Feature Channels: Pollution

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The latest research and experts on Wildfires in the Wildlife News Source

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Chemists at Indiana University have published research findings on their discovery of a new and relatively unknown flame retardant in the environment. Their study is the first to detect the potentially toxic chemical in North America.

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Even the briefest increase in airborne fine particulate matter PM2.5, pollution-causing particles that are about 3 percent of the diameter of human hair, is associated with the development of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) in young children, according to newly published research. Increases in PM2.5 levels also led to increased doctor visits for these lung infections.

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A new study finds these stakeholder groups actually share many of the same concerns, notably risks to public health and the economy, while also acknowledging the potential ecological benefits. This means that both groups may be receptive to similar appeals for oyster restoration projects in the future.

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Flint children’s blood lead levels were nearly three times higher almost a decade before the year of the Flint water crisis, new research shows.

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North American bats, crucial to our ecosystems, are dying in unprecedented numbers, and their rapid decline – and the invasive microorganism killing these fragile mammals – has drawn the attention of researchers in Kennesaw State’s BioInnovation Lab.

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Research led by the University of Southampton is helping governments in low-income countries strengthen their capacity to build and use population maps, to plan for the future and respond to emergencies.

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The Colonial Pipeline, which carries fuel from Texas to New York, ruptured last fall, dumping a quarter-million gallons of gas in rural Alabama. By the time the leak was detected during routine inspection, vapors from released gasoline were so strong they prevented pipeline repair for days. Now, scientists are developing technology that would alert pipeline managers about leaks as soon as failure begins, avoiding the environmental disasters and fuel distribution disruptions resulting from pipeline leaks.

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More than 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci sketched what he called “la turbolenza,” comparing chaotic swirls atop flowing water to curly human hair. It turns out those patterns influence myriad phenomena, from the drag on an airplane’s wings and the formation of Jupiter’s red spot to the rustling of tree leaves.

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For decades, combustion researchers and engine companies have been seeking to understand how these gases are produced during combustion so that they can find ways to reduce them. Now Argonne researchers have synthesized more than a decade’s worth of combustion studies to create a new overarching model of how nitrogen oxides are produced.

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Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Cassie Gurbisz was among 14 co-authors of a new research article published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Those who have withstood the test of gentrification to East Austin’s historically black neighborhoods hold overall negative views of the changes they believe disrupted the area’s sense of community, according to urban policy researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

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Researchers have found strong evidence that environmental exposures, including air pollution, affect gene expressions associated with respiratory diseases much more than genetic ancestry. The study, published today in Nature Communications, analyzed more than 1.6 million data points from biological specimens, health questionnaires and environmental datasets, making this study one of the largest ever to examine the relationship between gene expression and environmental stimuli. These findings represent a groundbreaking use of big data to uncover the environmental factors that are behind diseases and inform strategies for prevention, an approach that would apply to a number of diseases, including cancer.

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These science news tips on everything from intercepting asteroids to learning from past extinctions come from the winter issue of Johns Hopkins Magazine

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Researchers have studied the use of bacteria to break down organic contaminants in groundwater; however, this bioremediation process has been met with limited success under some conditions.

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With more than 6,500 individuals from around the world in attendance, the Society of Toxicology (SOT) 57th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo will feature leading experts from across the broad range of disciplines and specialties that inform and advance toxicology.

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Household cleaners, pesticides, paints and perfumes, now rival motor vehicle emissions as the top source of urban air pollution, according to a surprising NOAA-led study by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and other institutions.

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A study by Indiana University researchers shows that excess emissions -- which occur with plant shut-downs, start-ups and malfunctions, and not just in connection with natural disasters -- can make serious contributions to overall air pollution.

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Although understanding the wide-ranging effects of disasters is vital for an effective public health response, a lack of baseline data has made it difficult to attribute post-disaster changes in environmental conditions to the impacts of disasters.

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Thousands of lives would be saved each year, and many more serious illnesses avoided, if U.S. counties met standards set by the American Thoracic Society for the two most important air pollutants, according to a new report by the ATS and the Marron Institute of Urban Management at New York University.

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Marine shipping fuels will get a whole lot cleaner in 2020 when a regulation by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires fuels to contain 80-86 percent less sulphur.This is the most significant improvement in global fuel standards for the shipping industry in 100 years, intended to achieve significant health benefits on a global scale.

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Two local raptors made unexpected recoveries this month following exposure to common and deadly man-made toxins: lead and rodenticide.

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A study by University of Minnesota researchers provides new insights to demonstrate that multiple wetlands or ‘wetland complexes’ within a watershed are extremely effective at reducing harmful nitrate in rivers and streams. These wetlands can be up to five times more efficient per unit area at reducing nitrate than the best land-based nitrogen mitigation strategies.

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Increases in human life expectancy have slowed dramatically across the world since 1950, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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For coral reefs, the threat of climate change and bleaching are bad enough. An international research group led by Cornell University has found that plastic trash – ubiquitous throughout the world’s oceans – intensifies disease for coral, adding to reef peril, according to a new study in the journal Science.

