense concentration of dust. Our data confirm that, despite their acknowledged air-cleansing properties, heavy raindrops also trigger a mechanism that produces solid particles from soil, which can substantially raise local pollution levels."The study also established a link between ultraviolet index (UVI) and PM concentration. It identified several PM thresholds above which UV radiation was strongly blocked, and below which the UVI was likely to surpass moderate levels. Using evolutionary algorithms, the relationship was further demonstrated, and supports previous scientific evidence of the attenuating effects of smoke aerosols on UV irradiance.Senior co-author Professor Mat Santamouris, from the University of New South Wales, said: "We also compared the urban heat island intensity during the bushfire event to that recorded during the same period over the previous 20 years. Data from several Bureau of Meteorology stations indicated an additional effect of the microclimatic perturbation caused by the bushfires: the disappearance of cool island events and the exacerbation of UHI events over the median."Dr Ulpiani added: "While quantitative evaluations should be interpreted with caution, our study offers a new holistic approach to environmental monitoring. The associations we discovered would be extremely valuable in building up a cohesive national health protection strategy, and encouraging better responsiveness from governments and city planners. We will continue this work, to hopefully identify general laws and climate dependencies." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 9, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200709085301.htm | Using electricity to break down pollutants left over after wastewater treatment | Pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and endocrine disruptors are some of the emerging contaminants often found in treated domestic wastewater, even after secondary treatment. Professor Patrick Drogui of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and his team have tested the effectiveness of a tertiary treatment process using electricity in partnership with the European Membrane Institute in Montpellier (IEM) and Université Paris-Est. | The advanced electro-oxidation process (EOA) uses two electrodes to break down non-biodegradable pollutants that remain after biological treatment. Electric current is passed through the electrodes, generating hydroxide radicals (* OH), which attack the refractory molecules. The primary advantage of this method is that it does not require any chemicals to be added to the water."EOA processes are revolutionary in the field of wastewater treatment. It's pioneering technology for treating wastewater contaminated by refractory pollutants such as pharmaceutical wastes," said Professor Patrick Drogui, co-author of the study published on June 18 in the journal The researchers tested new catalytic electrodes. "We have shown that these electrodes are effective and produce large quantities of hydroxide radicals. They are also cheaper than the other electrodes currently on the market, which reduces the cost of the treatment," said Yassine Ouarda, Ph.D. student and first author on the study.Researchers tested the technology on three types of water coming from different treatment processes: conventional, membrane bioreactor, and a treatment process that separates wastewater, including feces, at the source. They focused on paracetamol, otherwise known as acetaminophen. "We tested the process on this particular molecule because it's one of the world's most widely used drugs. We have already tested it at INRS for some 15 different pollutants, as the process can be used for other pharmaceutical molecules," said Mr. Ouarda.During partial breakdown of pollutants such as pharmaceuticals, the by-products can be more toxic than the parent compounds. "We observed that the toxicity of the solution increased and subsequently decreased during treatment. This indicates that the toxic molecules are themselves broken down if the reaction continues," said Mr. Ouarda."This work once again confirms that advanced electro-oxidation processes are good candidates for breaking down drug wastes left behind after biological treatment," said Professor Drogui. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 8, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200708110017.htm | Technique fishes valuable nutrients out of shrimp processing water | The seafood industry requires large amounts of water for food processing. Before used water is discharged, some organic matter, including protein, is typically removed. This sludge is usually landfilled or converted into biogas, which results in the valuable nutrients it contains being lost from the food chain. Now researchers report in | At present, food processing factories remove organic matter from water by first clumping it together with chemical treatments (coagulation) and then raising those clumps to the surface with a technique such as "dissolved air flotation" (DAF). Coagulation is traditionally carried out with iron or other non-food-grade flocculants that clean the water efficiently, but render the removed sludge unsuitable for food or feed purposes. One alternative is to filter the nutrients from the water using membranes, but the equipment is expensive and can clog. A more sustainable option is to switch to food-grade flocculants in combination with DAF. Although a few other studies have shown that such a combination could work, these were small-scale experiments. Ingrid Undeland and Bita Forghani of Chalmers University of Technology and colleagues wanted to scale up the combined food-grade flocculation-DAF process and assess the nutrient composition of the recovered biomass.At a processing plant, the team treated shrimp processing water with alginate or carrageenan, edible flocculants derived from seaweed. The resulting particles were then collected via DAF and dried. The combination technique captured up to 98% of the protein present in the water, considerably more than flotation alone could collect. The recovered shrimp biomass contained up to 61% proteins and 23% total lipids. The researchers concluded the process could be used for recovering nutrients from shrimp processing water for later use in food or feed. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 7, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200707140929.htm | How to tackle climate change, food security and land degradation | How can some of world's biggest problems -- climate change, food security and land degradation -- be tackled simultaneously? | Some lesser-known options, such as integrated water management and increasing the organic content of soil, have fewer trade-offs than many well-known options, such as planting trees, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal "We argue that if we want to have an impact on multiple problems, we need to be smart about what options get us multiple benefits and which options come with potential trade-offs," said lead author Pamela McElwee, an associate professor in the Department of Human Ecology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. "We found that many of the better-known solutions to climate mitigation and land degradation come with a lot of potentially significant trade-offs."The idea of planting trees in vast areas to remove carbon dioxide from the air and reduce the impact of climate change, for example, has attracted a lot of attention, with some claiming it's the best "low-hanging fruit" approach to pursue, McElwee said. But large-scale tree planting could conflict directly with food security because both compete for available land. It could also diminish biodiversity, if fast-growing exotic trees replace native habitat.Some potential options that don't get as much attention globally, but are quite promising with fewer trade-offs, include integrated water management, reducing post-harvest losses in agriculture, improving fire management, agroforestry (integrating trees and shrubs with croplands and pastures) and investing in disaster risk management, she said.The study examined possible synergies and trade-offs with environmental and development goals. It was based on a massive literature review -- essentially 1,400 individual literature reviews -- conducted by scientists at many institutions. They compared 40 options to tackle the interrelated problems of climate change, food security and land degradation and looked for trade-offs or co-benefits with 18 categories of services provided by ecosystems, such as clean air and clean water, and the United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals. The work was done as part of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Land released last year. Such reports offer only highlights, and this study includes all the details.Several interventions show potentially significant negative impacts on sustainable development goals and ecosystem services. These include bioenergy (plant-based sources of energy such as wood fuels or ethanol) and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, large-scale afforestation and some risk-sharing measures, such as commercial crop insurance.The results show that a better understanding of the benefits and trade-offs of different policy approaches can help decision-makers choose the more effective -- or at least the more benign -- interventions."Policy officials can't always undertake the kind of work we did, so we hope our findings provide a useful shorthand for decision-makers," McElwee said. "We hope it helps them make the choices needed to improve future policy, such as strengthened pledges to tackle climate mitigation under the 2015 Paris Agreement. There are a lot of potential steps for reducing carbon emissions that aren't as well-known but should be on the table." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 7, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200707113309.htm | Tree rings show unprecedented rise in extreme weather in South America | Scientists have filled a gaping hole in the world's climate records by reconstructing 600 years of soil-moisture swings across southern and central South America. Along with documenting the mechanisms behind natural changes, the new South American Drought Atlas reveals that unprecedented widespread, intense droughts and unusually wet periods have been on the rise since the mid-20th century. It suggests that the increased volatility could be due in part to global warming, along with earlier pollution of the atmosphere by ozone-depleting chemicals. | The atlas was published this week in the journal Recent droughts have battered agriculture in wide areas of the continent, trends the study calls "alarming." Lead author Mariano Morales of the Argentine Institute of Snow, Glacier and Environmental Sciences at the National Research Council for Science and Technology, said, "Increasingly extreme hydroclimate events are consistent with the effects of human activities, but the atlas alone does not provide evidence of how much of the observed changes are due to natural climate variability versus human-induced warming." The new long-term record "highlights the acute vulnerability of South America to extreme climate events," he said.Coauthor Edward Cook, head of the Tree Ring Lab at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said, "We don't want to jump off the cliff and say this is all climate change. There is a lot of natural variability that could mimic human-induced climate change." However, he said, armed with the new 600-year record, scientists are better equipped to sort things out.The South American Drought Atlas is the latest in a series of drought atlases assembled by Cook and colleagues, covering many centuries of year-by-year climate conditions in North America; Asia; Europe and the Mediterranean; and New Zealand and eastern Australia. Subsequent studies building on the atlases have yielded new insights into how droughts may have adversely affected past civilizations, and the increasingly apparent role of human-induced warming on modern climate. Most recently, followup analyses of North America have suggested that warming is driving what may be the worst-ever known drought in the U.S. West.The new atlas covers Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, most of Bolivia, and southern Brazil and Peru. It is the result of years of field collections of thousands of tree-ring records, and subsequent analyses by South American researchers, along with colleagues in Europe, Canada, Russia and the United States. Ring widths generally reflect yearly changes in soil moisture, and the researchers showed that collected rings correlate well with droughts and floods recorded starting in the early Spanish colonial period, as well as with modern instrumental measurements. This gave them confidence to extend the soil-moisture reconstruction back before written records.The authors say that periodic natural shifts in precipitation are driven by complex, interlocking patterns of atmospheric circulation on land and at sea. One key factor: low-level westerly winds that blow moisture onto the continent from the Pacific. These are controlled in part by periodic cyclic changes in sea-surface temperatures over both the Pacific and the Atlantic, which can bring both droughts and wet periods. The authors say greenhouse-gas-driven shifts in these patterns appear linked to a still continuing 10-year drought over central Chile and western Argentina that has caused severe water shortages, along with heavier than normal rains in eastern regions.Precipitation is also controlled in part by the Southern Annular Mode, a belt of westerly winds that circles Antarctica. This belt periodically contracts southward or expands northward, and when it contracts, it weakens the westerly winds that bring rain to South America. In recent decades, it has been stuck in the south -- largely a result of ozone-depleting chemicals used in 20th-century refrigerants that destroyed atmospheric ozone over Antarctica, scientists believe. The chemicals were banned in the 1980s, but their effects have persisted.The third major factor is the so-called Hadley cell, a global phenomenon that lofts warm, moist air from near the equator and sends it further north and south, dropping precipitation as it goes. The air settles near the surface at predictable latitudes, by which time the moisture has been largely wrung out; this creates the permanently dry zones of the subtropics, including those in South America. During recent decades, the Hadley cell has expanded towards the poles, likely in response to human-induced climate changes; this has shifted rainfall patterns and broadened the subtropical dry zones, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.The atlas indicates that there has been a steady increase in the frequency of widespread droughts since 1930, with the highest return times, about 10 years, occurring since the 1960s. Severe water shortages have affected central Chile and western Argentina from 1968-1969, 1976-1977, and 1996-1997. Currently, the drylands of central Chile and western Argentina are locked in one of the most severe decade-long droughts in the record. In some areas, up to two-thirds of some cereal and vegetable crops have been lost in some years. This threatens "the potential collapse of food systems," says Morales.At the same time, southeastern parts of the continent are seeing heavier than normal rains. Walter Baethgen, who leads Latin American agricultural research for Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society, says his own studies show that the La Plata basin of Uruguay has seen more frequent extremely wet summers since 1970, with corresponding increases in crop and livestock production. But the frequency of very dry summers has remained the same, which translates to bigger losses of expected yields when they do come along, he said."Everything is consistent with the idea that you'll be intensifying both wet and dry events with global warming," said Jason Smerdon, a climate scientist at Lamont-Doherty and a coauthor of the study.Using newly developed tree-ring records from Peru, Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia, the group is now working to expand the atlas to cover the entire continent, and extend the climate reconstruction back 1,000 years or more, said Morales.The authors wish to dedicate the study to the memory of the late María del Rosario Prieto, their coauthor, and active promoter of environmental history studies in South America. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 7, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200707113206.htm | Engineers use electricity to clean up toxic water | A team of engineers may be one step closer to cleaning up heavily contaminated industrial wastewater streams. | Researchers from the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering developed an electrochemical oxidation process with the aim of cleaning up complex wastewater that contained a toxic cocktail of chemical pollutants."Our study, published in The wastewater, which contained carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, was generated in a pilot plant, designed by the team for the production of biofuels using naturally abundant microalgae.The process involved treating wastewater with electricity using specialised electrodes. They discharged electricity, then drove oxidation reactions near the electrode surfaces, transforming the organic contaminants into harmless gasses, ions or minerals."We have employed an incredibly powerful process that eliminates even the most persistent non-biodegradable pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals and pesticides, as well as various classes of organic compounds that can be found in many industrial effluents," she said."The process is relatively simple, does not require the addition of chemicals or severe operation conditions, and does not produce additional waste streams.""Wastewater is a significant issue for our environment, as well as for many industries who use substantial volumes of water in their processes, such as in reactions, transport, and washing and cooling. Finding suitable solutions for reuse or disposal is often very challenging and costly."The electrochemical method that we used can be readily applied to industries that must comply with strict regulations for wastewater disposal, such as pulp and paper processing, wineries, as well as pharmaceutical production facilities."Worldwide, researchers are investigating methods for the development of biofuels from algae. Developing alternatives for the treatment and reuse of this industrial effluent is a hot research topic and can bring opportunities for energy and resource recovery within a circular bio-economy framework."The team will soon carry out research focused on specific contaminants to better understand the chemical transformations that take place during electrochemical oxidation and will upscale the process.A 2017 UNESCO report found that the opportunities from exploiting wastewater as a resource were vast, and that safely managed wastewater is an affordable and sustainable source of water, energy, nutrients and other recoverable materials. | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 7, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200707083958.htm | Microplastic pollution harms lobster larvae, study finds | Microplastic fiber pollution in the ocean impacts larval lobsters at each stage of their development, according to new research. A study published in the | "In today's ocean, organisms are exposed to so many environmental factors that affect how many make it to the next stage of life," said Paty Matrai, a study author and senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. "Lobsters play a fundamental role in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem as well as the state's economy, and it is important that we understand how pollutants impact their development."Young lobsters grow to adulthood through four distinct developmental stages, and the researchers found that the physiology of each stage determined how the animals interacted with plastic fibers. The youngest lobsters didn't consume them -- but they were plagued by fibers accumulating under the shells that protect their gills. In experiments where the larvae were exposed to high levels of fibers, the youngest larvae were the least likely to survive.More mobile and agile, the older lobster larvae did not accumulate fibers under their shells -- but they did ingest the particles and keep them in their digestive systems. This could be problematic for lobster larvae coming of age in the ocean. Fresh plastics often leach chemicals, and their surfaces can foster potentially toxic sea life."Plastic particles have been found in almost every animal in the ocean," said David Fields, another study author and a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory. "If an animal can fit something in its tiny little piehole, it's probably going to -- and that can have repercussions for the animal and potentially for the food web."Microplastic fibers enter the ocean from sources including wastewater, and they can also be created in the ocean as larger materials degrade. Plastics tend to float at the surface, where they are exposed to sunlight and wave action that eventually break them down into small particles.Though the levels of microplastic fibers in coastal Maine waters are relatively low, they can still present a serious challenge to the animals that encounter them. In addition, some animals are predisposed to encounter any fibers that are in the area. Because microplastic fibers tend to remain at the ocean's surface, animals that inhabit surface waters are more likely to come into contact with them -- including larval lobsters."Even relatively low levels of plastics can be harmful for the animals that encounter them, and where an animal lives in the water column can amplify the problem," Fields said. "A lobster larva that eats a plastic fiber is just like us eating a candy wrapper -- it's not great, but it will probably just pass though. But if all you're eating is candy wrappers, it's certainly going to have other repercussions for your health."With ocean acidification and rising temperatures already challenging lobsters and other sea life, the researchers are particularly interested in how this plastic pollution may compound with the other environmental stressors that ocean animals are facing. They are interested in conducting future experiments that could probe how animals are impacted when challenged by all three of these factors simultaneously.Matrai and Fields previously studied the impact of microplastic fibers on mussels with Madelyn Woods, a recent Bigelow Laboratory intern and the lead author of this paper. Fellow authors Theresa Hong, Donaven Baughman, and Grace Andrews also all studied with Matrai and Fields as Research Experience for Undergraduates interns during the summer of 2019."As a global community, we are just becoming aware of the impact of plastics in the ocean, and the reality that this pollution is superimposed on other changes in the environment," Matrai said. "By working together to reduce the amount of microplastic fibers in the ocean, we can all help protect our important marine resources." | Pollution | 2,020 |
