Pollution
- Environment
Plastic goes missing at sea
A survey of the world’s oceans finds far less polymer trash than expected, and researchers don’t know where the rest of the plastic is.
- Environment
Triclosan may spoil wastewater treatment
Common antimicrobial could make microbes more drug resistant and less efficient at breaking down sewage sludge in municipal treatment plants.
- Agriculture
Fertilizer produces far more greenhouse gas than expected
Farmers’ overuse of nitrogen-based fertilizers may explain previously puzzling high emissions of nitrous oxide.
- Health & Medicine
Health risks of e-cigarettes emerge
Research uncovers a growing list of chemicals that end up in an e-cigarette user’s lungs, and one study finds that an e-cigarette’s vapors can increase the virulence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
- Environment
Carbon dioxide levels hit landmark in Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere experienced the first full month with the greenhouse gas at or above the symbolic 400 parts per million level.
- Oceans
Deepwater Horizon methane lingered longer than thought
Microbes may not have consumed methane from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill as fast as previously thought.
- Climate
Crop nutrients may drop as carbon dioxide rises
Many staple grains and legumes pack 5 to 10 percent less iron, zinc and protein when grown at carbon dioxide levels expected midcentury.
- Environment
Legionnaires’ disease bacteria lurk in tap water
Found in nearly half of faucets, contamination could explain sporadic cases of disease.
- Environment
How oil breaks fish hearts
Hydrocarbons that spill into oceans stifle the beat of tuna cardiac cells.
- Environment
Protein fibers trap greenhouse gas
The method could scrub exhaust from cars and power plants.
- Environment
Stillbirth rates tied to lead in drinking water
Fetal death rates rose in Washington, D.C., in parallel with two recent spikes in drinking water’s lead levels.
- Environment
World’s worst polluted
A new report by Green Cross Switzerland and the Blacksmith Institute lists places posing the greatest risk to human health.