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Tiny particles fuel powerful storms and influence weather much more than has been appreciated, according to a study in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Science. The tiny pollutants – long considered too small to have much impact on droplet formation – are, in effect, diminutive downpour-makers.

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A transdisciplinary team examined regulatory impacts on Great Lakes mercury, focusing on an Upper Peninsula tribal community with high fish consumption.

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An experiment using hundreds of plastic drifters in the Gulf of Mexico shows that rather than simply spread out, as current calculations would predict, many of them clumped together in a tight cluster.

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Air pollution erodes the health of adults over age 65, a population particularly vulnerable to the effects of pneumonia.

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A new study by CU Boulder researchers found that blue birds nesting near noisy oil and gas operations have hormonal changes similar to people with PTSD, smaller nestlings and fewer eggs that hatch

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Florida’s St. Lucie Estuary received national attention in 2016 as toxic green algal blooms wreaked havoc on this vital ecosystem. A new study contradicts the widespread misconception that periodic discharges from Lake Okeechobee were responsible. Water samples gathered and tested in the year-long study provide multiple lines of evidence that human wastewater nitrogen from septic systems was a major contributor to the high nitrogen concentrations in the estuary and downstream coastal reefs.

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About 46,000 nuclear weapons were produced during the Cold War era, leading to tremendous volumes of acidic radioactive liquid waste seeping into the environment. A new study suggests yeast as a potentially safer and more cost effective way to help clean up these radioactive waste sites. The study, “Prospects for Fungal Bioremediation of Acidic Radioactive Waste Sites: Characterization and Genome Sequence of Rhodotorula taiwanensis MD1149,” was published in Frontiers in Microbiology, Jan. 8.

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A study from University of Utah atmospheric scientist Tim Garrett and colleagues finds that the air in the Arctic is extraordinarily sensitive to air pollution, and that particulate matter may spur Arctic cloud formation. These clouds, Garrett writes, can act as a blanket, further warming an already-changing Arctic.

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Engineers at The Ohio State University are developing technologies that have the potential to economically convert fossil fuels and biomass into useful products including electricity without emitting carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

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Tomorrow, ministers at the 15th ministerial council meeting of the Energy Community in Kosovo will adopt new rules for emission limits for coal power plants in the Western Balkans (as part of the transposition of the EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive into national law).

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Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University report statistical evidence that children exposed to airborne coarse particulate matter — a mix of dust, sand and non-exhaust tailpipe emissions, such as tire rubber — are more likely to develop asthma and need emergency room or hospital treatment for it than unexposed children.

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Children exposed to coarse particulate matter may be more likely to develop asthma and to be treated in an ER or be hospitalized for the condition, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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News Release RICHLAND, Wash. — As cars become more fuel-efficient, less heat is wasted in the exhaust, which makes it harder to clean up the pollutants are emitted. But researchers have recently created a catalyst capable of reducing pollutants at the lower temperatures expected in advanced engines. Their work, published this week in Science magazine, a leading peer-reviewed research journal, presents a new way to create a more powerful catalyst while using smaller amounts of platinum, the most expensive component of emission-control catalysts.

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A greater understanding of the dynamics of chemical reactions is leading to better models of atmospheric chemistry. Through this work, scientists are gaining insight into a key chemical able to break down some major air pollutants.

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Women exposed to air pollution just prior to conception or during the first month of pregnancy face an increased risk of their children being born with birth defects, such as cleft lip or palate or abnormal hearts.

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This past weekend brought fierce Santa Ana Winds to Southern California that are expected to last all week. As of this writing, major fires are burning in Ventura County and other areas within Los Angeles County. The South Coast Air Quality Management District lists the following areas of direct smoke impacts: ftp://ftp.aqmd.gov/pub/globalist/Advisory2.pdf

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Wildfires, cigarette smoking and vehicles all emit a potentially harmful compound called isocyanic acid. The substance has been linked to several health conditions, including heart disease and cataracts. Scientists investigating sources of the compound have now identified off-road diesel vehicles in oil sands production in Alberta, Canada, as a major contributor to regional levels of the pollutant. Their report appears in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology.

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Economics researchers capitalize on the dynamics of wildfires to prove infants’ proximity to smoke pollution while in utero affects birthweight.

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Low-emission vehicles are considered too quiet for hearing-impaired pedestrians, so the European Union is mandating that they be equipped with acoustic vehicle alerting systems. With these alert systems would come a marked increase in the amount of noise on the roads across Europe. During the 174th ASA Meeting, Dec. 4-8, 2017, in New Orleans, researchers will present their work assessing the effectiveness of acoustic vehicle alerting systems and their downsides.

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Cornell University engineering students are creating a state-of-the-art computer model to strategically place trees on highways near residential areas to mitigate pollution particles and improve human health.

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New Jersey Poison Control director Diane Calello warns of health dangers to hobby shooters, employees, law enforcement officers and their families

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Cooking in a frying pan with oil can quickly become dangerous if “explosive” hot oil droplets jump out of the pan, leading to painful burns. But these droplets may be doing something even more damaging: contributing to indoor air pollution. A group of researchers exploring these “explosive droplets” will present their work to uncover the fluid dynamics behind this phenomenon during the 70th meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, Nov. 19-21, 2017.

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