July 6, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200706113946.htm | Nitrogen pollution policies around the world lag behind scientific knowledge | National and regional policies aimed at addressing pollution fueled by nitrogen lag behind scientific knowledge of the problem, finds a new analysis by an international team of researchers. Its work, which appears in the journal | "There is a large gap between what scientists understand about nitrogen pollution and how policymakers address it," says David Kanter, an assistant professor in New York University's Department of Environmental Studies and one of the paper's co-authors. "By favoring the use of fertilizers and other nitrogen-rich materials for agricultural purposes over scientifically informed controls, governments around the globe are coming up short in addressing environmental concerns."The analysis, conducted with Wilfried Winiwarter of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria and Poland's University of Zielona Góra, examined more than 2,700 nitrogen policies in 186 countries. It is the first to study nitrogen policy on a global scale.Specifically, it examined both national and regional policies by continent, then considered the policy category they fell under (e.g., regulatory, economic, etc.), which sectors these policies applied to (e.g., agriculture, waste, transportation, etc.), and where resulting nitrogen-fueled pollution ended up -- also known as "environmental sink" (e.g., air, water, soil, etc.) -- as a result of these policies.Overall, the analysis revealed a nearly complete lack of policies that address nitrogen impacts across multiple destinations, or sinks."This reveals how environmental policy around the world is currently not equipped to address such a cross-cutting pollutant," explains Kanter.Notably, there were significantly more policies in the agricultural sector -- the dominant source of nitrogen pollution -- that incentivize nitrogen use or manage its commerce (640 policies) than aim to reduce nitrogen pollution (190 policies). | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 30, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200630193211.htm | Scientists shed new light on how seabirds cruise through air and water | New insight on how four species of seabirds have developed the ability to cruise through both air and water has been published today in the open-access journal | The study reveals that these birds, from the Alcidae family which includes puffins, murres and their relatives, produce efficient propulsive wakes while flying and swimming. This means that the animals likely spend relatively low amounts of metabolic energy when creating the force they need to move in both air and water. The findings suggest that alcids have been optimised for movement in very different environments through the course of their evolution."Birds that use their wings for 'flight' in air and water are expected to fly poorly in both environments compared to those that stick to either air or water only," explains first author Anthony Lapsansky, a PhD candidate at the Field Research Station at Fort Missoula, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, US. "In other words, these jacks-of-all-trades should be the masters of none. Interestingly, however, alcids seem to contradict this notion of a trade-off between aerial and aquatic flight performance, and we wanted to investigate this further."To gain a better understanding of the potential evolutionary trade-offs between these two types of flight, Lapsansky and his team tested whether alcids exhibit 'efficient Strouhal numbers' when flying in water and air. Animals move in these environments by using oscillating appendages. The Strouhal number describes the frequency at which an animal produces pulses of force with these appendages to power its movement. Only a narrow range of Strouhal numbers are efficient -- if a bird flaps its wings too fast or too slow, for a given amplitude and flight speed, then it wastes energy. But most birds have converged on this narrow range of Strouhal numbers, meaning that selection has tuned them to exhibit efficient flapping and swimming movements.Additionally, Lapsansky and his team were interested to see whether birds that fly in air and water use their muscles in the same way in both environments. "Muscles typically consist of fibers which are tuned for specific activities, but this hardly seems possible when the same muscles are used for movement in two drastically different environments," Lapsansky says. "We hypothesised that alcids maintain efficient Strouhal numbers and consistent stroke velocities across air and water, which would allow them to mitigate the costs of being able to cruise through both environments."The team used videography to measure the wing movements of four species of alcids that differ substantially in body mass (450g to 1kg) and represent distant branches of the alcid family tree. Their measurements showed that alcids cruise at Strouhal numbers between 0.10 and 0.40 in both air and water, similar to animals that stick to air or water only, but flap their wings approximately 50% slower in water. This suggests that the birds either contract their muscles at inefficient velocities or maintain a two-geared muscle system, highlighting a clear cost to using their wings for movement in air and water."Our work provides detailed new insight into how evolution has shaped alcid flight in response to competing environmental demands in air and water," concludes senior author Bret Tobalske, Professor and Director of the Field Research Station at Fort Missoula, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana. "Further research is now needed to understand the necessary changes that take place in the flight muscles of these birds to allow them to transition between air and water and back again." | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 29, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200629120215.htm | Air pollution's connection to infant mortality | Dust sweeping across the Southeast U.S. in recent days warns of a growing risk to infants and children in many parts of the world. A Stanford-led study focuses on this dust, which travels thousands of miles from the Sahara Desert, to paint a clearer picture than ever before of air pollution's impact on infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper, published June 29 in | "Africa and other developing regions have made remarkable strides overall in improving child health in recent decades, but key negative outcomes such as infant mortality remain stubbornly high in some places," said study senior author Marshall Burke, an associate professor of Earth system science in Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "We wanted to understand why that was, and whether there was a connection to air pollution, a known cause of poor health."Children under 5 are particularly vulnerable to the tiny particles, or particulate, in air pollution that can have a range of negative health impacts, including lower birth weight and impaired growth in the first year of life. In developing regions, exposure to high levels of air pollution during childhood is estimated to reduce overall life expectancy by 4-5 years on average.Quantifying the health impacts of air pollution -- a crucial step for understanding global health burdens and evaluating policy choices -- has been a challenge in the past. Researchers have struggled to adequately separate out the health effects of air pollution from the health effects of activities that generate the pollution. For example, a booming economy can produce air pollution but also spur developments, such as lower unemployment, that lead to better healthcare access and improved health outcomes.To isolate the effects of air pollution exposure, the Stanford-led study focuses on dust carried thousands of miles from the Bodélé Depression in Chad -- the largest source of dust emissions in the world. This dust is a frequent presence in West Africa and, to a lesser extent, across other African regions. The researchers analyzed 15 years of household surveys from 30 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa covering nearly 1 million births. Combining birth data with satellite-detected changes in particulate levels driven by the Bodélé dust provided an increasingly clear picture of poor air quality's health impacts on children.The researchers found that a roughly 25 percent increase in local annual mean particulate concentrations in West Africa causes an 18 percent increase in infant mortality. The results expand on a 2018 paper by the same researchers that found exposure to high particulate matter concentrations in sub-Saharan Africa accounted for about 400,000 infant deaths in 2015 alone.The new study, combined with previous findings from other regions, makes clear that air pollution, even from natural sources, is a "critical determining factor for child health around the world," the researchers write. Emissions from natural sources could change dramatically in a changing climate, but it's unclear how. For example, the concentration of dust particulate matter across Sub-Saharan Africa is highly dependent on the amount of rainfall in the Bodélé Depression. Because future changes in rainfall over the Bodélé region due to climate change are highly uncertain, the researchers calculated a range of possibilities for sub-Saharan Africa that could result in anywhere from a 13-percent decline in infant mortality to a 12-percent increase just due to changes in rainfall over the desert. These impacts would be larger than any other published projections for climate change impact on health across Africa.Safeguarding children against air pollution is nearly impossible in many developing regions because many homes have open windows or permeable roofs and walls, and infants and young children are unlikely to wear masks. Instead, the researchers suggest exploring the possibility of dampening sand with groundwater in the Bodélé region to stop it from going airborne -- an approach that has been successful at small scale in California.The researchers estimate that deploying solar-powered irrigation systems in the desert area could avert 37,000 infant deaths per year in West Africa at a cost of $24 per life, making it competitive with many leading health interventions currently in use, including a range of vaccines and water and sanitation projects."Standard policy instruments can't be counted on to reduce all forms of air pollution," said study lead author Sam Heft-Neal, a research scholar at Stanford's Center on Food Security and the Environment. "While our calculation doesn't consider logistical constraints to project deployment, it highlights the possibility of a solution that targets natural pollution sources and yields enormous benefits at a modest cost." | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 29, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200629120111.htm | Atmospheric processes likely caused puzzling haze over China during COVID-19 shutdown | New research indicates that significant enhancement of secondary aerosol formed in the atmosphere via gas-to-particle conversion, together with long-lasting regional transport, may be the cause of severe haze over China despite a dramatic reduction in emissions during the COVID-19 shutdown. The findings are published in | During the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday between January 24 and February 10, 2020, China was in an unprecedented state of shutdown because of COVID-19, with mobility, energy demands, and industrial pollution emissions remaining far below their normal levels. Nevertheless, a high and widespread haze pollution was observed over Eastern China.To investigate this puzzling occurrence, Yunhua Chang, Professor, of the Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Ru-Jin Huang, Professor, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and their colleagues analyzed the chemical components of the air in and out of Shanghai before, during, and after the Chinese New Year holidays in 2019 and 2020, and they performed atmospheric transport modeling, a method to track particles and trace gases that are dispersed by atmospheric winds.The team found that secondary aerosol formation that interacts with long-range transport likely caused the long-lasting haze during the COVID-19 pandemic.The results highlight the need for joint management efforts and control strategies across large areas to effectively clear China's air."We hope our findings can inform future regulatory policies to mitigate China's haze-associated problems," said Dr. Chang."Additional studies are needed to pinpoint the role of atmospheric oxidation capacity -- which is affected by emission reductions of air pollutants -- in the formation of secondary aerosols," added Dr. Huang.This paper is part of an ongoing special collection of research in AGU journals related to the current pandemic:The COVID-19 Pandemic: Linking Health, Society and Environment ( | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 27, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200627112428.htm | Satellite analyzes Saharan dust aerosol blanket | Dust storms from Africa's Saharan Desert traveling across the Atlantic Ocean are nothing new, but the current dust storm has been quite expansive and NASA satellites have provided a look at the massive June plume. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite showed the blanket of dust had moved over the Gulf of Mexico and extended into Central America and over part of the eastern Pacific Ocean. | NASA uses satellites and other resources to track aerosol particles made of desert dust, smoke, and volcanic ash. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard Suomi NPP provided a visible image while the Ozone Mapping and Profiling Suite (OMPS) Nadir-Mapper (NM) instrument aboard the Suomi-NPP satellite provided absorbing aerosol index values. The OMPS index indicates the presence of light absorbing aerosol particles (ultraviolet (UV)-absorbing particles in the air) such as desert dust. The absorbing aerosol index is related to both the thickness and height of the aerosol layer.The Absorbing Aerosol Index is useful for identifying and tracking the long-range transport of volcanic ash from volcanic eruptions, smoke from wildfires or biomass burning events and dust from desert dust storms. These aerosol particles can even be tracked over clouds and areas covered by snow and ice.Colin Seftor, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., created imagery from the Suomi NPP OMPS absorbing aerosol index and visible imagery from the VIIRS instrument He said that on June 23 and 24 the dust plume had moved completely over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, up through the Gulf of Mexico and into southern Texas. "At that point, the situation becomes more complicated because the absorbing aerosol index signal seen further north into Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, etc., is probably a mix of dust and smoke from the numerous fires burning in the southwest U.S. You can also see that the dust traveled over Central America and out into the Eastern Pacific Ocean."On June 25, an animation that combined OMPS aerosol index and VIIRS visible imagery from NASA/NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite was created at NASA Goddard showing the movement the Saharan dust cloud from June 15 to 25, 2020. The animation showed the dust plume streamed from Africa's west coast over the Atlantic into the Caribbean Sea and up through the Gulf of Mexico over some of the Gulf states.Aerosol particles absorb and scatter incoming sunlight, which reduces visibility and increases the optical depth. Aerosol particles have an effect on human health, weather and the climate. Aerosol particles are produced from many events including human activities such as pollution from factories and natural processes such as smoke from fires, dust from dust storms, sea salt from breaking waves, and volcanic ash from volcanoes. Aerosol particles compromise human health when inhaled by people with asthma or other respiratory illnesses. Aerosol particles also affect weather and climate by cooling or warming the earth as well as enhancing or preventing cloud formation.On June 18, NASA's Earth Observatory noted the thickest parts of the plume appeared to stretch about 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) across the Atlantic Ocean. By June 24, the plume extended over 5,000 miles.Dust from Africa can affect air quality as far away as North and South America if it is mixed down to ground level. But dust can also play an important ecological role, such as, fertilizing soils in the Amazon and building beaches in the Caribbean. The dry, warm, and windy conditions associated with Saharan Air Layer outbreaks from Africa can also suppress the formation and intensification of tropical cyclones."While Saharan dust transport across the ocean to the Americas is not uncommon, the size and strength of this particular event is quite unusual," Seftor said. "Also, if you look off the coast of Africa you can see yet another large cloud coming off the continent, continuing to feed the long chain of dust traveling across the Atlantic." | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 26, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200626161157.htm | Ancient Maya reservoirs contained toxic pollution | Reservoirs in the heart of an ancient Maya city were so polluted with mercury and algae that the water likely was undrinkable. | Researchers from the University of Cincinnati found toxic levels of pollution in two central reservoirs in Tikal, an ancient Maya city that dates back to the third century B.C. in what is now northern Guatemala.UC's findings suggest droughts in the ninth century likely contributed to the depopulation and eventual abandonment of the city."The conversion of Tikal's central reservoirs from life-sustaining to sickness-inducing places would have both practically and symbolically helped to bring about the abandonment of this magnificent city," the study concluded.A geochemical analysis found that two reservoirs nearest the city palace and temple contained toxic levels of mercury that UC researchers traced back to a pigment the Maya used to adorn buildings, clayware and other goods. During rainstorms, mercury in the pigment leached into the reservoirs where it settled in layers of sediment over the years.But the former inhabitants of this city, made famous by its towering stone temples and architecture, had ample potable water from nearby reservoirs that remained uncontaminated, UC researchers found.The study was published in the Nature journal UC's diverse team was composed of anthropologists, geographers, botanists, biologists and chemists. They examined layers of sediment dating back to the ninth century when Tikal was a flourishing city.Previously, UC researchers found that the soils around Tikal during the ninth century were extremely fertile and traced the source to frequent volcanic eruptions that enriched the soil of the Yucatan Peninsula."Archaeologists and anthropologists have been trying to figure out what happened to the Maya for 100 years," said David Lentz, a UC professor of biological sciences and lead author of the study.For the latest study, UC researchers sampled sediment at 10 reservoirs within the city and conducted an analysis on ancient DNA found in the stratified clay of four of them.Sediment from the reservoirs nearest Tikal's central temple and palace showed evidence of toxic algae called cyanobacteria. Consuming this water, particularly during droughts, would have made people sick even if the water were boiled, Lentz said."We found two types of blue-green algae that produce toxic chemicals. The bad thing about these is they're resistant to boiling. It made water in these reservoirs toxic to drink," Lentz said.UC researchers said it is possible but unlikely the Maya used these reservoirs for drinking, cooking or irrigation."The water would have looked nasty. It would have tasted nasty," said Kenneth Tankersley, an associate professor of anthropology in UC's College of Arts and Sciences. "There would have been these big algae blooms. Nobody would have wanted to drink that water."But researchers found no evidence of the same pollutants in sediments from more distant reservoirs called Perdido and Corriental, which likely provided drinking water for city residents during the ninth century.Today, Tikal is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Researchers believe a combination of economic, political and social factors prompted people to leave the city and its adjacent farms. But the climate no doubt played a role, too, Lentz said."They have a prolonged dry season. For part of the year, it's rainy and wet. The rest of the year, it's really dry with almost no rainfall. So they had a problem finding water," Lentz said.Co-author Trinity Hamilton, now an assistant professor of biology at the University of Minnesota, worked on the analysis of ancient DNA from algae that sank to the reservoir bottom and was buried by centuries of accumulated sediment."Typically, when we see a lot of cyanobacteria in freshwater, we think of harmful algal blooms that impact water quality," Hamilton said.Finding some reservoirs that were polluted and others that were not suggests the ancient Maya used them for different purposes, she said.Reservoirs near the temple and palace likely would have been impressive landmarks, much like the reflecting pool at the National Mall is today."It would have been a magnificent sight to see these brightly painted buildings reflected off the surface of these reservoirs," said co-author Nicholas Dunning, head of geography in UC's College of Arts and Sciences."The Maya rulers conferred to themselves, among other things, the attribute of being able to control water. They had a special relationship to the rain gods," Dunning said. "So the reservoir would have been a pretty potent symbol."UC's Tankersley said one popular pigment used on plaster walls and in ceremonial burials was derived from cinnabar, a red-colored mineral composed of mercury sulfide that the Maya mined from a nearby volcanic feature known as the Todos Santos Formation.A close examination of the reservoir sediment using a technique called energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry found that mercury did not leach into the water from the underlying bedrock. Likewise, Tankersley said, UC ruled out another potential source of mercury -- volcanic ash that fell across Central America during the frequent eruptions. The absence of mercury in other nearby reservoirs where ash would have fallen ruled out volcanoes as the culprit.Instead, Tankersley said, people were to blame."That means the mercury has to be anthropogenic," Tankersley said.With its bright red color, cinnabar was commonly used as a paint or pigment across Central America at the time."Color was important in the ancient Maya world. They used it in their murals. They painted the plaster red. They used it in burials and combined it with iron oxide to get different shades," Tankersley said."We were able to find a mineral fingerprint that showed beyond a reasonable doubt that the mercury in the water originated from cinnabar," he said.Tankersley said ancient Maya cities such as Tikal continue to captivate researchers because of the ingenuity, cooperation and sophistication required to thrive in this tropical land of extremes."When I look at the ancient Maya, I see a very sophisticated people with a very rich culture," Tankersley said.UC's team is planning to return to the Yucatan Peninsula to pursue more answers about this remarkable period of human civilization. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 26, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200626141413.htm | More evidence of causal link between air pollution and early death | Strengthening U.S. air quality standards for fine particulate pollution to be in compliance with current World Health Association (WHO) guidelines could save more than 140,000 lives over the course of a decade, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. | The study, published June 26, 2020 in "Our new study included the largest-ever dataset of older Americans and used multiple analytical methods, including statistical methods for causal inference, to show that current U.S. standards for PM2.5 concentrations are not protective enough and should be lowered to ensure that vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, are safe," said doctoral student Xiao Wu, a co-author of the study.The new research builds on a 2017 study that showed that long-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution and ozone, even at levels below current U.S. air quality standards, increases the risk of premature death among the elderly in the U.S.For the new study, researchers looked at 16 years' worth of data from 68.5 million Medicare enrollees -- 97% of Americans over the age of 65 -- adjusting for factors such as body mass index, smoking, ethnicity, income, and education. They matched participants' zip codes with air pollution data gathered from locations across the U.S. In estimating daily levels of PM2.5 air pollution for each zip code, the researchers also took into account satellite data, land-use information, weather variables, and other factors. They used two traditional statistical approaches as well as three state-of-the-art approaches aimed at teasing out cause and effect.Results were consistent across all five different types of analyses, offering what authors called "the most robust and reproducible evidence to date" on the causal link between exposure to PM2.5 and mortality among Medicare enrollees -- even at levels below the current U.S. air quality standard of 12 ?g/m3 (12 micrograms per cubic meter) per year.The authors found that an annual decrease of 10 ?g/m3 in PM2.5 pollution would lead to a 6%-7% decrease in mortality risk. Based on that finding, they estimated that if the U.S. lowered its annual PM2.5 standard to 10 ?g/m3 -- the WHO annual guideline -- 143,257 lives would be saved in one decade.The authors included additional analyses focused on causation, which address criticisms that traditional analytical methods are not sufficient to inform revisions of national air quality standards. The new analyses enabled the researchers, in effect, to mimic a randomized study -- considered the gold standard in assessing causality -- thereby strengthening the finding of a link between air pollution and early death."The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed retaining current national air quality standards. But, as our new analysis shows, the current standards aren't protective enough, and strengthening them could save thousands of lives. With the public comment period for the EPA proposal ending on June 29, we hope our results can inform policymakers' decisions about potentially updating the standards," said co-author Francesca Dominici, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population, and Data Science. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 26, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200626114750.htm | Traffic density, wind and air stratification influence concentrations of air pollutant NO2 | In connection with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, satellite measurements made headlines showing how much the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO | In order to determine the influence of various weather factors on air quality, the team used a statistical method that allows meteorological fluctuations to be mathematically removed from long-term measurements. The air quality fluctuates, in some cases very strongly, due to different emissions and the influence of the weather. Until now, however, it has been difficult to estimate, what share legal measures such as low emission zones or diesel driving bans have and what share the weather influences have in the actual air quality? With the method used, this will be easier in the future.Nitrogen dioxide (NOTo evaluate the effectiveness of such measures, it would be helpful to determine the exact influence of weather conditions. The Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology (LfULG) therefore commissioned TROPOS to carry out a study on the influence of weather factors on NOIn this way, the study was able to demonstrate that the traffic density at all traffic stations is most significantly responsible for nitrogen oxide concentrations. However, two weather parameters also have a significant influence on nitrogen dioxide concentrations: wind speed and the height of the so-called mixing layer. The latter is a meteorological parameter that indicates the height to which the lowest layer of air, where the emissions mix, extends. "It was also shown that high humidity can also reduce the concentration of nitrogen dioxide, which could be due to the fact that the pollutants deposit more strongly on moist surfaces. However, the exact causes are still unclear," says Dominik van Pinxteren.The statistical analysis has also enabled the researchers to remove the influence of the weather from the time series of pollutant concentrations: Adjusted for the weather, the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) decreased by a total of 10 micrograms per cubic meter between 2015 and 2018 on average over all traffic stations in Saxony. In urban and rural areas and on the ridge of the Erzgebirge, however, NOx concentrations tend to remain at the same level. Even though there have been some improvements in air quality in recent years, there are good scientific arguments for further reducing air pollution.In a way, this also applies to premature conclusions from the corona crisis: in order to find out how strong the influence of the initial restrictions on air quality actually was, the influence of the weather would have to be statistically removed in a longer series of measurements. To this end, investigations for the Leipzig area are currently underway at TROPOS, as is a Europe-wide study of the EU research infrastructure for short-lived atmospheric constituents such as aerosol, clouds and trace gases (ACTRIS), the German contribution to which is coordinated by TROPOS. Tilo Arnhold | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 26, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200626114741.htm | Measuring air pollution could help London transport planners fight COVID-19 | Measuring air quality across London could help fight COVID-19 by providing a rapid means of deciding whether to reduce public transport movement -- given strong links between exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 transmission, a new study reveals. | Analysis of air pollution, COVID-19 cases and fatality rates in London demonstrates a connection between increased levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM2.5) and higher risk of viral transmission.Scientists at the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge say that this shows air pollution could be used as an indicator to rapidly identify vulnerable parts of a city such as London -- informing decisions to suspend or reduce operation of buses, trains and Underground.Researchers have published their findings today in City boroughs with access to London Underground interchange stations also have higher pandemic case rates as users are exposed to a higher number of individuals compared to through stations.Report author Dr Ajit Singh, from the University of Birmingham, commented: "Short-term exposure to NO2 and PM2.5is significantly linked to an increased risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19. Exposure to such air pollutants can compromise lung function and increase risk of death from the virus."Levels of airborne PM2.5in the London Underground during summer are often several times higher than other transport environments such as cycling, buses or cars. We recommend a strategy that tailors the level of public transport activity in cities like London according to COVID-19 vulnerability based on air pollution levels across the city."This could help decision-makers take the right measures to counter COVID-19 in London -- for example deploying transport staff and arranging dedicated services for key workers."Scientists have earlier found the greatest PM2.5concentrations across the London Underground network on the Victoria Line (16 times higher than the roadside environment), followed by the Northern, Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines.Routine cleaning and maintenance of the London Underground ranges from litter removal to preventing safety incidents rather than reducing PM concentrations.Co-author Dr Manu Sasidharan, of the University of Cambridge, commented: "Human-mobility reduction measures provide the greatest benefit in the fight against COVID-19. We need to balance the public health benefits of closing public transport during a pandemic against the socio-economic impacts of reducing mobility."Determining the vulnerability of city regions to coronavirus might help to achieve such trade-offs -- air pollution levels can serve as one of the indicators to assess this vulnerability."The number of positive COVID-19 cases considered in the study were only those reported at hospitals -- it does not include people self-isolating due to COVID-19. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 25, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200625162243.htm | Global pollution estimates reveal surprises, opportunity | It is not unusual to come across headlines about pollution or global warming and find that they reach different conclusions depending upon the data source. | Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis used a harmonized approach, incorporating data from multiple satellites and ground monitors with computer modeling to compile a comprehensive, consistent map of pollution across the globe. Their data spans 1998-2018, providing a current picture of the state of the world's air quality that reveals some surprises, both for better and for worse.The research was led by Melanie Hammer, a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of Randall Martin, professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering.Results of their study that looked at PM2.5 -- tiny particles that are able to make their way deep into a person's respiratory system -- were published June 3 in "Prior studies that look at long-term PM2.5 haven't used data as recent as we have," Hammer said. Older data can't capture the results of many programs aimed at curbing pollution -- even if they have been in effect for nearly a decade.That turned out to be the case in China, where a significant drop in pollution in the recent past was the result of strategies begun in earnest around 2011. Other data sets don't capture the drop.And in India -- another area of concern -- the story was not as positive. "It seems there's a bit of a plateau of PM2.5 levels," Hammer said. Though still, levels are not rising as steeply as other reports may suggest.PM2.5 refers to the size of particles -- 2.5 microns. These tiny particles are created in nature, but also by human activities, including some manufacturing processes, car exhaust and the use of wood-burning cookstoves.It's not easy to measure the amount of PM2.5 on the ground because there isn't any kind of comprehensive monitoring network covering the globe. North America and Europe have extensive monitoring systems, as does China. But, Martin said, "There are large gaps in ground-based monitoring. People can be living hundreds of kilometers away from monitors."To develop a comprehensive pollution map, then, ground-based monitors are simply insufficient.To capture a global snapshot, Martin's team started with satellite images of columns of atmosphere that spanned the ground to the edge of space. Using the established GEOS-Chem model, which simulates atmospheric composition, they could infer how much PM2.5 should be on the ground, at the bottom of any given column.When comparing the predictions to actual levels measured by ground monitors, the agreement was striking. In fact, Martin said, "It's the best level of agreement found to date."But the researchers still went a step further.The agreement was great, but not perfect. So Hammer added the differences between the observed and predicted amounts of PM2.5 and expanded the ground-based predictions across the globe, filling in the massive gaps between monitors.This extra step brought the observed and predicted levels of PM2.5 from 81% to 90% agreement.Once they were able to take a good look at the most recent pollution levels around the world, the researchers saw some stark changes from previous trends. Particularly in China."We're used to seeing just large, increasing trends in pollution," Hammer said. But in China, "What we found, from 2011 to 2018, is that there actually is a particularly large negative trend."Elsewhere in Asia, the picture wasn't as positive.While pollution levels did not seem to be increasing in India, the country seems to be in a plateau phase. "The broad plateau of very high concentrations, to which a large population is exposed, is quite concerning," Martin said. "It affects the health of a billion people."However, the takeaway from this research can be, on the balance, a hopeful one: It seems to show one possible way forward."The data Melanie's analysis reveals is a real success story for air quality controls," Martin said. "It shows they can be remarkably effective at reducing PM2.5." Although scientists have known these controls contain the potential to make an impact, he said, "The changes in China are very dramatic, larger than we have seen anywhere in the world over the observational record."It illustrates a real opportunity to improve air quality through effective controls."In people already sick with illness such as asthma, PM2.5 can have immediate health consequences. Long-term, however, breathing in these particles carries consequences for everyone."PM2.5 is a major public health concern globally," said Melanie Hammer, postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Randall Martin in the McKelvey School of Engineering. "It's important to get accurate exposure estimates to estimate health impacts."That's why organizations, including World Health Organization and Global Burden of Disease, use data from Martin's lab. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 24, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200624100045.htm | Wildfire smoke has immediate harmful health effects | Exposure to wildfire smoke affects the body's respiratory and cardiovascular systems almost immediately, according to new research from the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health. | In a study published today in "We have long known about the harmful health effects of wildfire smoke," says Jiayun Angela Yao, the study's lead author who conducted this research while completing her PhD in the UBC School of Population and Public Health. "But it's alarming to see just how quickly fine particular matter seems to affect the respiratory and cardiovascular system. And the acute effects for people with diabetes is relatively new to us."Particulate matter, also called particle pollution, is made up of tiny pieces of dust, dirt, and smoke in the air. While larger particles can irritate the eyes and throat, fine particles are more dangerous as they can reach deep parts of the lungs and even enter the bloodstream.For the study, the researchers used statistical modelling to evaluate the relationship between ambulance dispatches, paramedic assessments and hospital admissions related to respiratory, circulatory and diabetic conditions with levels of fine particulate matter during wildfire seasons in B.C. from 2010 to 2015. A total of more than 670,000 ambulance dispatch calls from more than 500,000 individuals were included in the study.The researchers say this study adds to the limited previous evidence on how quickly exposure to wildfire smoke can have harmful health effects. The findings are especially timely now during the COVID-19 pandemic, as air pollution from wildfire smoke can make viral infections affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular systems even more severe.With wildfire season quickly approaching in B.C., the researchers say their research underscores the need for rapid public health actions to limit exposure to wildfire smoke."It is vital that everyone start preparing for wildfire smoke events to ensure that they are ready, especially since COVID-19 still a serious public health threat in B.C.," says Yao. "Anyone with pre-existing heart and lung disease and diabetes is especially vulnerable and should consider purchasing air cleaners, and ensuring that they have adequate supplies of medication at home."This study was supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage Program and the British Columbia Lung Association. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 23, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200623145400.htm | Air pollution major risk for cardiovascular disease regardless of country income | From low-income countries to high-income countries, long-term exposure to fine particulate outdoor air pollution is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease and death, a new Oregon State University study found. | But even small reductions in air pollution levels can result in a reduction of disease risk.The study shows that countries don't have to immediately eradicate all air pollution to make a difference for people's health, said researcher Perry Hystad, an environmental epidemiologist in OSU's College of Public Health and Human Sciences. Hystad was the lead author on the international study, which also included fellow OSU public health researcher Andrew Larkin. Michael Brauer of the University of British Columbia was the senior author."If you reduce the concentration of outdoor air pollution, you're going to see benefits for cardiovascular disease," Hystad said. "Before this study, we were not sure if this was the case. Some studies suggested that at high concentration, as seen in many developing countries, levels would have to be reduced by very large amounts before health benefits would occur."The massive study, published last week in Overall, the study found a 5% increase in all cardiovascular events for every 10 microgram-per-cubic-meter increase in concentration of air pollutant particles under 2.5 microns in size (PM2.5). Factoring in the vast range of concentrations in PM2.5 recorded across the globe, that means 14% of all cardiovascular events documented in the study can be attributed to PM2.5 exposure."That's a big number," Hystad said. "That's a substantial portion of the cardiovascular disease burden."The risks in low- and middle-income countries were mostly identical to the risks found in high-income countries.The PURE study chose multiple countries from low, middle and high-income brackets to address a gap in existing research, as most air pollution studies have centered on people in high-income countries with relatively low concentrations of air pollution.The current study looked at PM2.5 particles because they are small enough to be breathed deep into the lungs where they can cause chronic inflammation, Hystad said. These particles come from a range of combustion sources, including car engines, fireplaces and coal-fired power plants.Researchers worked with a set of cardiovascular disease risk factors, including individual variables like smoking status, eating habits and pre-existing cardiovascular disease; and household factors like household wealth and use of dirty fuels for indoor cooking. Previous research in the PURE cohort found links between solid fuel use and kerosene use and cardiovascular disease. They also referenced geographical variables, including whether a person's location was rural or urban and general access to quality health care within each country.In the data's 15-year period, in which participants were followed for roughly nine years each, 9,152 people had cardiovascular disease events, including 4,083 heart attacks and 4,139 strokes. There were 3,219 deaths attributed to cardiovascular disease.The strongest association between air pollution exposure and health outcomes was for strokes. Hystad says a growing body of research finds that the risk of stroke is strongly impacted by exposure to PM2.5, especially at high concentrations.Over the study's time frame, some countries' pollution levels improved, while some got worse, Hystad said. He pointed to the U.S.'s Clean Air Act of 1963 and how different air pollution levels are today compared to where they were in the 1970s."What I hope -- and this is actually what is happening -- is that developing countries can take these lessons and apply them and reduce the time it takes to achieve some of these air pollution reduction successes," he said. "Maybe instead of 30 years, you can do it in 10 years."The PURE study is led by Salim Yusuf at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, Canada. The PURE-AIR study is led by Hystad and Brauer. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 23, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200623104234.htm | Wet wipes and sanitary products found to be microplastic pollutants in Irish waters | Researchers from Earth and Ocean Sciences and the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway have carried out a study on the contribution of widely flushed personal care textile products (wet wipes and sanitary towels) to the ocean plastic crisis. | Dr Liam Morrison led the study, which showed that sediments adjacent to a wastewater treatment plant are consistently strewn with white microplastic fibres that are comparable to those from commercially available consumer sanitary products (wet wipes and sanitary towels). The article has been published in the international journal In most studies to date, white fibres are likely underestimated, because of the commonly used filtration procedure to capture microplastic fibres as filters are commonly white, making visual identification of microscopic white fibres against a white background difficult. This is significant given the global growth of non-woven synthetic fibre products and their ubiquity in wastewater.Speaking today, President of NUI Galway, Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said: "Our University has made sustainability a strategic priority, and for the world to address climate change, we have a duty to examine the behaviour of individuals and corporations that can help our planet. This research highlights the need for us to adapt our behaviours and tackle the ubiquity of plastic in so many products."An urban rural gradient involving three locations from Galway City (close to Mutton Island and adjacent to a wastewater treatment plant) to counties Clare (Bell Harbour) and Mayo (Bellacragher) were investigated in this study. The total number of fibres found near Mutton Island was 6083 microplastics fibres per kilogram of sediment, while the rural sites had much lower levels (Bell Harbour, 1627 and Bellacragher 316). The total number of white fibres was 5536, 788, and 265 per kilogram of sediment for Mutton Island, Bell harbour and Bellacragher respectively. Incredibly, 91% of microplastic fibres at Mutton Island are likely derived from wet wipes and sanitary towels.Lead researcher of the study, Dr Liam Morrison from Earth and Ocean Sciences and Ryan Institute at NUI Galway, said: "COVID-19 may have brought its own challenges for the oceans including the increased use of disinfectant wipes during the pandemic which potentially may end up as microplastic fibres in the sea. It is widely known that microplastics can act as vectors for contaminants including bacteria and viruses and are potentially harmful for public health and marine life."The nearby intertidal zone at Mutton Island is prone to the accumulation of high volumes of washed-up sewage-derived debris on a frequent basis. Excessive microplastic loading in sediments in December 2017 was likely induced by heavy precipitation episodes during a south-westerly storm front. Elevated debris loading on this occasion may result from combined sewer overflows, where excessive input of drainage water exceeds wastewater treatment effluent capacity and is released untreated in the overflow. Dr Morrison said: "This was significant in the context of climate change, where we are likely to see increased rainfall events and flooding."While most microplastics may be removed by the wastewater treatment process, combined sewage overflows associated with periods of heavy rainfall give rise to the release of sewage waste containing wipes and sanitary towels, impacting on public health and the environment. Combined sewer overflows and the subsequent shoreline deposition of sanitary waste have not previously been thoroughly investigated as a source of white microplastic fibres in the marine environment. The study found that wet wipes and sanitary towels are a source of unaccounted white microplastic fibres in the marine environment and not all flushable wipes are biodegradable. In fact 50% of the wipes labelled "flushable" in this study were shown to contain microplastics. The lack of regulation for hygiene and sanitary products results in a failure to identify the plastic composition of these materials. This demonstrates the consequences of misleading labelling of non-woven textile personal care products.The samples of sanitary-related macro debris (wipes and sanitary towels) collected from the intertidal zone near Mutton Island in Galway City following a heavy rainfall event were mostly comprised of the plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with only a quarter of the samples analysed presenting as a mix of PET and cellulose, and over 80% of the wipes in the shoreline waste were identified as non-flushable due to their polymer composition following the International Water Services Flushability Group and non-woven textile industry guidelines (INDA/EDANA, 2018; IWSFG, 2018).Given the global distribution and projected growth of the non-woven textile industry (as non-woven textiles form the base material of many sanitary products), this is a concern. European production of non-woven textiles for hygiene and sanitary products exceeded one million tonnes in 2016 alone and these products frequently cause blockages in sewage systems globally, incurring significant technical and financial costs to wastewater utilities.These products are a consistent feature of global plastic pollution surveys and in comparison, microplastic fibres from clothing are generally coloured or multi-coloured. To date the role of these white microplastic fibres as significant components of wastewater effluent remained poorly understood. The quantities of wet wipes washing up on beaches in the UK has increased 400% in the last decade (Marine Conservation Society, 2019*).Dr Morrison added: "There is a need for increased public awareness of microplastic pollution in the environment and human behaviour should shift away from the inapt disposal of sanitary products down the toilet and instead divert to alternative land-based waste management." | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 22, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200622182208.htm | Decline in green energy spending might offset COVID-era emissions benefits | The short-term environmental benefits of the COVID-19 crisis, including declines in carbon emissions and local air pollution, have been documented since the early days of the crisis. This silver lining to the global crisis, however, could be far outweighed by the long-term impacts on clean energy innovation, a new Yale-led study finds. | The economic downturn triggered by the pandemic, researchers say, could have a devastating impact on long-term investment in clean energy.Under a worst-case -- but realistic -- scenario, they predict an additional 2,500 million metric tons of carbon dioxide -- or the equivalent of nearly 3 trillion pounds of coal burned -- could be emitted, causing 40 more deaths per month, through 2035."This global crisis will certainly defer investments in clean energy," said Kenneth Gillingham, an associate professor of environmental and energy economics at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) and lead author of the paper. "Depending on how policymakers respond, the consequences for human health from this deferred investment could far exceed the short-term environmental benefits that we have seen so far."Those short-term benefits have been substantial. Consumption for jet fuel and gasoline, for example, declined by 50 and 30 percent, respectively, from early March to June 7, while electricity demand fell by 10 percent. These impacts saved an estimated 200 lives per month since the lockdowns began.However, there's also been another, subtler outcome: most investment in clean energy technologies has come to a halt."Overall clean energy jobs dropped by almost 600,000 by the end of April, as investments in energy efficiency and renewable generation have plummeted," said Marten Ovaere, a postdoctoral researcher at F&ES and co-author of the paper. "If that were to continue it could significantly set back the push toward a clean energy future."The paper, published in the journal Drawing on evidence from previous economic shocks, the researchers examine two possible long-term scenarios in the U.S. In the best-case scenario -- in which the threat subsides relatively quickly, the worst projections of human fatalities are avoided, and the economy rebounds -- they say there should be few long-term implications. Most demands for products and services, they predict, "will be deferred rather than destroyed." While record declines in emissions would be temporary, investments in new energy solutions would likely reach pre-pandemic levels.If there is a persistent, long-term recession, however, the impacts on energy innovation would be significant. While energy use related to travel might remain lower, home energy consumption would increase and commercial building use would stay largely unchanged, particularly if office spaces are used in a similar way (even if more American workers decide to work from home). Also, if the public becomes cautious about using public transportation, many commuters will simply decide to drive instead.The greater impact, however, would be on the energy innovation sector, the study says. Investment in low-carbon technologies would dry up, the transition to cleaner vehicle fleets would be disrupted, and cash-strapped automakers would abandon new vehicle and energy efficiency technologies."For example, there has been a huge amount of investment going into electric vehicles," Gillingham says. "But if companies are just trying to survive, it's much less likely that they can make large investments towards new technologies for the next generation because they don't even know if they're going to make it to the next generation."In addition, tighter state and