The lack of uniform analytical standards currently prevents the comparability of data on microplastics in the environment. Researchers from the University of Bayreuth and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have now, for the first time, compared two automated analysis procedures for microplastic data with regard to the results. Significant deviations were found especially for small particles with comparatively high hazard potential. The study, published in the journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, shows that…
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a new method that can easily purify contaminated water using a cellulose-based material. This discovery could have implications for countries with poor water treatment technologies and combat the widespread problem of toxic dye discharge from the textile industry. Clean water is a prerequisite for our health and living environment, but far from a given for everyone. According to the World Health Organization, WHO, there are currently over two billion people living…
Scientists have predicted that droughts and floods will become more frequent and severe as our planet warms and climate changes, but detecting this on regional and continental scales has proven difficult. Now a new NASA-led study confirms that major droughts and pluvials – periods of excessive precipitation and water storage on land – have indeed been occurring more often. In the study published March 13, 2023, in the journal Nature Water, two NASA scientists examined 20 years of data from the NASA/German GRACE and GRACE-FO…
Hydrogen’s potential as a clean fuel could be limited by a chemical reaction in the lower atmosphere, according to research from Princeton University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. This is because hydrogen gas easily reacts in the atmosphere with the same molecule primarily responsible for breaking down methane, a potent greenhouse gas. If hydrogen emissions exceed a certain threshold, that shared reaction will likely lead to methane accumulating in the atmosphere — with decades-long climate consequences. “Hydrogen is…
How to reduce emissions in the transport sector while maintaining our mobility? “SynphOnie”, a research cluster funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) that includes a team of researchers from the University of Passau headed by Professor Tobias Harks, is developing a mathematical model of transport flows to help make transport planning both needs-based and sustainable. The transport sector is one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters. To ensure adherence to the objectives of the Paris…
Faunal organisms such as the humble mussel often play an underappreciated yet important role in protecting and building coastal ecosystems, according to a new study led by the Carbon Containment Lab at the Yale School of the Environment. Sinéad Crotty holds an Atlantic ribbed mussel, one of more than 200,000 mussels that were moved during a large-scale field experiment measuring the effects of animals on marsh accretion. Photo: Christine Angelini “As sea levels rise, coastal ecosystems have to adapt and evolve to changing…
… could switch the role of fishes in the marine carbon cycle. Fish make carbonates from marine salts within their guts and excrete them at high rates. These can sink and become part of sediments or dissolve and increase the water’s ability to neutralise acids. A new study in Nature Communications sheds light on the controls of carbonate excretion by fish. Bony fish are more often recognised as food sources than as carbon regulators. They provide an array of services…
Researchers have been using drones to map large areas of Antarctica this summer in efforts to monitor the effects on vegetation due to climate change with the support of the Federal Government’s Australian Antarctic Division. The drone-derived imagery is being used by researchers from QUT and Auckland University of Technology – with assistance from University of Wollongong – to evaluate the fragile ecosystem, particularly moss beds, and changes in the extreme environment. For almost two months, the field team was…
The 18-foot-long structures, including fascinating honeycomb-shaped tubes, are part of an effort by University of Miami researchers and scientists to help restore damaged coral reefs and protect coastal environments. The first piece of a series of concrete structures was lowered into the water off the coast of Miami Beach on Wednesday morning, a massive crane on the deck of a floating barge hoisting the unit into the air and sinking it to the seabed. During the next six hours, crewmembers…
… can facilitate environmental impact assessment. Microplastic particles separated from a sediment sample from the Guarapiranga reservoir in metropolitan São Paulo show different particle sizes. In the last decade, growing numbers of researchers have studied plastic pollution, one of the world’s most pressing environmental hazards. They have made progress but still face challenges, such as the comparability of results, especially with regard to microplastic particles. There is no standard sample collection and analysis methodology, for example. Most studies present conclusions…
Electro-photonic tweezer captures and detects trace amount of nanoplastics through surface-enhanced Raman scattering, Application in safe water resource management technology. Nanoplastics are plastics that have been discarded from our daily lives and that enter ecosystems in the size scale below 1 micro-metter after their physical and chemical disintegration. Recent research has shown that the concentration of microplastics in the major rivers in South Korea is the highest worldwide; it is not unusual to find news reports about the detection of…
Eco-friendly underwater cleaning of ship hulls. The settlement of mussels and algae on ship hulls not only increases the fuel consumption of ships but can also threaten ecosystems. The Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) and partners have now developed a laser process to clean ship hulls underwater. Biofouling is the growth of algae, mussels, and other marine organisms on the hull of a ship. The fouling increases the flow resistance of the ship – and thus increases fuel consumption and…
A new method for removing the greenhouse gas from the ocean could be far more efficient than existing systems for removing it from the air. As carbon dioxide continues to build up in the Earth’s atmosphere, research teams around the world have spent years seeking ways to remove the gas efficiently from the air. Meanwhile, the world’s number one “sink” for carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is the ocean, which soaks up some 30 to 40 percent of all of…
Natural gas furnaces not only heat your home, they also produce a lot of pollution. Even modern high-efficiency condensing furnaces produce significant amounts of corrosive acidic condensation and unhealthy levels of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and methane. These emissions are typically vented into the atmosphere and end up polluting our soil, water and air. Now, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an affordable add-on technology that removes more than 99.9% of acidic gases…
… to promote a circular bioeconomy. Funding awarded for developing tools to harness marine microbiome data for biotechnological applications and ecosystem services. The European Commission has funded the BlueRemediomics project, which will develop novel tools and approaches to catalogue marine microbiome data and marine culture collections. These tools will help facilitate the development of industrial processes that reduce waste, increase the reuse of natural products and by-products, and improve aquaculture – the farming of seafood. The project simultaneously aims to…
Study highlights regions with high wetland loss over past 300 years. Wetlands are among the most threatened ecosystems in the world. A new study, published in Nature, has found that the loss of wetland areas around the globe since 1700 has likely been overestimated. This is good news overall, however, the global picture hides significant variations, with several regions and distinct wetland types under significant levels of pressure. For instance, temperate river floodplains have been highly impacted while remote boreal-arctic…
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