Pollution

Environment

4 ways to tackle ocean trash besides Ocean Cleanup’s broken system

Here are three approaches to reducing ocean pollution that might be more effective than a controversial plan to fish trash out of the Pacific.

Environment

Satellites make mapping hot spots of ammonia pollution easier

There’s a more accurate way to estimate ammonia emissions.

Environment

Engineers are plugging holes in drinking water treatment

Drinking water quality has come a long way in the past hundred years — but challenges remain.

Environment

Car tires and brake pads produce harmful microplastics

Scientists surveyed tiny airborne plastics near German highways and found that bits of tires, brake pads and asphalt make up most of the particles.

Planetary Science

Readers contemplate water on Mars and more

Readers had questions about the significance of finding water on mars, air pollution from wildfires and spray-on sensors.

Ecosystems

Confused mayflies wreak havoc on a Pennsylvania bridge

Cleaning a river in central Pennsylvania brought back mayflies, which now pose a threat to motorists crossing a bridge.

Oceans

A massive net is being deployed to pick up plastic in the Pacific

As the Ocean Cleanup project embarks, critics remain unconvinced that scooping up debris is the best way to solve the ocean’s plastic problem.

Health & Medicine

Air pollution is shaving a year off our average life expectancy

The first country-by-country look at how dirty air affects when we die shows it can have more impact on mortality than breast or lung cancer.

Environment

Wildfires are making extreme air pollution even worse in the northwest U.S.

America’s air is getting cleaner — except in places that are prone to wildfires.

Health & Medicine

Air pollution is triggering diabetes in 3.2 million people each year

A new study quantifies the link between smoggy air and diabetes.

Environment

Sunshine is making Deepwater Horizon oil stick around

Sunlight created oxygen-rich oil by-products that are still hanging around eight years after the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Environment

This plastic can be recycled over and over and over again

A new kind of polymer is fully recyclable: It breaks down into the exact same molecules that it came from.