local budgets over the next few years will likely deflate much of the investment in clean-energy options.Even if green energy investments stall for just a single year, the authors calculate, it would outweigh any emissions reductions that occurred from March to June.However, while the uncertainty of this crisis poses potentially enormous threats, it also presents an opportunity, Gillingham says. If federal governments produce large stimulus packages to strengthen the economy, even modest investments in clean energy technologies would pay long-term dividends."Including a green component in those stimulus packages would be an investment in the future, but it also has short-term benefits," he says. "We looked back at analyses of the clean energy investments that were part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 -- which promoted new energy infrastructure, smart meters, and other new technologies -- and it made a big difference."So it really is very much in the hands of policymakers whether green energy is held back or accelerated by this crisis." | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 22, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200622133004.htm | Artificial night sky poses serious threat to coastal species | The artificial lighting which lines the world's coastlines could be having a significant impact on species that rely on the moon and stars to find food, new research suggests. | Creatures such as the sand hopper (However, a study by Bangor University and the University of Plymouth shows the presence of artificial light originating from cities several kilometres away (also known as artificial skyglow) disrupts the lunar compass they use when covering long distances.In some cases, this can lead to them travelling towards the sea and away from food, while in others it reduces the chance of them venturing out on forays for food at all.Writing in The study was conducted as part of the Artificial Light Impacts on Coastal Ecosystems (ALICE) project, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.Dr Thomas Davies, Lecturer in Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth (UK), is the paper's senior author and principal investigator on the ALICE project. He said:"Skyglow is the most geographically widespread form of light pollution. Surveys have shown it can currently be detected above 23% of the world's coasts nightly, and with coastal human populations set to at least double by 2060 its effects are only going to increase. Our results show it is already having demonstrable impacts on biological processes that are guided by celestial light cues."Through the ALICE project, we are finding increasing evidence that light pollution from coastal cities can influence marine species inhabiting nearby beaches, rocky shores and even the seafloor. These results highlight how pervasive city lighting could be in shaping the ecology of coastlines kilometres distant from their nearest urban centres. They also highlight the potential for artificial skyglow to impact other species that undergo migrations using the moon as a compass."While our understanding of the impacts of street lights on nature has improved dramatically, artificial skyglow has been largely overlooked. More work is urgently needed to fully understand the extent to which it is shaping the natural environment."Stuart Jenkins, Professor of Marine Ecology at Bangor University and one of the study's co-authors, added:"It is easy to forget the critical influence of the moon in guiding many organisms' movements. However, we are increasingly realising that by disrupting patterns of night time lighting, we are potentially reducing the ability of animals to navigate. This new research on the shores of North Wales shows clearly that very low levels of artificial light can have far-reaching effects on coastal marine species."The sand hopper is a common feature of Europe's coasts and spends daytimes buried in the sand at depths of 10-30cm, emerging at night to feed on decaying seaweed and other detritus.For this study, researchers monitored the sand hopper population on Cable Bay beach in North Wales (UK), a naturally dark location, over 19 nights between June and September 2019.They observed the behaviour of almost 1,000 individuals under a range of moon phases and weather conditions, before introducing artificial light that replicated the intensity and colour of skyglow from towns and cities around the UK coastline. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 19, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200619115723.htm | Human activity on rivers outpaces, compounds effects of climate change | The livelihoods of millions of people living along the world's biggest river systems are under threat by a range of stressors caused by the daily economic, societal and political activity of humans -- in addition to the long-term effects of climate change, researchers report. | A new paper by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign geology and geography professor Jim Best and University of Southampton professor Stephen Darby takes a big-picture approach to review the health and resiliency of the world's large river systems, their deltas and their vulnerability to extreme events.The article is published in the journal Rivers respond to changes in the environment through self-adjusting processes of erosion and sedimentation, the researchers said. When not stressed by extreme events like flooding or drought, these responses typically allow rivers to absorb change. However, data from many new studies now suggest that the world's great waterways are becoming more vulnerable as the effects of human activity and climate change combine and compound."Climate change is of huge importance in terms of changing flood or drought frequency and intensity," Best said. "However, there is a range of other stressors affecting big rivers such as damming, sediment mining, pollution, water diversions, groundwater extraction and the introduction of nonnative species -- all of which affect rivers on a timescale that has much more immediate consequences."For example, the team reviewed past research on the drivers of flooding in the Mekong River Delta in Southeast Asia, which supports about 18 million people and a vast rice agricultural area. These studies suggest that delta subsidence -- or sinking -- because of groundwater extraction beneath the delta is now more of a problem, as the region receives far less sediment because of sediment trapping behind upstream dams and large-scale mining of sand from the bed of the delta's channels."The scale of the effects of sediment starvation and subsidence in driving increased flood risk is currently far greater than sea-level rise generated by global climate change," Best said. "But when all of these pressures are combined, there is now a real risk that we could cross a major tipping point in the next 10-20 years."Politics also play a significant role in the health and resiliency of the world's major river systems, the paper reports. For example, the current COVID-19 pandemic is influencing regulatory enforcement of pollution monitoring in the United States, enabling polluters to avoid penalties if they argue violations are a result of the pandemic."We have seen evidence of the effect of these types of political and societal shocks on river systems in the past, too," Best said. "The stresses from the Gulf War led to increased river pollution in the Tigris-Euphrates River Basin, a situation that was also compounded by upstream damming in Turkey."The researchers stress an urgent need for governance at the local level across to the international level to confront these issues effectively."There are some things we as scientists can do on the monitoring end of this issue, but it will demand collaboration and trust between nations for it to make a difference," Best said. "We can't take our eye off the ball -- we've just got to devote more attention to these more frequent, shorter-timescale stressors. It's far from being just about climate change." | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200617145935.htm | Women commuting during rush hour are exposed to higher levels of pollutants | Studies have shown associations between exposure to traffic-related air pollution and adverse health outcomes, including preterm birth and low birthweight. However, few studies have estimated real-world exposures during personal vehicle trips for women commuters. | New research led by George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services faculty found higher exposure to harmful pollutants during rush hour trips compared to other settings. Dr. Jenna Krall led the study published in Krall and colleagues conducted the first study to use personal air pollution monitors with vehicle monitors to measure women's exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution (PM"Women frequently have different commute patterns compared to men, for example due to increased trips for household errands and/or transporting children," explains Krall. "With this difference and adverse birth outcomes found in previous research, we believed it was important to focus on this population."The researchers did not find differences in PM"Reducing vehicle trips might be one way to reduce PMIn future work, the researchers plan to use additional vehicle data such as traffic and speed to better understand these exposures.This study was made possible by a multidisciplinary seed grant from George Mason University and the Thomas F. and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust, Bank of America, Trustee. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200617145934.htm | Air quality impacts early brain development | Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have found a link between traffic-related air pollution and an increased risk for changes in brain development relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders. Their study, based on rodent models, corroborates previous epidemiological evidence showing this association. | While air pollution has long been a concern for pulmonary and cardiovascular health, it has only been within the past decade that scientists have turned their attention to its effects on the brain, said UC Davis toxicologist Pamela Lein, senior author of the study, recently published in Researchers had previously documented links between proximity to busy roadways and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, but preclinical data based on real-time exposures to traffic-related air pollution was scarce to nonexistent.Lein worked with UC Davis atmospheric scientist Anthony Wexler and first author Kelley Patten, a doctoral student in the UC Davis graduate group for pharmacology and toxicology, to develop a novel approach to study the impacts of traffic-related air pollution in real time. They set up a vivarium near a traffic tunnel in Northern California so they could mimic, as closely as possible, the experience of humans in a rodent model."This approach was a creative way to get at the question of what impacts air pollution has on the brain in the absence of confounding factors such as socioeconomic influences, diet, etc.," Lein said. "It's important to know if living close to these roadways poses a significant risk to the developing human brain."If it does," Lein continues, "scientists can warn susceptible individuals, such as pregnant women -- particularly those who have already had a child diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder -- to take appropriate precautions to minimize risks to the health of their child's brain."The researchers compared the brains of rat pups exposed to traffic-related air pollution with those exposed to ?ltered air. Both air sources were drawn from the tunnel in real time.They found abnormal growth and increased neuroinflammation in the brains of animals exposed to air pollution. This suggests that air pollution exposure during critical developmental periods may increase the risk for changes in the developing brain that are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders."What we witnessed are subtle changes," Patten said. "But we are seeing these effects using air pollution exposures that fall within regulatory limits. With the backdrop of other environmental and genetic risk factors in humans, this may have a more pronounced effect. This exposure also contains very fine particulate matter that isn't currently regulated."In a separate study, Patten extended this exposure for 14 months to look at longer-term impacts of traffic-related air pollution and is in the process of writing up those results.The team is also interested in what component of traffic-related air pollution is driving the neurodevelopmental outcomes.If they can identify the culprits, Lein said, then scientists can approach legislators to develop scientifically based regulations to protect the developing human brain.UC Davis atmospheric scientist and co-author Keith Bein said that the single most challenging aspect of studying the health effects of air pollution may be replicating how, when and what people are exposed to throughout their lifetimes.Tackling this requires creative thinking and a multidisciplinary team of researchers, including exposure engineers, atmospheric scientists, toxicologists, biologists, behaviorists and animal care specialists."We have managed to build a unique and talented team and taken advantage of our built environment to bring us closer than we've been before to achieving these objectives," Bein said. "Increasingly, these types of efforts are required to continue advancing the field, thereby informing policymakers and stakeholders about how best to protect human health."Other study co-authors include: Eduardo González and Anthony Valenzuela, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine; Elizabeth Berg, UC Davis School of Medicine; Christopher Wallis, UC Davis Air Quality Research Center; Joel Garbrow, Washington University; and Jill Silverman at the UC Davis MIND Institute and School of Medicine. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200617121502.htm | Why the Mediterranean is a climate change hotspot | Although global climate models vary in many ways, they agree on this: The Mediterranean region will be significantly drier in coming decades, potentially seeing 40 percent less precipitation during the winter rainy season. | An analysis by researchers at MIT has now found the underlying mechanisms that explain the anomalous effects in this region, especially in the Middle East and in northwest Africa. The analysis could help refine the models and add certainty to their projections, which have significant implications for the management of water resources and agriculture in the region.The study, published last week in the Journal of Climate, was carried out by MIT graduate student Alexandre Tuel and professor of civil and environmental engineering Elfatih Eltahir.The different global circulation models of the Earth's changing climate agree that temperatures virtually everywhere will increase, and in most places so will rainfall, in part because warmer air can carry more water vapor. However, "There is one major exception, and that is the Mediterranean area," Eltahir says, which shows the greatest decline of projected rainfall of any landmass on Earth."With all their differences, the models all seem to agree that this is going to happen," he says, although they differ on the amount of the decline, ranging from 10 percent to 60 percent. But nobody had previously been able to explain why.Tuel and Eltahir found that this projected drying of the Mediterranean region is a result of the confluence of two different effects of a warming climate: a change in the dynamics of upper atmosphere circulation and a reduction in the temperature difference between land and sea. Neither factor by itself would be sufficient to account for the anomalous reduction in rainfall, but in combination the two phenomena can fully account for the unique drying trend seen in the models.The first effect is a large-scale phenomenon, related to powerful high-altitude winds called the midlatitude jet stream, which drive a strong, steady west-to-east weather pattern across Europe, Asia, and North America. Tuel says the models show that "one of the robust things that happens with climate change is that as you increase the global temperature, you're going to increase the strength of these midlatitude jets."But in the Northern Hemisphere, those winds run into obstacles, with mountain ranges including the Rockies, Alps, and Himalayas, and these collectively impart a kind of wave pattern onto this steady circulation, resulting in alternating zones of higher and lower air pressure. High pressure is associated with clear, dry air, and low pressure with wetter air and storm systems. But as the air gets warmer, this wave pattern gets altered."It just happened that the geography of where the Mediterranean is, and where the mountains are, impacts the pattern of air flow high in the atmosphere in a way that creates a high pressure area over the Mediterranean," Tuel explains. That high-pressure area creates a dry zone with little precipitation.However, that effect alone can't account for the projected Mediterranean drying. That requires the addition of a second mechanism, the reduction of the temperature difference between land and sea. That difference, which helps to drive winds, will also be greatly reduced by climate change, because the land is warming up much faster than the seas."What's really different about the Mediterranean compared to other regions is the geography," Tuel says. "Basically, you have a big sea enclosed by continents, which doesn't really occur anywhere else in the world." While models show the surrounding landmasses warming by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius over the coming century, the sea itself will only warm by about 2 degrees or so. "Basically, the difference between the water and the land becomes a smaller with time," he says.That, in turn, amplifies the pressure differential, adding to the high-pressure area that drives a clockwise circulation pattern of winds surrounding the Mediterranean basin. And because of the specifics of local topography, projections show the two areas hardest hit by the drying trend will be the northwest Africa, including Morocco, and the eastern Mediterranean region, including Turkey and the Levant.That trend is not just a projection, but has already become apparent in recent climate trends across the Middle East and western North Africa, the researchers say. "These are areas where we already detect declines in precipitation," Eltahir says. It's possible that these rainfall declines in an already parched region may even have contributed to the political unrest in the region, he says."We document from the observed record of precipitation that this eastern part has already experienced a significant decline of precipitation," Eltahir says. The fact that the underlying physical processes are now understood will help to ensure that these projections should be taken seriously by planners in the region, he says. It will provide much greater confidence, he says, by enabling them "to understand the exact mechanisms by which that change is going to happen."Eltahir has been working with government agencies in Morocco to help them translate this information into concrete planning. "We are trying to take these projections and see what would be the impacts on availability of water," he says. "That potentially will have a lot of impact on how Morocco plans its water resources, and also how they could develop technologies that could help them alleviate those impacts through better management of water at the field scale, or maybe through precision agriculture using higher technology."The work was supported by the collaborative research program between Université Mohamed VI Polytechnique in Morocco and MIT. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 17, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200617090958.htm | Half of the world's population exposed to increasing air pollution | Half of the world's population is exposed to increasing air pollution, new research has shown. | A team of researchers, led by Professor Gavin Shaddick at the University of Exeter, has shown that, despite global efforts to improve air quality, vast swathes of the world's population are experiencing increased levels of air pollution.The study, carried out with the World Health Organisation, suggests that air pollution constitutes a major, and in many areas increasing, threat to public health.The research is published in leading journal Professor Shaddick, Chair of Data Science & Statistics at the University of Exeter said: "While long-term policies to reduce air pollution have been shown to be effective in many regions, notably in Europe and the United States, there are still regions that have dangerously high levels of air pollution, some as much as five times greater than World Health Organization guidelines, and in some countries air pollution is still increasing."The World Health Organization has estimated that more than four million deaths annually can be attributed to outdoor air pollution.Major sources of fine particulate matter air pollution include the inefficient use of energy by households, industry, the agriculture and transport sectors, and coal-fired power plants. In some regions, sand and desert dust, waste burning and deforestation are additional sources of air pollution.Although air pollution affects high and low-income countries alike, low- and middle-income countries experience the highest burden, with the highest concentrations seen in Central, Eastern Southern and South-Eastern Asia.For the study, the research team examined trends in global air quality between 2010 and 2016, against a backdrop of global efforts to reduce air pollution, both through short and long term policies.The team used ground monitoring data together with information from satellite retrievals of aerosol optical depth, chemical transport models and other sources to provide yearly air quality profiles for individual countries, regions and globally.This methodology constitutes a major advance in the ability to track progress towards the air quality-related indicators of United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, and to expand the evidence base of the impacts of air pollution on health.Professor Shaddick added: "Although precise quantification of the outcomes of specific policies is difficult, coupling the evidence for effective interventions with global, regional and local trends in air pollution can provide essential information for the evidence base that is key in informing and monitoring future policies." | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 16, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200616113915.htm | New species extinction target proposed for global nature rescue plan | The 10-year plan for conserving biodiversity adopted as part of the International Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) failed to reach its targets for 2020. A scientist from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) proposes therefore a prominent political target to give discussions of species conservation more vigor. Together with a group of experts from other research institutions, he proposes to limit species extinctions to 20 per year. This is reported in | The 2-degree target of the Paris Agreement aims to make climate policy focus on the measures needed to stop climate change. But such a target does not exist for species conservation. "Humankind depends on biodiversity," says Professor Mark Rounsevell, Head of the Land Use Change and Climate Research Group of the Atmospheric Environmental Research Division of KIT's Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research. "Without the services provided by ecosystems, such as crop pollination by insects, we lack the fundamental basis of our life support system. Politics needs a clear target to conserve biological diversity in order to maintain the supply of ecosytem services." In the opinion of Rounsevell and a group of other researchers, their demand to lower species extinctions to 20 per year over the next 100 years is easy to communicate and measure. The scientists would like to see this target included in the CBD that will be newly negotiated next year. The last 20 so-called Aichi biodiversity targets agreed upon by the CBD signatories covered worldwide protection of ecosystems and support of sustainability, among others.The proposal of Rounsevell and other experts is based on existing studies of the stress limit of our planet. In addition to ocean acidification, air pollution, or freshwater consumption, loss of biodiversity is a major factor that might irrevocably endanger the stability of worldwide ecosystems. When exceeding a certain threshold value, researchers expect long-term negative impacts on the environment. To prevent these, species extinction should not exceed more than ten times the background (i.e. prehistorical) rates. "With presently about two million species described, this corresponds to about 20 extinct species per year," Rounsevell says. "This includes all fungi, plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates as well as all ecosystem types, whether terrestrial, freshwater, or marine." In the longer term (beyond 100 years) the ambition should be to return extinctions to background rates.As the species extinction rate has increased continuously to date, far-reaching political measures would be required to reach the target of the biodiversity researchers. This would positively affect the overall state of ecosystems. The 2-degree target in climate protection works in a similar way. Although temperature is just one of several factors used to represent the complex climate system, the measures required to reach this target will improve climate protection in general. A reduced temperature increase will indirectly affect the rise of the sea level or the occurrence of weather extremes, such as storms or strong rainfall.Potential action options proposed by Rounsevell and the group of researchers based on recommendations by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) include extension of nature protection areas, increased funding of species protection, further development of ecolabels, or strict prosecution of wildlife trade. As biodiversity varies greatly at the regional level, Rounsevell considers it important to adapt political measures to local and regional conditions. "Each country has to develop its own catalog of measures and to take responsibility for reaching the target," the environmental researcher says. Success of the new approach to species protection should be monitored continuously. "To find out how the rate of species extinction will develop, large-scale monitoring projects will be required," Rounsevell says. If the efforts to protect biodiversity are successful, then the the number of extinct species per year can be reduced to lower values later on. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 15, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200615100929.htm | Exposure to air pollution impairs cellular energy metabolism | Exposure to air particulate matter impairs the metabolism of olfactory mucosal cells, according to a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland. The results can contribute to a better understanding of how air pollutants may harm brain health, as the olfactory mucosa can act as a key pathway to the brain. | In the last decade, the adverse effects of ambient air pollutants, including particulate matter, on the central nervous system is increasingly reported by epidemiological, animal and post-mortem studies. Exposure to air pollutants has been associated with neurodegenerative disorders, among other things. The association of air pollutant exposure with deteriorating brain health is speculated to be driven by particulate matter entry via the olfactory mucosa, a neural tissue located at the upper part of the nasal cavity. The olfactory mucosa consists of a mixture of diverse cell types that are important for the sense of smell, as the only neural tissue outside of the brain. It acts as a first line of defence against inhaled agents, including air pollutants. How air pollutant exposure affects this key brain entry site remains elusive.The original research article published in Using sophisticated functional measurements and transcriptomic analyses, the researchers found that particulate matter exposure causes critical impairment in the metabolism of olfactory mucosal cells. These functions of mitochondria, the cellular organelles responsible for energy production, are disturbed by air pollutants. The researchers also identified the mitochondria-targeted NPTX1 gene, which has been shown previously to be associated with brain disorders, as a key driver of mitochondrial dysfunction upon particulate matter exposure.According to Associate Professor Kanninen, the research carried out at the University of Eastern Finland may provide important insight into the effects of harmful environmental agents on the brain."Given the importance of the nasal cavity as a potential gateway to the brain by particles and external invaders, I believe that more studies should focus on discovering how exposure to environmental agents and factors affects the olfactory mucosa. This may one day lead to new ways of limiting the adverse health effects of airborne particle exposure," Associate Professor Kanninen notes. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 12, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200612111434.htm | Radioactive cloud over Europe had civilian background | A mysterious cloud containing radioactive ruthenium-106, which moved across Europe in autumn 2017, is still bothering Europe's radiation protection entities. Although the activity concentrations were innocuous, they reached up to 100 times the levels of what had been detected over Europe in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident. Since no government has assumed responsibility so far, a military background could not be ruled out. | Researchers at the Leibniz University Hannover and the University of Münster (both Germany) now found out that the cloud did not originate from military sources -- but rather from civilian nuclear activities. Hence, the release of ruthenium from a reprocessing plant for nuclear fuels is the most conclusive scenario for explaining the incident in autumn 2017. The study has been published in the journal It is impossible to make a clear distinction between civilian and military sources solely based on measurements of radioactive isotopes of ruthenium. For the first time, researchers from the Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection at Leibniz University of Hannover and the Institute of Planetology at Münster University succeeded in quantifying stable ruthenium isotopes in air filters that were released with the radioactive ruthenium.Within the scope of the study, the team left conventional scientific paths: "We usually measure ruthenium isotopes to study the formation history of Earth," says Prof. Thorsten Kleine from the University of Münster, adding that the methods originally developed to address research questions in planetology were instrumental in solving this mystery. The fact that the airborne ruthenium stemming from nuclear activities occurred in minuscule amounts and were diluted with natural stable ruthenium presented a significant challenge.Through the clean chemical separation of ruthenium fractions from air filters and subsequent high-precision measurements via mass spectrometry, the researchers determined the ratio of stable ruthenium from the nuclear source. The ruthenium isotopic ratios found in the filter are consistent with the signature of a civilian source, in particular the signature of spent nuclear fuel from a nuclear power plant. A military background (such as the production of weapons-grade plutonium) can be ruled out.Furthermore, high-precision measurements enabled the researchers to draw further conclusions. "The isotope signature discovered in the air filter exhibits no similarities with nuclear fuels of conventional Western pressurised or boiling water reactors. Instead, it is consistent with the isotope signature of a specific type of Russian pressurised water reactors -- the VVER series. Worldwide, approximately 20 reactors of this type of VVER are currently operational," specifies Professor Georg Steinhauser from Leibniz University Hannover. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 10, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200610120955.htm | Considering health when switching to cleaner electricity | Power plants that burn coal and other fossil fuels emit not only planet-warming carbon dioxide, but also pollutants linked to breathing problems and premature death. Policies proposed to mitigate climate change, however, often fail to fully account for the health benefit of switching to cleaner technologies. In a new study published in ACS' | Location matters little for carbon dioxide emissions -- no matter where the gas is emitted, it eventually mixes into the atmosphere and contributes to global climate change. However, location makes a big difference for air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, since those emissions tend to concentrate near their source and can impact the health of people living nearby. Studies have been exploring the connection between reducing climate-warming emissions and healthier air, and how that plays out at a local level. But Brian Sergi, Inês Azevedo and colleagues wanted to take an even more granular, county-by-county approach to assess how a combined climate-and-health-driven strategy for the U.S. electricity system might play out compared to one prioritizing only climate.In the study, the researchers started out with a goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 30%. Using computer models, they examined the effects of two approaches: one in which reducing carbon dioxide is the only goal, and another in which reducing both carbon dioxide and local air pollution are prioritized equally. These two scenarios produced markedly different results for some states. When undertaken with only climate implications (carbon dioxide levels) in mind, the transition to cleaner power required retiring many coal-powered plants in the West and Southwest. However, when health (pollution levels) was also considered, it was better to retire more coal-powered plants in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. The combined approach could help states better determine how to prioritize upgrades for power plants within their borders, the researchers say. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 9, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200609122912.htm | Water vapor in the atmosphere may be prime renewable energy source | The search for renewable energy sources, which include wind, solar, hydroelectric dams, geothermal, and biomass, has preoccupied scientists and policymakers alike, due to their enormous potential in the fight against climate change. A new Tel Aviv University study finds that water vapor in the atmosphere may serve as a potential renewable energy source in the future. | The research, led by Prof. Colin Price in collaboration with Prof. Hadas Saaroni and doctoral student Judi Lax, all of TAU's Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, is based on the discovery that electricity materializes in the interaction between water molecules and metal surfaces. It was published in "We sought to capitalize on a naturally occurring phenomenon: electricity from water," explains Prof. Price. "Electricity in thunderstorms is generated only by water in its different phases -- water vapor, water droplets, and ice. Twenty minutes of cloud development is how we get from water droplets to huge electric discharges -- lightning -- some half a mile in length."The researchers set out to try to produce a tiny low-voltage battery that utilizes only humidity in the air, building on the findings of earlier discoveries. In the nineteenth century, for example, English physicist Michael Faraday discovered that water droplets could charge metal surfaces due to friction between the two. A much more recent study showed that certain metals spontaneously build up an electrical charge when exposed to humidity.The scientists conducted a laboratory experiment to determine the voltage between two different metals exposed to high relative humidity, while one is grounded. "We found that there was no voltage between them when the air was dry," Prof. Price explains. "But once the relative humidity rose above 60%, a voltage began to develop between the two isolated metal surfaces. When we lowered the humidity level to below 60%, the voltage disappeared. When we carried out the experiment outside in natural conditions, we saw the same results."Water is a very special molecule. During molecular collisions, it can transfer an electrical charge from one molecule to the other. Through friction, it can build up a kind of static electricity," says Prof. Price. "We tried to reproduce electricity in the lab and found that different isolated metal surfaces will build up different amounts of charge from water vapor in the atmosphere, but only if the air relative humidity is above 60%. This occurs nearly every day in the summer in Israel and every day in most tropical countries."According to Prof. Price, this study challenges established ideas about humidity and its potential as an energy source. "People know that dry air results in static electricity and you sometimes get 'shocks' you when you touch a metal door handle. Water is normally thought of as a good conductor of electricity, not something that can build up charge on a surface. However, it seems that things are different once the relative humidity exceeds a certain threshold," he says.The researchers, however, showed that humid air may be a source of charging surfaces to voltages of around one volt. "If a AA battery is 1.5V, there may be a practical application in the future: to develop batteries that can be charged from water vapor in the air," Prof. Price adds."The results may be particularly important as a renewable source of energy in developing countries, where many communities still do not have access to electricity, but the humidity is constantly about 60%," Prof. Price concludes. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 4, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200604111645.htm | Peatland drainage in Southeast Asia adds to climate change | In less than three decades, most of Southeast Asia's peatlands have been wholly or partially deforested, drained, and dried out. This has released carbon that accumulated over thousands of years from dead plant matter, and has led to rampant wildfires that spew air pollution and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. | The startling prevalence of such rapid destruction of the peatlands, and their resulting subsidence, is revealed in a new satellite-based study conducted by researchers at MIT and in Singapore and Oregon. The research was published in the journal Tropical peatlands are permanently flooded forest lands, where the debris of fallen leaves and branches is preserved by the wet environment and continues to accumulate for centuries, rather than continually decomposing as it does in dryland forests. When drained and dried, either to create plantations or to build roads or canals to extract the timber, the peat becomes highly flammable. Even when unburned it rapidly decomposes, releasing its accumulated store of carbon. This loss of stored carbon leads to subsidence, the sinking of the ground surface, in vulnerable coastal areas.Until now, measuring the progression of this draining and drying process has required arduous treks through dense forests and wet land, and help from local people who know their way through the remote trackless swampland. There, poles are dug into the ground to provide a reference to measure the subsidence of the land over time as the peat desiccates. The process is arduous and time-consuming, and thus limited in the areas it can cover.Now, Hoyt explains, the team was able to use precise satellite elevation data gathered over a three-year period to get detailed measurements of the degree of subsidence over an area of 2.7 million hectares mostly in Malaysia and Indonesia -- more than 10 percent of the total area covered by peatlands in the Southeast Asia region. Over 90 percent of the peatland area they studied was subsiding, at an average of almost an inch a year (over 1 foot every 15 years). This subsidence poses a threat to these ecosystems, as most coastal peatlands are at or just above sea level."Peatlands are really unique and carbon rich environments and wetland ecosystems," Hoyt says. While most previous attempts to quantify their destruction have focused on a few locations or types of land use, by using the satellite data, she says this work represents "the first time that we can make measurements across many different types of land uses rather than just plantations, and across millions of hectares." This makes it possible to show just how widespread the draining and subsidence of these lands has been."Thirty years ago, or even 20 years ago, this land was covered with pristine rainforest with enormous trees," Harvey says, and that was still the case even when he began doing research in the area. "In 13 years, I've seen almost all of these rainforests just removed. There's almost none at all anymore, in that short period of time."Because peat is composed almost entirely of organic carbon, measuring how much that land has subsided provides a direct measure of the amount of carbon that has been released into the atmosphere. Unlike other kinds of subsidence seen in drier ecosystems, which can result from compaction of soil, in this case the missing depth of peat reflects matter that has actually been decomposed and lost to the air. "It's not just compaction. It's actually mass loss. So measuring rates of subsidence is basically equivalent to measuring emissions of carbon dioxide," says Harvey, who is also a principal investigator at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT's research enterprise in Singapore.Some analysts had previously thought that the draining of peatland forests to make way for palm oil plantations was the major cause of peatland loss, but the new study shows that subsidence is widespread across peatlands under a diverse set of land uses. This subsidence is driven by the drainage of tropical peatlands, mostly for the expansion of agriculture, as well as from other causes, such as creating canals for floating timber out of the forests, and digging drainage ditches alongside roads, which can drain large surrounding areas. All of these factors, it turns out, have contributed significantly to the extreme loss of peatlands in the region.One longstanding controversy that this new research could help to address is how long the peatland subsidence continues after the lands are drained. Plantation owners have said that this is temporary and the land quickly stabilizes, while some conservation advocates say the process continues, leaving large regions highly vulnerable to flooding as sea levels rise, since most of these lands are only slightly above sea level. The new data suggest that the rate of subsidence continues over time, though the rate does slow down.The satellite measurements used for this study were gathered between 2007 and 2011 using a method called Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), which can detect changes in surface elevation with an accuracy of centimeters or even millimeters. Though the satellites that produced these data sets are no longer in operation, newer Japanese satellites are now gathering similar data, and the team hopes to do followup studies using some of the newer data."This is definitely a proof of concept on how satellite data can help us understand environmental changes happening across the whole region," Hoyt says. That could help in monitoring regional greenhouse gas output, but could also help in implementing and monitoring local regulations on land use. "This has really exciting management implications, because it could allow us to verify management practices and track hotspots of subsidence," she says.While there has been little interest in the region in curbing peatland drainage in order to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the serious risk of uncontrollable fires in these dried peatlands provides a strong motivation to try to preserve and restore these ecosystems, Harvey says. "These plumes of smoke that engulf the region are a problem that everyone there recognizes."The research team also included Estelle Chaussard of the University of Oregon and Sandra Seppalainen SB '16. The work was supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) program, the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), the National Science Foundation, and MIT's Environmental Solutions Initiative. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 3, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603100447.htm | Living near oil and gas wells tied to low birth weights in infants | Living near active oil and gas wells may put pregnant people at higher risk of having low birth weight babies, especially in rural areas, finds a new study of birth outcomes in California. | The study, funded by the California Air Resources Board, is one of the largest of its kind and the first in the state. It analyzed the records of nearly 3 million births to people living within 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) of at least one oil or gas well between 2006 and 2015. Unlike previous studies, it examined births in both rural and urban areas, and people living near both active and inactive oil and gas sites.The study found that, in rural areas, pregnant people who lived within 0.62 miles (1 kilometer) of the highest producing wells were 40% more likely to have low birth weight babies and 20% more likely to have babies who were small for their gestational age compared to people living farther away from wells or near inactive wells only. Among term births, babies were 1.3 ounces (36 grams) smaller, on average, than those of their counterparts.People living near active wells in urban areas also had slightly increased odds of having small for gestational age babies than their counterparts. The study did not find a significant relationship between proximity to oil and gas wells and premature births."Being born of low birth weight or small for gestational age can affect the development of newborns and increase their risk of health problems in early childhood and even into adulthood," said Rachel Morello-Frosch, a professor of public health and of environmental science, policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley, and senior author of the paper. "When you see a shift of over 30 grams of birth weight among term infants, from an individual clinical perspective, it may not seem like a lot. But when you see that kind of large population shift in birth weight -- that can have significant population level implications for infant and children's health."The findings, published June 3 in the journal Oil production in California has generally declined over the past three decades, and Gov. Gavin Newsom last year issued stricter regulations on new fracking permits in the state. However, the state issued 24 new fracking permits in early April, and another 282 are awaiting review."This study is the first to characterize the implications for perinatal health of active oil and gas production in the state, and I think the results can inform decision-making in regulatory enforcement and permitting activities." Morello-Frosch said. "Results from health studies such as ours support recent efforts to increase buffers between active well activities and where people live, go to school and play. This scientific evidence of adverse health effects facing vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, should be taken into account as Californians debate the extent to which we to want to expand oil and gas drilling in our state."Previous research linking oil and gas production to adverse birth outcomes has examined people living near fracking sites in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Texas. Oil production in California differs from some of these other regions because the infrastructure is generally much older, and the state has a high number of inactive wells.In addition, because of the geology of the region, many of the sites use enhancement techniques, including fracking and steam and water injection, to access oil reserves, said study lead author Kathy Tran, a graduate student in environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley,"Even though the California oil and gas industry dates back to the early 1900s, there hasn't been any analysis looking at potential health effects related to oil and gas exposure," Tran said.Both active and inactive oil and gas sites create a myriad of environmental hazards that have the potential to impact perinatal health, including air and water pollutants, noise and excessive lighting. However, with limited access to the production sites themselves, it can be hard for researchers to pinpoint precisely what factors might be contributing to adverse birth outcomes."A lot of the equipment that's being operated on site is a contributor to air pollution, but how much air pollution is an unknown because the inventory industry reports are estimated based on emissions factors, as opposed to measured emissions levels." Tran said. "We assume that with greater production volume, the equipment is being used more intensively. And for that reason, that may be a significant contributor to why we see some impacts related to adverse birth outcomes."The study corrected for a variety of demographic factors that might also impact birth outcomes, including race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, maternal education and other neighborhood-level factors, including other sources of air pollution.While it's unclear why the differences in birth weight were more pronounced in rural areas than in urban areas, the researchers hypothesize that other factors -- such as differences in indoor air quality, maternal occupation or housing conditions -- may have impacted the results.In the future, Tran hopes that measurements of people's actual exposure to potentially toxic pollutants from oil and gas sites will help pinpoint the culprits behind these findings."Because researchers don't have direct access to the actual oil and gas sites, it's hard to get a good estimate of what people actually experience," Tran said. "Obviously, things like wind direction and water movement and other environmental conditions factor into personal exposure, as well. And for that reason, the more in-depth exposure assessment we can get, the more we can really understand why we are seeing the effects that we see."Co-authors of the study include Joan A. Casey of Columbia University and Lara J. Cushing of San Francisco State University.The California Air Resources Board (CARB) provided primary funding for this study (grant #18RD018) as part of its overall approach to determine the impacts of oil and gas operations on public health in California. Additional funding support was provided by the 11th Hour Project, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant K99/R00 ES027023, the UC Berkeley SAGE IGERT Fellowship and National Science Foundation grant #1144885. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 2, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200602151315.htm | Reflecting sunlight to cool the planet will cause other global changes | How can the world combat the continued rise in global temperatures? How about shading the Earth from a portion of the sun's heat by injecting the stratosphere with reflective aerosols? After all, volcanoes do essentially the same thing, albeit in short, dramatic bursts: When a Vesuvius erupts, it blasts fine ash into the atmosphere, where the particles can linger as a kind of cloud cover, reflecting solar radiation back into space and temporarily cooling the planet. | Some researchers are exploring proposals to engineer similar effects, for example by launching reflective aerosols into the stratosphere -- via planes, balloons, and even blimps -- in order to block the sun's heat and counteract global warming. But such solar geoengineering schemes, as they are known, could have other long-lasting effects on the climate.Now scientists at MIT have found that solar geoengineering would significantly change extratropical storm tracks -- the zones in the middle and high latitudes where storms form year-round and are steered by the jet stream across the oceans and land. Extratropical storm tracks give rise to extratropical cyclones, and not their tropical cousins, hurricanes. The strength of extratropical storm tracks determines the severity and frequency of storms such as nor'easters in the United States.The team considered an idealized scenario in which solar radiation was reflected enough to offset the warming that would occur if carbon dioxide were to quadruple in concentration. In a number of global climate models under this scenario, the strength of storm tracks in both the northern and southern hemispheres weakened significantly in response.Weakened storm tracks would mean less powerful winter storms, but the team cautions that weaker storm tracks also lead to stagnant conditions, particularly in summer, and less wind to clear away air pollution. Changes in winds could also affect the circulation of ocean waters and, in turn, the stability of ice sheets."About half the world's population lives in the extratropical regions where storm tracks dominate weather," says Charles Gertler, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). "Our results show that solar geoengineering will not simply reverse climate change. Instead, it has the potential itself to induce novel changes in climate."Gertler and his colleagues have published their results this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Co-authors include EAPS Professor Paul O'Gorman, along with Ben Kravitz of Indiana State University, John Moore of Beijing Normal University, Steven Phipps of the University of Tasmania, and Shingo Watanabe of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and TechnologyScientists have previously modeled what Earth's climate might look like if solar geoengineering scenarios were to play out on a global scale, with mixed results. On the one hand, spraying aerosols into the stratosphere would reduce incoming solar heat and, to a degree, counteract the warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions. On the other hand, such cooling of the planet would not prevent other greenhouse gas-induced effects such as regional reductions in rainfall and ocean acidification.There have also been signs that intentionally reducing solar radiation would shrink the temperature difference between the Earth's equator and poles or, in climate parlance, weaken the planet's meridional temperature gradient, cooling the equator while the poles continue to warm. This last consequence was especially intriguing to Gertler and O'Gorman."Storm tracks feed off of meridional temperature gradients, and storm tracks are interesting because they help us to understand weather extremes," Gertler says. "So we were interested in how geoengineering affects storm tracks."The team looked at how extratropical storm tracks might change under a scenario of solar geoengineering known to climate scientists as experiment G1 of the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP), a project that provides various geoengineering scenarios for scientists to run on climate models to assess their various climate effects.The G1 experiment assumes an idealized scenario in which a solar geoengineering scheme blocks enough solar radiation to counterbalance the warming that would occur if carbon dioxide concentrations were to quadruple.The researchers used results from various climate models run forward in time under the conditions of the G1 experiment. They also used results from a more sophisticated geoengineering scenario with doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations and aerosols injected into the stratosphere at more than one latitude. In each model they recorded the day-to-day change in air pressure at sea level pressure at various locations along the storm tracks. These changes reflect the passage of storms and measure a storm track's energy."If we look at the variance in sea level pressure, we have a sense of how often and how strongly cyclones pass over each area," Gertler explains. "We then average the variance across the whole extratropical region, to get an average value of storm track strength for the northern and southern hemispheres."Their results, across climate models, showed that solar geoengineering would weaken storm tracks in both Northern and Southern hemispheres. Depending on the scenario they considered, the storm track in the Northern Hemisphere would be 5 to 17 percent weaker than it is today."A weakened storm track, in both hemispheres, would mean weaker winter storms but also lead to more stagnant weather, which could affect heat waves," Gertler says. "Across all seasons, this could affect ventilation of air pollution. It also may contribute to a weakening of the hydrological cycle, with regional reductions in rainfall. These are not good changes, compared to a baseline climate that we are used to."The researchers were curious to see how the same storm tracks would respond to just global warming alone, without the addition of social geoengineering, so they ran the climate models again under several warming-only scenarios. Surprisingly, they found that, in the northern hemisphere, global warming would also weaken storm tracks, by the same magnitude as with the addition of solar geoengineering. This suggests solar geoengineering, and efforts to cool the Earth by reducing incoming heat, would not do much to alter global warming's effects, at least on storm tracks -- a puzzling outcome that the researchers are unsure how to explain.In the Southern Hemisphere, there is a slightly different story. They found that global warming alone would strengthen storm tracks there, whereas the addition of solar geoengineering would prevent this strengthening, and even further, would weaken the storm tracks there."In the Southern Hemisphere, winds drive ocean circulation, which in turn could affect uptake of carbon dioxide, and the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet," O'Gorman adds. "So how storm tracks change over the Southern Hemisphere is quite important."The team also observed that the weakening of storm tracks was strongly correlated with changes in temperature and humidity. Specifically, the climate models showed that in response to reduced incoming solar radiation, the equator cooled significantly as the poles continued to warm. This reduced temperature gradient appears to be sufficient to explain the weakening storm tracks -- a result that the group is the first to demonstrate."This work highlights that solar geoengineering is not reversing climate change, but is substituting one unprecedented climate state for another," Gertler says. "Reflecting sunlight isn't a perfect counterbalance to the greenhouse effect."Adds O'Gorman: "There are multiple reasons to avoid doing this, and instead to favor reducing emissions of COThis research was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Industry and Foundation sponsors of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 2, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200602110059.htm | Tiger snakes tell more about local wetlands' pollution levels | Tiger snakes living in Perth's urban wetlands are accumulating toxic heavy metals in their livers, suggesting that their habitats -- critical, local ecosystems -- are contaminated and the species may be suffering as a result. | Lead researcher PhD Candidate Mr Damian Lettoof, from the Behavioural Ecology Lab in the School of Molecular and Life Sciences at Curtin University, said that not only were the snakes' livers shown to contain moderately high levels of heavy metals, but sediment samples taken from some of the wetlands sites were found to have amounts of arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium that exceed current government guidelines."Urban wetlands are almost always polluted, commonly from contaminated storm water, past or present dumping of waste, and spill events," Mr Lettoof said."Wetlands areas are usually situated at low points in the landscape, so unfortunately, a lot of urban run-off ends up in them. Generally speaking, the longer the wetland has been urbanised, the higher the levels of pollution."It's important to note that many heavy metals exist naturally in the wetlands sediment and surrounding rocks, in low concentrations, which may cause some heavy metals to leach in to the wetlands environment."However, the high concentrations of heavy metals we found in the snakes' livers and sediment samples suggest urbanisation and human-induced pollution are the cause, and consequently could be affecting local snake populations," Mr Lettoof said.The study found the metal concentrations in the snake livers were collectively highest in Perth's most urbanised wetland: Herdsman Lake in the north western suburbs."Snakes tested from Herdsman Lake also had the highest concentration of the metal molybdenum ever reported in a terrestrial reptile, in the world," Mr Lettoof said."Continuous, chronic exposure to contaminants can have a range of impacts on the health and behaviour of animals. The contaminated populations could be suffering poorer health conditions, leading to shorter lifespans, higher predation, and ultimately, local extinction with cascading consequences such as reduced local biodiversity."Collectively, Lake Joondalup had the lowest levels of metals. The researchers also analysed samples from Bibra Lake and Loch McNess in Yanchep National Park.Tiger snakes are a top predator in the wetlands environment, and most likely have bioaccumulated the heavy metals through eating frogs, which are very sensitive to accumulating contaminants.The Curtin University study was the first of its kind in Australia to show that snakes are a good bio-indicator of wetland contamination, and highlights the use of monitoring snake populations as an important indicator species of environmental health. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 2, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200601134608.htm | COVID-19 could be a seasonal illness with higher risk in winter | A study conducted in Sydney during the early epidemic stage of COVID-19 has found an association between lower humidity and an increase in locally acquired positive cases. Researchers discovered a 1 percent decrease in humidity could increase the number of COVID-19 cases by 6 percent. | The research led by Professor Michael Ward, an epidemiologist in the Sydney School of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney, and two researchers from partner institution Fudan University School of Public Health in Shanghai, China, is the first peer-reviewed study of a relationship between climate and COVID-19 in the southern hemisphere."COVID-19 is likely to be a seasonal disease that recurs in periods of lower humidity. We need to be thinking if it's winter time, it could be COVID-19 time," said Professor Ward.The study is published today in Further studies -- including during winter in the southern hemisphere -- are needed to determine how this relationship works and the extent to which it drives COVID-19 case notification rates.Previous research has identified a link between climate and occurrence of SARS-CoV cases in Hong Kong and China, and MERS-CoV cases in Saudi Arabia, and a recent study on the COVID-19 outbreak in China found an association between transmission and daily temperature and relative humidity."The pandemic in China, Europe and North America happened in winter so we were interested to see if the association between COVID-19 cases and climate was different in Australia in late summer and early autumn," Professor Ward said."When it comes to climate, we found that lower humidity is the main driver here, rather than colder temperatures," Professor Ward said. "It means we may see an increased risk in winter here, when we have a drop in humidity. But in the northern hemisphere, in areas with lower humidity or during periods when humidity drops, there might be a risk even during the summer months. So vigilance must be maintained."Professor Ward said there are biological reasons why humidity matters in transmission of airborne viruses."When the humidity is lower, the air is drier and it makes the aerosols smaller," he said. "When you sneeze and cough those smaller infectious aerosols can stay suspended in the air for longer. That increases the exposure for other people. When the air is humid and the aerosols are larger and heavier, they fall and hit surfaces quicker."Professor Ward and his team studied 749 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 -- mostly in the Greater Sydney area of the state of New South Wales -- between February 26 and March 31. The team matched the patients' postcodes with the nearest weather observation station and studied the rainfall, temperature and humidity for the period January to March 2020.The study found lower humidity was associated with an increased case notifications; a reduction in relative humidity of 1 percent was predicted to be associated with an increase of COVID-19 cases by 6 percent."This means we need to be careful coming into a dry winter," Professor Ward said, adding that the average humidity in Sydney is lowest in August."Even though the cases of COVID-19 have gone down in Australia, we still need to be vigilant and public health systems need to be aware of potentially increased risk when we are in a period of low humidity," Professor Ward said. "Ongoing testing and surveillance remain critical as we enter the winter months, when conditions may favour coronavirus spread."Professor Ward said the study was limited to cases contracted in the summer months mostly in and around Sydney, so further research is needed in the months to come and further afield. In winter, cooler temperatures may be also be a factor. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 1, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200601194137.htm | Atmospheric scientists identify cleanest air on Earth in first-of-its-kind study | Colorado State University Distinguished Professor Sonia Kreidenweis and her research group identified an atmospheric region unchanged by human-related activities in the first study to measure bioaerosol composition of the Southern Ocean south of 40 degrees south latitude. | Kreidenweis' group, based in the Department of Atmospheric Science, found the boundary layer air that feeds the lower clouds over the Southern Ocean to be pristine -- free from particles, called aerosols, produced by anthropogenic activities or transported from distant lands. Their findings are published in Weather and climate are complex processes connecting each part of the world to every other region, and with climate changing rapidly as a result of human activity, it's difficult to find any area or process on Earth untouched by people. Kreidenweis and her team suspected the air directly over the remote Southern Ocean that encircles Antarctica would be least affected by humans and dust from continents. They set out to discover what was in the air and where it came from."We were able to use the bacteria in the air over the Southern Ocean as a diagnostic tool to infer key properties of the lower atmosphere," said research scientist Thomas Hill, coauthor on the study. "For example, that the aerosols controlling the properties of SO clouds are strongly linked to ocean biological processes, and that Antarctica appears to be isolated from southward dispersal of microorganisms and nutrient deposition from southern continents. Overall, it suggests that the SO is one of very few places on Earth that has been minimally affected by anthropogenic activities."Samples were collected during the NSF-funded SOCRATES field campaign, led by research scientist and coauthor Paul DeMott. Graduate student Kathryn Moore sampled the air in the marine boundary layer, the lower part of the atmosphere that has direct contact with the ocean, aboard the Research Vessel Investigator as it steamed south from Tasmania to the Antarctic ice edge. Research scientist and first author Jun Uetake examined the composition of airborne microbes captured from the ship. The atmosphere is full of these microorganisms dispersed over hundreds to thousands of kilometers by wind.Using DNA sequencing, source tracking and wind back trajectories, Uetake determined the microbes' origins were marine, sourced from the ocean. Bacterial composition also was differentiated into broad latitudinal zones, suggesting aerosols from distant land masses and human activities, such as pollution or soil emissions driven by land use change, were not traveling south into Antarctic air.These results counter all other studies from oceans in the subtropics and northern hemisphere, which found that most microbes came from upwind continents. Plants and soil are strong sources of particles that trigger freezing of supercooled cloud droplets, known as ice-nucleating particles. This process reduces cloud reflectivity and enhances precipitation, increasing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface and altering Earth's radiative balance.Over the Southern Ocean, sea spray emissions dominate the material available for forming liquid cloud droplets. Ice-nucleating particle concentrations, rare in seawater, are the lowest recorded anywhere on the planet.The air over the Southern Ocean was so clean that there was very little DNA to work with. Hill attributed the quality of their results to Uetake and Moore's clean lab process."Jun and Kathryn, at every stage, treated the samples as precious items, taking exceptional care and using the cleanest technique to prevent contamination from bacterial DNA in the lab and reagents," Hill said. | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 1, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200601113335.htm | Dry air drives overlooked changes in how plants drink and breathe | Plants drink up much of the water that falls to Earth. They take what they need before releasing it through tiny holes on the underside of their leaves, just as people release water vapor with every exhale. | How much a plant drinks and the rate at which it releases water, or transpires, depends partly on moisture levels in the air and soil. Global warming will shift this process more than previously predicted, according to new research from Stanford University.Published June 1 in "This is good news," said study co-author Alexandra Konings, an assistant professor of Earth system science at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth). Yet there is also a dark side to the findings: While water resources may be less diminished, plant growth and carbon uptake will likely suffer more than most models predict."Whether plants will fare better in future droughts is a more complex question," said lead author Yanlan Liu, a postdoctoral scholar in Konings' lab. "But now we know plants will use less water than expected."For agricultural crops, this means the best available estimates of future water needs, growth and vulnerability are "likely to be incorrect" during periods when the atmosphere is very dry, said another of the study's authors, Mukesh Kumar, who is an associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at University of Alabama.The scientists looked specifically at a component of climate models that estimates evapotranspiration, which refers to the rate at which Earth's land surface and plants return water to the atmosphere. "So much of the water balance in any given ecosystem goes to evapotranspiration, it has implications for how much water is left over for water resources for people," Konings said. "It also has big effects on weather and climate."A common modeling approach treats this dynamic process more or less as a function of soil moisture. "That's not realistic because vegetation responds to drought based on the amount of water inside the leaves," Konings said.Few climate models try to disentangle the effects of dry soil and dry air when predicting changes in evapotranspiration. "The models in use right now work really well if you're averaging wet and dry conditions over multiple years, but not in times of drought," said Konings, who is also a center fellow, by courtesy, at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.This entanglement becomes increasingly problematic under climate change. In some hot spots around the globe, episodes of dangerously humid heat are striking with growing severity and frequency. But as temperatures rise, Konings said, most droughts will be accompanied by relatively dry air. Hotter air can simply hold more water vapor than cooler air, which means the atmosphere becomes less saturated if it heats up without additional water. As a result, while future changes in soil moisture are hard to predict and likely to vary by region, she said, "Atmospheric dryness is going to go through the roof."The researchers modeled the effect of this drying on plants' drinking habits by zooming in on responses in the plant hydraulic system -- the pipes and valves inside a plant's roots, stem and leaves. They developed mathematical techniques to derive evapotranspiration rates from a combination of widely available datasets, including records of soil texture, canopy heights, plant types and flows of carbon and water vapor at 40 sites around the world. Then they cross-checked their techniques against limited real-world measurements of evapotranspiration.The development of a hydraulic model, in itself, is not a first. But the researchers went further, comparing the different model approaches to understand the impact of plant hydraulics under various conditions.They found the most widely used approaches for estimating evapotranspiration miss about 40 percent of the effect of dry air. This is like a weather forecast that fails to mention wind chill or stifling humidity. The effect is strongest -- and current predictions are the most off-base -- in places where plants are the least adapted to drought. Konings said, "We were surprised that this had such a big effect." | Pollution | 2,020 |
June 1, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200601101311.htm | Lessening water quality problems caused by hurricane-related flooding | June 1 is the start of hurricane season in the Atlantic, and with 2020 predicted to be particularly active, residents in coastal regions are keeping watchful eyes on the weather. Flooding is often the most damaging effect of tropical storms, and it can disproportionately affect vulnerable people and ecosystems. Now, in ACS' | Water quality problems caused by flooding can threaten the health of humans and wildlife. Rising waters can make wastewater treatment plants, sewers, hazardous waste sites, agricultural lands and animal feeding operations overflow, carrying pollutants into waterways. Flood hazard maps exist to help keep homes and businesses out of flood plains, but the maps aren't always accurate. Danica Schaffer-Smith and colleagues wanted to find out how well the maps predicted actual flooding from two recent hurricanes. They also wanted to identify threats to water quality and find opportunities to improve the area's resilience to future storms.The researchers developed a computer algorithm that, using satellite images, mapped areas in North Carolina flooded by Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018. They found that hurricane flooding occurred beyond the state-mapped flood hazard zones during both storms. When the team correlated the flooded areas to socioeconomic characteristics of the people living there, they found larger impacts on communities that had higher proportions of older adults, people with disabilities, unemployment and mobile homes. The researchers mapped many potential sources of water pollution within the flooded areas, including hazardous waste sites, industrial discharges, wastewater treatment plants, and swine and poultry farms. Certain interventions, such as government land buyouts, forest restoration or wetland conservation, could help lessen the impacts of future hurricanes, the researchers say. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 28, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200528160516.htm | Smart sponge could clean up oil spills | A Northwestern University-led team has developed a highly porous smart sponge that selectively soaks up oil in water. | With an ability to absorb more than 30 times its weight in oil, the sponge could be used to inexpensively and efficiently clean up oil spills without harming marine life. After squeezing the oil out of the sponge, it can be reused many dozens of times without losing its effectiveness."Oil spills have devastating and immediate effects on the environment, human health and economy," said Northwestern's Vinayak Dravid, who led the research. "Although many spills are small and may not make the evening news, they are still profoundly invasive to the ecosystem and surrounding community. Our sponge can remediate these spills in a more economic, efficient and eco-friendly manner than any of the current state-of-the-art solutions."The research was published yesterday (May 27) in the journal Dravid is the Abraham Harris Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering. Vikas Nandwana, a senior research associate in Dravid's laboratory, is the paper's first author.Oil spill clean-up is an expensive and complicated process that often harms marine life and further damages the environment. Currently used solutions include burning the oil, using chemical dispersants to breakdown oil into very small droplets, skimming oil floating on top of water and/or absorbing it with expensive, unrecyclable sorbents."Each approach has its own drawbacks and none are sustainable solutions," Nandwana said. "Burning increases carbon emissions and dispersants are terribly harmful for marine wildlife. Skimmers don't work in rough waters or with thin layers of oil. And sorbents are not only expensive, but they generate a huge amount of physical waste -- similar to the diaper landfill issue."The Northwestern solution bypasses these challenges by selectively absorbing oil and leaving clean water and unaffected marine life behind. The secret lies in a nanocomposite coating of magnetic nanostructures and a carbon-based substrate that is oleophilic (attracts oil), hydrophobic (resists water) and magnetic. The nanocomposite's nanoporous 3D structure selectively interacts with and binds to the oil molecules, capturing and storing the oil until it is squeezed out. The magnetic nanostructures give the smart sponge two additional functionalities: controlled movement in the presence of an external magnetic field and desorption of adsorbed components, such as oil, in a simulated and remote manner.The OHM (oleophobic hydrophobic magnetic) nanocomposite slurry can be used to coat any cheap, commercially available sponge. The researchers applied a thin coating of the slurry to the sponge, squeezed out the excess and let it dry. The sponge is quickly and easily converted into a smart sponge (or "OHM sponge") with a selective affinity for oil.Vinayak and his team tested the OHM sponge with many different types of crude oils of varying density and viscosity. The OHM sponge consistently absorbed up to 30 times its weight in oil, leaving the water behind. To mimic natural waves, researchers put the OHM sponge on a shaker submerged in water. Even after vigorous shaking, the sponge release less than 1% of its absorbed oil back into the water."Our sponge works effectively in diverse and extreme aquatic conditions that have different pH and salinity levels," Dravid said. "We believe we can address a giga-ton problem with a nanoscale solution.""We are excited to introduce such smart sponges as an environmental remediation platform for selectively removing and recovering pollutants present in water, soil and air, such as excess nutrients, heavy metal contaminants, VOC/toxins and others," Nandwana said. "The nanostructure coating can be tailored to selectively adsorb (and later desorb) these pollutants."The team also is working on another grade of OHM sponge that can selectively absorb (and later recover) excess dissolved nutrients, such as phosphates, from fertilizer runoff and agricultural pollution. Stephanie Ribet, a Ph.D. candidate in Dravid's lab and paper coauthor is pursuing this topic. The team plans to develop and commercialize OHM technology for environmental clean-up. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 28, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200528115750.htm | Tackling airborne transmission of COVID-19 indoors | Preventing airborne transmission of Covid-19 should be the next front of the battle against the virus, argue experts from the University of Surrey. | In a study published by the Covid-19, like many viruses, is less than 100mn in size but expiratory droplets (from people who have coughed or sneezed) contain water, salts and other organic material, along with the virus itself. Experts from GCARE and Australia note that as the water content from the droplets evaporate, the microscopic matter becomes small and light enough to stay suspended in the air and over time the concentration of the virus will build up, increasing the risk of infection -- particularly if the air is stagnant like in many indoor environments.The study highlights improving building ventilation as a possible route to tackling indoor transmission of Covid-19.Professor Prashant Kumar, lead author and the Director of the GCARE at the University of Surrey, said: "These past months, living through the Covid-19 crisis, has been truly unprecedented, but we must turn this global tragedy into an opportunity to better prepare for similar threats. An improved indoor ventilation is an important step that can be taken to reduce the risk of infection. However, more must be done to recognise and understand airborne transmission of Covid-19 and similar viruses, to minimise the build-up of virus-laden air in places typically containing high densities of people." | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 27, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200527150200.htm | A potential explanation for urban smog | The effect of nitric acid on aerosol particles in the atmosphere may offer an explanation for the smog seen engulfing cities on frosty days. Under laboratory conditions, researchers at CERN in Switzerland observed the formation of atmospheric aerosols and discovered new information on the link between nitrogen oxides, originating in traffic and the energy industry, and the climate and air quality. These findings were published in the Nature and | Based on the findings, nitrogen compounds can, depending on the circumstances, either slow down or accelerate the growth of aerosol particles. This means that reducing sulphur dioxide is not on its own enough to prevent the smog problem seen in large cities. Instead, a comprehensive understanding of the atmospheric particle formation process is needed.Earlier, nitric acid was not thought to have a significant effect on the formation or early growth of aerosol particles, even though nitrate compounds often occur in larger particles. However, the study published in Nature demonstrates that, in cold climates, nitric acid can boost particle growth to a marked degree, and even form particles together with ammonia in temperatures under -15°C. This is significant, as there are up to a thousand times more nitric acid and ammonia than sulphuric acid in the atmosphere.The discovery could explain why particles are formed even in highly polluted big cities, notwithstanding the established knowledge according to which pollutants should prevent the formation and growth of new particles. The same mechanism may also generate particles higher up in the atmosphere, where the temperature is always cold and nitrogen oxides are produced as a result of lightnings.At the same time, nitrogen oxides also affect the oxidation characteristics of organic compounds in the atmosphere. In the project headed by University of Helsinki researchers, it was found that nitrogen oxides increase the volatility of the oxidation products of organic compounds. As a result, particle growth slows down and a smaller share of particles survive compared to circumstances where the air is clean. In areas where particle growth is promoted mainly by organic compounds, such as in the boreal forest zone, the phenomenon can reduce the number of aerosols that form clouds, indirectly resulting in warming the climate. This study was published in the Both studies are based on laboratory experiments carried out at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The CLOUD chamber at CERN makes it possible to investigate the formation and growth of aerosol particles with unparalleled precision. The Finnish participants in the CLOUD experiments include the University of Helsinki's Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research, the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the University of Eastern Finland. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 26, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200526203600.htm | Substantial quantities of tire particles contaminating rivers and ocean | A major UK government-funded research study suggests particles released from vehicle tyres could be a significant and previously largely unrecorded source of microplastics in the marine environment. | The study is one of the first worldwide to identify tyre particles as a major and additional source of microplastics. Scientists have previously discovered microplastics, originating from microbeads in cosmetics and the degradation of larger items such as carrier bags and plastic bottles, in marine environments globally -- from the deep seas to the Arctic.Following the government's ban on rinse off microbeads, which is one of the toughest in the world, the Defra-funded study led by the University of Plymouth now reveals vital new information that will improve our scientific understanding of how tiny particles from tyres, synthetic fibres from clothing and maritime gear also enter the ocean.This project will be used to guide future research already underway on marine plastic pollution and the impact of human activities on the marine environment, as the Government continues in its fight against the scourge of plastics. This includes the 5p plastic bag charge -- which has led to 15 billion fewer bags distributed -- and plans to end the sale of plastic straws and stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds later this year.The study shows the tyre particles can be transported directly to the ocean through the atmosphere, or carried by rainwater into rivers and sewers, where they can pass through the water treatment process. Researchers estimate this could place around 100million m² of the UK's river network -- and more than 50million m² of estuarine and coastal waters -- at risk of contamination by tyre particles.Its findings also highlight some of the optimal places for intervention, for example, that fitting filters to washing machines could be less effective than changing fabric designs to reduce fibre loss, with another study at the University having recently shown that normal wear and tear when wearing clothes is just as significant a source of microplastic pollution as release from laundering.Domestic Marine Minister, Rebecca Pow, said: "Reducing plastic pollution in the ocean is one of the greatest environmental challenges that we face. This study will help us face that challenge by identifying areas for future research, such as changes to roadside drainage and textile design. The UK is at the forefront of a global fight against the scourge of plastics. In addition to the pioneering ban on microbeads and the 5p plastic bag charge, plans are also in place to end the sale of plastic straws, stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds."The study was directed by Professor Richard Thompson OBE, Head of the International Marine Litter Research Unit, and Plymouth researchers Dr Imogen Napper and Florence Parker-Jurd. It also involved Dr Geoff Abbott from the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University (who developed a breakthrough method using mass spectrometry to detect tyre-derived microplastics in the environment), Dr Stephanie Wright from Kings College London, and Simon Hann from Eunomia Research & Consulting Ltd.Professor Thompson oversaw Defra's first research project on microplastics and their impact on marine life nearly a decade ago. It was this, and some of his team's subsequent work, that led to the UK's pioneering ban on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products coming into force in 2018.Professor Richard Thompson OBE, said: "Scientists have long suspected that tyre debris is posing a hidden threat to the marine environment. However, there have been few studies measuring abundance in aquatic environments. Now we have a clearer indication on quantities we need to gain a better understanding on transport in the environment and the potential impacts on marine life. This study gives us a real insight into the importance of tyre wear as a source of microplastics. However there are still many unknowns, and compared to other forms of microplastics we know relatively little about tyre wear particles. So it is important to continue to take steps to reduce emissions of better understood sources like fibres from textiles and the fragmentation of larger items."What this study also does is provide further evidence of the complex problems posed by microplastic pollution. We have looked at three pathways and shown that all of them are substantive pathways to the environment. As we work to understand their potential distribution and impacts it is important to also work together with industry and policy makers to identify potential solutions which may include changes in behaviour, changes in product design and waste management."Defra is continuing to invest in research on waste management, ocean littering and microplastics to support the delivery of the government's 25 Year Environment Plan and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This research will help identify evidence gaps and recommendations to tackle marine plastic pollution, both in the UK and globally. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 26, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200526091139.htm | Chemists identify toxic chemicals in fracking wastewater | Before water produced during hydraulic fracturing is disposed of in waterways or reused in agriculture and other industries, chemists at The University of Toledo are zeroing in on water quality and environmental concerns of fracking wastewater to determine if it is safe for reuse. | The research scientists of the new Dr. Nina McClelland Laboratory for Water Chemistry and Environmental Analysis at UToledo created a new method that simultaneously identified 201 chemical compounds in fracking wastewater, called produced water.The research, which is published in the "The issue with produced water is that this is a very new and overlooked source of pollution, and disposal and purification practices are not yet fully optimized to guarantee total removal of environmental pollutants," said Dr. Emanuela Gionfriddo, assistant professor of analytical chemistry in the UToledo Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the School of Green Chemistry and Engineering. "Our work aimed to provide a new, simple and cost-effective method for the comprehensive characterization of chemicals and fill the gap of knowledge currently existing about the chemical composition of this waste product of the oil and natural gas industry."Scientists and natural gas companies are seeking creative ways to use produced water because current treatment processes to remove salts and radioactive substances -- processes that include reverse osmosis and distillation -- are expensive."Current methods for chemical characterization of produced water can give an estimate of the total amount of contamination but do not give information about what type of contamination is present," Gionfriddo said. "It could be that a molecule can be still very toxic even if present at very low concentration, or it has the potential to accumulate in the body over time, so the point is to know exactly what is in produced water, not only how much."Gionfriddo's research outlines how the chemists developed and optimized a thin-film, solid-phase microextraction approach to characterize the organic compounds in the produced water.The team identified many chemicals, including a pesticide called atrazine; 1,4-dioxane, an organic compound that is irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract; toluene, which at low exposure has health effects like confusion, weakness, and loss of vision and hearing; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which have been linked to skin, lung, bladder, liver and stomach cancers."There are many chemicals that still need to be identified at this time," said Ronald Emmons, UToledo Ph.D. candidate. "More research also is needed to test the uptake of these chemicals in crops when produced water is recycled for agriculture. We need to study if and how these chemicals from the produced water can accumulate in the soil watered with produced water and if these chemicals can transfer from the soil to the crops."The collaborative research between UToledo and UT Arlington will continue using the new method for screening the presence of toxic molecules in produced water samples from various sampling sites in Texas.UToledo scientists also are developing new methods for the extraction of heavy metals and rare earth elements that will aid the full characterization of produced water samples. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 21, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200521102104.htm | Scientists find evidence of link between diesel exhaust, risk of Parkinson's | A new UCLA study in zebrafish identified the process by which air pollution can damage brain cells, potentially contributing to Parkinson's disease. | Published in the peer-reviewed journal Previous studies have revealed that people living in areas with heightened levels of traffic-related air pollution tend to have higher rates of Parkinson's. To understand what the pollutants do to the brain, Dr. Jeff Bronstein, a professor of neurology and director of the UCLA Movement Disorders Program, tested the effect of diesel exhaust on zebrafish in the lab."It's really important to be able to demonstrate whether air pollution is actually the thing that's causing the effect or whether it's something else in urban environments," Bronstein said.Testing the chemicals on zebrafish, he said, lets researchers tease out whether air pollution components affect brain cells in a way that could increase the risk of Parkinson's. The freshwater fish works well for studying molecular changes in the brain because its neurons interact in a way similar to humans. In addition, the fish are transparent, allowing scientists to easily observe and measure biological processes without killing the animals."Using zebrafish allowed us to see what was going on inside their brains at various time-points during the study," said Lisa Barnhill, a UCLA postdoctoral fellow and the study's first author.Barnhill added certain chemicals found in diesel exhaust to the water in which the zebrafish were kept. These chemicals caused a change in the animals' behavior, and the researchers confirmed that neurons were dying off in the exposed fish.Next, they investigated the activity in several pathways in the brain known to be related to Parkinson's disease to see precisely how the pollutant particles were contributing to cell death.In humans, Parkinson's disease is associated with the toxic accumulation of alpha-synuclein proteins in the brain. One way these proteins can build up is through the disruption of autophagy -- the process of breaking down old or damaged proteins. A healthy brain continuously makes and disposes of the proteins it needs for communication between neurons, but when this disposal process stops working, the cells continue to make new proteins and the old ones never get cleared away.In Parkinson's, alpha-synuclein proteins that would normally be disposed of pile up in toxic clumps in and around neurons, eventually killing them and interfering with the proper functioning of the brain. This can result in various symptoms, such as tremors and muscle rigidity.Before exposing the zebrafish to diesel particles, the researchers examined the fishes' neurons for the tell-tale pouches that carry out old proteins, including alpha-synuclein, as part of the autophagy disposal operation and found that the process was working properly."We can actually watch them move along, and appear and disappear," Bronstein said of the pouches.After diesel exposure, however, they saw far fewer of the garbage-toting pouches than normal. To confirm that this was the reason brain cells were dying, they treated the fish with a drug that boosts the garbage-disposal process and found that it did save the cells from dying after diesel exposure.To confirm that diesel could have the same effect on human neurons, the researchers replicated the experiment using cultured human cells. Exposure to diesel exhaust had a similar effect on those cells."Overall, this report shows a plausible mechanism of why air pollution may increase the risk of Parkinson's disease," Bronstein said. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 20, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200520191409.htm | In China, quarantine improves air and prevents thousands of premature deaths | Soon after coronavirus appeared, an all-encompassing quarantine put into effect by the Chinese government slowed the spread of the disease and saved lives, but the quarantine also produced another unanticipated health benefit. | A new study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health and published in the journal The improved air quality, in turn, prevented thousands of pollution-related deaths. More premature deaths were avoided by cleaner air -- an estimated 12,125 -- than lives lost from the pandemic -- 4,633 as of May 4, the study finds."This is a very surprising result. The pandemic continues to be a terrible thing for China and the rest of the world, but the decrease in emissions that accompanied it has actually conferred some positive health results," said Kai Chen, assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health and the study's first author. "The question is, how can we have one without the other?"Although the findings cannot be directly applied to other countries due to different severity of and responses to COVID-19, as well as differing air pollution levels and population characteristics, reduced air pollution levels have been detected in other Asian and European countries and the U.S. after their own lockdowns, Chen said. He notes that this reduction in pollution has likely conferred similar health benefits.The study found that ground-level air pollution levels dropped remarkably throughout China, with nitrogen dioxide (NO2) dropping by 12.9 ?g/m3 (or 37% compared with before the quarantine period) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) dropping by 18.9 ?g/m3 (30%) across 367 Chinese cities. The decline in NO2 across China during the quarantine period was so dramatic that it was detected by satellite measurements.NO2 is a gaseous air pollutant, which is mainly produced from fuel burning in vehicles and power plants. NO2 level before the quarantine (January 5 to 20) was as high as 40.5 ?g/m3 in Wuhan, where the outbreak began in China. During the quarantine (February 10 to March 14), those levels had fallen to 18.8 ?g/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter).Particulate matter includes all solid and liquid particles suspended in air, many of which are hazardous when inhaled. This mixture includes both organic and inorganic particles, such as dust, pollen, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets. Before the quarantine, PM 2.5 (fine inhalable particles with diameters of 2.5 micrometers or smaller) levels were measured at 62.5 ?g/m3 in many Chinese cities. During the quarantine, the fine particulate matter reading has been 36.5 ?g/m3 in those same locations.The authors then calculated the number of avoided deaths attributable to these decreases in NO2 and PM2.5 across China based on the short-term association between these pollutants and daily mortality using data from a previous epidemiological study of 272 Chinese cities, and mortality data from the China Health and Family Planning Statistical Yearbook 2018. The authors found that among the more than 12,000 avoided deaths, about two-thirds were from avoided cardiovascular diseases (hypertensive disease, coronary heart disease and stroke) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.The findings illustrate the substantial human health benefits related to cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality that can be achieved when aggressive air pollution control measures are put in place to reduce emissions from vehicles, such as through climate mitigation-related traffic restrictions or efforts to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, the authors said."This unexpected health benefit suggests that if we were to address the climate crisis as aggressively as we are combating the COVID-19 pandemic with strong political will and urgent action, we could prevent the enormous health burdens associated with climate change," said co-author Paul T. Anastas, professor at the Yale School of Public Health and the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Chair of Chemistry for the Environment.The authors said that they want to further identify whether climate or weather-related factors and air pollution could influence population susceptibility to COVID-19.The paper was written with researchers from the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions and Boston University School of Public Health. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 20, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200520124956.htm | Spring rains are a surprising source of pollen | Springtime rains can be a surprising source of pollen. | University of Iowa researchers report that tree pollen fragments remain in the air for as many as 11 hours after heavy rains, and those granules can make their way deep into the lungs, potentially exacerbating allergies. The researchers base their findings on first-time direct measurements of pollen fragment concentrations during and after spring rains of varying severity in spring, 2019."Our results show that while pollen grains decrease substantially during rain, peak concentrations of submicron pollen fragments occur during rain events and then persist for several hours," says Elizabeth Stone, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and corresponding author on the paper, published online in the journal Pollen grains are pretty hardy, but they can rupture when subject to high humidity. This can happen during rains when a storm's updraft carries the grains to the cloud base, where humidity is quite high. The fragments then are shot back toward the surface by falling rain and the storm's downdraft.The main difference between pollen and pollen fragments is, predictably, their size: Intact pollen grains are larger, at 20 to 100 microns, and settle to the ground. Pollen fragments, at less than 2.5 microns in size, do not settle readily and often remain aloft.Stone and her team decided to test the results of previous research by directly measuring pollen from rain events in Iowa City, Iowa, between April 17 and May 31, 2019. This period of time, in prime tree pollen season, included light rains, thunderstorms, and even a severe weather event punctuated by a storm that spawned a tornado. In all, the researchers recorded rain on 28 days."Our study shows clearly that rain decreases intact pollen concentrations. But it can also increase pollen fragments," says Stone, who's also affiliated with the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Iowa. "The interesting thing about the pollen fragments is the really high concentrations only last for a short period of time, primarily when it's raining and during the peak of the storm."The researchers say pollen fragment concentrations remain elevated from 2.5 to 11 hours after a rain, the longer times associated with the heaviest rains.Stone and her team measured the highest concentration of pollen fragments during a morning storm on May 18, with a peak concentration at 1.3 million pollen fragments per cubic meter of air. The next highest measured concentration was on May 24, with 960,000 pollen fragments per cubic meter of air."People who are susceptible or have allergies to pollen in season should consider rain events and especially thunderstorms to be a potential source of allergenic particles that could have negative respiratory impacts on them," Stone says. "My advice would be to stay indoors during and in the hours following rains and thunderstorms in the pollen season that they're allergic to." | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 20, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200520124950.htm | Microplastics found in Florida's birds of prey for first time | A new study from the University of Central Florida has confirmed and quantified, for the first time, the presence of microplastics in terrestrial and aquatic birds of prey in Florida, including hawks, ospreys and owls. | Microplastics are small plastic pieces -- less than the size of a pencil tip -- that come from larger pieces of plastic, such as synthetic clothes, or that are made small for use in health and beauty products or industrial purposes.The research, which was published online recently in the journal "Birds of prey are top predators in the ecosystem and by changing the population or health status of the top predator, it completely alters all of the animals, organisms and habitats below them on the food web," says Julia Carlin, the study's lead author and a graduate of UCF's Department of Biology.Microplastic contamination of the environment likely began not long after the first piece of plastic was discarded, says Linda Walters, a Pegasus Professor in UCF's Department of Biology and study co-author.Ingestion of large pieces of plastic by animals was first noted in the 1960s, and an increased focus on microplastic ingestion started around 2010, she says.Past studies have documented increasing amounts of microplastics in the guts of fish, marine birds, and filter-feeding invertebrates, such as oysters. There have also been recent reports of whales dying from eating dozens of pounds of plastic, including plastic bags. However, birds of prey have not been thoroughly examined before, partly due to their protected status.Carlin and Walters were able to overcome this by working with the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, Florida, a rehabilitation center that helps injured raptors.With the center's permits, UCF researchers were able to examine the stomach contents of 63 birds that were dead when they arrived at the center or died 24 hours after they arrived. The birds were collected from throughout Central Florida.Using dissecting microscopes and spectroscopy, the researchers found microplastics in the digestive systems of all birds examined, with nearly 1,200 pieces of plastic pulled from the 63 birds.The most common types of microplastic in the birds were microfibers, which accounted for 86 percent of the plastics found. Microfibers can come from synthetic ropes or clothing and may end up in ecosystems through wastewater from clothes-washing machines.Blue and clear microplastics were the most common colors identified, but the reasons for this could range from these being the dominant colors of the plastics in the landscape to birds confusing these colors with appropriate prey or nesting materials, according to the study.Walters says some solutions to the problem could be removing plastic from open landfills, carefully discarding plastic trash, buying natural fabrics instead of plastic-based ones, and retrofitting water treatment plants and stormwater drains to capture microplastics."We have all benefitted from the convenience of plastics, but plastics do not go away once produced," Walters says. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 20, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200520124931.htm | Great potential in regulating plant greenhouse gas emissions | You cannot see them with the naked eye, but most plants emit volatile gases - isoprenoids - into the atmosphere when they breathe and grow. Some plants emit close to nothing; others emit kilograms annually. | Why are plant isoprenoid emissions interesting? Well, isoprenoids contribute immensely to the amounts of hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere, where they can be converted into potent greenhouse gases, affecting climate change. Actually, it has been estimated that short-chain isoprenoids account for more than 80% of all volatile organic compounds emitted from all living organisms, totaling about 650 million tons of carbon per year."We discovered a new way that plants regulate how much volatile isoprenoids they emit into the atmosphere, which had long been unknown. Some plants emit a lot, while very similar species don't emit them at all. This is interesting from a basic research point of view to better understand these emissions and how growing different plants might affect carbon cycling and impact greenhouse gases," says first-author behind a new study recently published in Crops that emit a lot of isoprene are for example palm oil trees, spruce, which is grown for timber, and aspen trees, which are grown for timber and biofuel. With this knowledge, farmers could in principle optimise forest land and farming area by planting fewer high-emitter-plants and more zero-emitters."It should be said, though, that we do not know for sure that all effects of these emissions are bad, more research is needed on that. But what is clear is that many of the harmful effects of isoprenoid emissions happen when they react with common air pollutants, which affects greenhouse gas formation and air quality. Therefore, large plantations with high emissions are particularly troublesome in the vicinity of industrial or municipal air pollution. So, reducing pollution is another way to address the problem," says Mareike Bongers.The researchers behind this study are now looking into the possibility of using this new knowledge in applied biotech. The researchers actually discovered the new regulatory mechanism, because they tried to engineer the bacterium E. coli to produce sought-after isoprenoids, which could replace many fossil fuel chemicals if they could be produced more cheaply.So, while engineering plant genes into E. coli to improve isoprenoid production, the researchers became aware of the plant-based regulation mechanism. When E. coli was engineered with plant genes for an enzyme known as HDR, they produced two important chemicals in different ratios, and this influenced how much isoprene could be produced.This revelation is very useful in applied biotech, because isoprenoids can be turned into products like rubber. GoodYear has already produced car tires made from bio-produced isoprene. Furthermore, the findings could also improve the production of monoterpene isoprenoids, which are excellent jet fuels because they are very energy dense."This is particularly interesting from a sustainability perspective, because it is not anticipated that airplanes can be fuelled from anything else than liquid fuels, as opposed to ground transportation, which could be electric," she says.Finally, isoprenoids are also used as flavours and fragrances in perfumes and cosmetics, and they are very important as active compound in some drugs, for instance the anti-malarial drug artemisinin or taxadiene, from which the cancer drug Taxol is made.Today, most labs and biotech companies that make isoprenoids use a pathway from yeast, since the achieved yields have been much higher than with E.coli. But the pathway used by E. coli and plants has a higher theoretical yield, meaning that more isoprenoids could theoretically be made from the same amounts of sugar in E.coli than in yeast. Therefore, trying to optimise E.coli for isoprenoid production makes good sense commercially.The team compared eight different plant HDR genes and one cyanobacterial HDR gene in E.coli. The best result was obtained with genes from peach, poplar and castor bean. Since this was a proof of concept, the team only produced 2 mg isoprene per litre of cell broth. But with further engineering and fermentation optimization efforts, the researchers expect to improve isoprene production in E. coli using this system."We saw that choosing the right plant enzyme made a big difference for isoprene production in E. coli. So, our 'learning from nature' approach on how some plants became so good at emitting isoprenoids really helped us to design more efficient cell factories," she concludes. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 19, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200519144442.htm | Aggressive carbon taxation could help US meet targets in Paris agreement | Nearly all the countries of the world ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016. The accord aims to limit the increase of the world's temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. To do this, global greenhouse gas emissions would have to decrease roughly 25% below 2010 levels by 2030 and reach almost zero by 2070. As one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, the United States -- which intends to withdraw from the Paris Agreement -- will play a central role in whether these targets are met. | In this context, a new study looked at U.S. tax policy as it relates to carbon dioxide (COThe study, conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), appears in "Our findings point to clear opportunities to replace revenue from distortionary taxes (like the income tax) with revenue from carbon taxes, which enhance the efficiency of the U.S. economy." says Nicholas Muller, Associate Professor of Economics, Engineering, and Public Policy at CMU's Tepper School of Business, who coauthored the study.The researchers used an energy-optimization model to simulate energy use by sector, fuel type and technology, system costs, and pollution emissions under two carbon tax policies. Their analysis included COThe study found that opportunities for significant reductions of CODeep uncertainties in the climate system and the future effects of climate change on human civilization mean that the correct carbon tax rate is not known. Acknowledging this uncertainty, the authors explored the consequences of erroneous CO"The reductions in COThe research was supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 19, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200519153508.htm | The same few industrial facilities emit majority of toxic pollution year after year | Call them "super polluters" -- the handful of industrial facilities that emit unusually high levels of toxic chemical pollution year after year. There are only a few of them, but together they account for the majority of annual industrial pollution. | Such is the key finding and major takeaway from a new paper published in the journal "This pattern had previously been identified in one industry at one point in time, but the pushback was, 'Well, that's an exception.' What we showed is that it's not the exception, it's the rule," said co-lead author and environmental sociologist Simone Pulver, of UC Santa Barbara.The study by Pulver and Mary Collins of State University New York, Syracuse, is the first to establish disproportionality in the production of toxic pollution both across a wide range of industries and over an extended period of time.The researchers examined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, spanning the years 1998 to 2012, on toxic releases from more than 25,000 facilities in 322 manufacturing industries.The results are striking."The more you compare like facilities, the more you see a handful of facilities are accounting for the majority of the toxic pollution emitted in one year from that industry," said Pulver, an associate professor of environmental studies. "It's a consistent pattern across a wide range of industries. It's an egregious pattern because it's really extreme, and it's an incredibly stable pattern over time."Said lead author Collins, "Not all polluters are the same, even those who seem like they should be, because they operate in the same industry, produce similar goods, et cetera. Instead, a small group generate much more harm than the rest. This finding is not entirely new, but with Simone and our two graduate students (Dustin Hill and Ben Manski), we show that this is widely true across industries and time."The research has significant implications for the regulation of toxic pollution and suggests that major reductions to pollution could be achieved by focusing on a relatively small number of facilities doing the most polluting.As Collins explained, "there are a handful of facilities that alone generate more than 50 percent of their entire industry's emissions." Of the more than 25,000 facilities analyzed, 1,116 can be characterized as egregious polluters, defined as single facilities that generated 50% or more of the total annual hazard within an industry."But it's complicated," Pulver noted. Making it so, among other complexities, is that it's not always the same facilities each year doing the egregious polluting. Of the group of super polluting facilities, the researchers noted, only 31 facilities are "consistently egregious polluters within their industries throughout the study period."In their study, Collins and Pulver looked at more than 300 industries that reported toxic emissions, had more than five facilities reporting emissions each year and had data about their employees, overall providing a solid characterization of the U.S. manufacturing sector.The researchers were careful to compare things as similar as possible, such as facilities making the same product and with access to the same technology, and to control for facility size.Finding that "the generation of environmental harm is not distributed equally across units but rather concentrated within a small group of egregious actors," their results challenge the presumption of proportionality between economic activity and environmental harm."Even with all the controls -- the same business done in the same way -- you see this real inequality," Pulver said. "A lot of facilities are not producing much toxic pollution at all to make their product, while a small handful are producing a whole lot of toxic pollution to do the exact same thing.""You expect inequality when you look at the economy as a whole -- there are more resource intensive businesses, things are not evenly distributed in nature, and so on," she continued. "But that's why I find this pattern so surprising. We expected to see some of it but not for it to be this extensive."Some interesting details: The highest level of disproportionality uncovered by the researchers was in the "All Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing" category; the lowest was in industrial mold manufacturing. The biggest increase in inequality, over the course of the study, occurred in bitumous coal underground mining.Taken altogether, the findings have both scholarly and policy implications for the nature of pollution generation, for the role of targeting in environmental regulatory decision-making and for efforts by environmental advocates, according to the authors."There are some facilities where there are real opportunities for learning and improvements to bring them in line with other facilities in their industries," Pulver said. "There is a standard that's possible in terms of damage to environment, and that standard is demonstrated by a vast majority of facilities. Here is an opportunity to get that handful of facilities up to that standard."Although this paper is the first to empirically document this disproportionality across a wide range of industries and across time, the notion that this pattern may exist was posited in 2005 by another UC Santa Barbara environmental sociologist, Bill Freudenburg, Collins' dissertation advisors and Pulver's mentors."His was the first paper that put this idea on the map," Pulver said. "So there is a long, great history of this research here at UC Santa Barbara." | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 18, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200518144930.htm | South Asia faces increased threat of extreme heat, extreme pollution, study shows | Scientists know that extreme heat has a negative impact on the human body -- causing distress in the respiratory and cardiovascular systems -- and they know that extreme air pollution can also have serious effects. | But as climate change impacts continue globally, how often will humans be threatened by both of those extremes when they occur simultaneously? A Texas A&M University professor has led a regional research study, recently published in the new journal "South Asia is a hot-spot for future climate change impacts," said Yangyang Xu, an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M. Extreme heat occurrences worldwide have increased in recent decades, and at the same time, many cities are facing severe air pollution problems, featuring episodes of high particulate matter (PM) pollution, he said. This study provides an integrated assessment of human exposure to rare days of both extreme heat and high PM levels."Our assessment projects that occurrences of heat extremes will increase in frequency by 75% by 2050, that is an increase from 45 days a year to 78 days in a year. More concerning is the rare joint events of both extreme heat and extreme PM will increase in frequency by 175% by 2050," Xu said.Climate change is not just a global average number -- it is something you can feel in your neighborhood, he said, and that's why regional-scale climate studies are important.The study's regional focus was South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. The scientists used a high-resolution, decadal-long model simulation, using a state-of-the-science regional chemistry-climate model.Xu lead the first of its kind research project, and scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, led the development of the fully coupled chemistry-climate model and performed model simulations for the present-day and future conditions."These models allow chemistry and climate to affect each other at every time step," said Rajesh Kumar, a project scientist at NCAR and co-author on the study.The study was also co-authored by Mary Barth and Gerald A. Meehl, both senior scientists at NCAR, with most of the analysis done by Texas A&M atmospheric sciences graduate student Xiaokang Wu.As climate change impacts continue to become reality, it is important for scientists to consider human impacts of multiple extreme conditions happening simultaneously, Xu said. Projected increases in humidity and temperature are expected to cause extreme heat stress for the people of South Asia, where the population is projected to increase from 1.5 billion people to 2 billion by 2050."It is important to extend this analysis on the co-variability of heat and haze extremes in other regions of the world, such as the industrial regions of the U.S., Europe, and East Asia," Barth said.The analysis also showed that the fraction of land exposed to prolonged dual-extreme days increases by more than tenfold in 2050."I think this study raises a lot of important concerns, and much more research is needed over other parts of the world on these compounded extremes, the risks they pose, and their potential human health effects," Xu said.NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 18, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200518090028.htm | Mussel reefs heighten risk of microplastic exposure and consumption | Commercially important seafood species are at greater risk of microplastic contamination depending how they clump together in the marine environment, new research suggests. | In the first study of its kind, scientists from the University of Plymouth used a series of experiments to assess whether the reefs formed by blue mussel (They found that when mussels were clumped together forming reefs, as they do in nature, the reef structure slowed the sea water flowing over them, increased turbulence, and resulted in a three-fold rise in the amount of ingested plastic.Writing in They also believe species like the blue mussel, which are important for human consumption but susceptible to microplastic pollution, may be useful indicators of the problem and its potentially harmful biological impacts.The research was led by recent graduate Marine Biology and Oceanography graduate Hyee Shynn Lim from the University's Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological and Marine Sciences.Dr Antony Knights, Associate Professor in Marine Ecology and senior author on the study, said: "Species such as the blue mussel are both commercially valuable as seafood but also environmentally important. They form natural reefs within marine and coastal settings which enhance biodiversity to such a degree that they are commonly protected under conservation actions. If they are particularly susceptible to microplastic pollution, there are many potential knock-on effects that we need to be aware of."Often we look to protect reef-forming species based on who they are. However, we are not aware of any research that has shown that the physical structure of reef itself -- which we have shown can help these filter-feeding organisms to be more effective feeders -- might also inadvertently increase their exposure to pollutants like microplastic. With no means of addressing this issue, due to our increasing awareness of the quantity of microplastic in the marine environment, this study offers the first evidence that forming a reef is a double-edged sword for individuals."For the research, mussels were placed in controlled aggregations in a water flume and exposed to different wave speeds. Quantities of microplastics added to the water, ordinarily used to characterise the physical properties of the fluid itself (including the density of plastic in and around the reef structure), allowed the team to also assess particle ingestion risk under different environmental scenarios.The study is the latest innovative project from the University examining the causes and impacts of microplastics within the marine environment.It is work which, earlier in 2020, saw the University presented with the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its pioneering research into microplastics pollution and its policy impact in the UK and globally. | Pollution | 2,020 |
May 18, 2020 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200518090017.htm | Climate change threatens progress in cancer control | Climate change threatens prospects for further progress in cancer prevention and control, increasing exposure to cancer risk factors and impacting access to cancer care, according to a new commentary by scientists from the American Cancer Society and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. | The commentary, appearing in The authors say climate change creates conditions favorable to greater production of and exposure to known carcinogens. Climate change has been linked to an increase in extreme weather events, like hurricanes and wildfires, which can impact cancer. Hurricane Harvey for example inundated chemical plants, oil refineries, and Superfund sites that contained vast amounts of carcinogens that were released into the Houston community. Wildfires release immense amounts of air pollutants known to cause cancer. Both events can affect patients' exposure to carcinogens and ability to seek preventive care and treatment; they threaten the laboratory and clinic infrastructure dedicated to cancer care in the United States.The authors also propose ways to diminish the impact of climate change on cancer, because climate change mitigation efforts also have health benefits, especially to cancer prevention and outcomes. For example, air pollutants directly harmful to health are emitted by combustion processes that also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Some dietary patterns are also detrimental to both health and the environment. The agricultural sector contributes to approximately 30% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Meat from ruminants have the highest environmental impact, while plant-based foods cause fewer adverse environmental effects per unit weight, per serving, per unit of energy, or per protein weight. Replacing animal source foods with plant-based foods, through guidelines provided to patients and changes made in the food services provided at cancer treatment facilities, would confer both environmental and health benefits."While some may view these issues as beyond the scope of responsibility of the nation's cancer treatment facilities, one need look no further than their mission statements, all of which speak to eradicating cancer," write the authors. "Climate change and continued reliance on fossil fuels push that noble goal further from reach. However, if all those whose life work is to care for those with cancer made clear to the communities they serve that actions to combat climate change and lessen our use of fossil fuels could prevent cancers and improve cancer outcomes, we might see actions that address climate change flourish, and the attainment of our missions to reduce suffering from cancer grow nearer." | Pollution | 2,020 |
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