Environment News

World’s Very First Polluted River? Scientists Find Evidence of Ancient Metallurgical Activity in Jordan

Wadi Faynan, where J.P. Grattan et al found evidence of ancient pollution caused by bead making and/or repeated combustion of copper ores in hot fires. Image credit: University of Waterloo.
Dec 6, 2016 by News Staff

A research team led by Liverpool John Moores University scientists has discovered what could be the world’s very first polluted river, contaminated 7,000 years ago. In a now-dry riverbed in the Faynan Orefield of southern Jordan, the team found evidence of anthropogenic copper pollution. Wadi Faynan, where J.P. Grattan et al found evidence of ancient pollution caused by bead making and/or repeated combustion of copper ores in hot fires. Image credit:...

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Distribution of the atmospheric ammonia concentration in June, July, and August 2008 at 9.3 mile (15 km) height as observed by MIPAS. Bright areas are measurement gaps due to high cloud cover. Image credit: Michael Höpfner / Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Ammonia Detected in Earth’s Upper Troposphere

Dec 5, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH3, has been found for the first time in the upper troposphere of our planet. Distribution...

Transmission electron micrographs of brain thin sections, identifying two distinct types of magnetite morphologies: rounded particles (left) and angular particles (right). Image credit: Barbara A. Maher et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1605941113.

Pollution-Derived Magnetic Particles Detected in Human Brain

Sep 6, 2016 by News Staff

Anthropogenic (combustion-derived) nanoparticles of magnetite, a strongly magnetic mineral, have been discovered to be lodged in human brains — and...

Harmful algal bloom caused by nutrient pollution, Assateague island National Seashore, MD. Image credit: Eric Vance / U.S. EPA.

Reducing Water Pollution with Microbes and Wood Chips

Jul 6, 2016 by Laura Christianson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Harmful algal bloom caused by nutrient pollution, Assateague island National Seashore, MD. Image credit: Eric Vance / U.S. EPA. Beneath fields of corn...

This image of the continental United States at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. The image was made possible by the satellite's ‘day-night band’ of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires and reflected moonlight. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory / NOAA NGDC.

Researchers Develop New Global Atlas of Light Pollution

Jun 10, 2016 by News Staff

More than 80 percent of the world and more than 99 percent of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies, according to a study and...

A pack of gray wolves visits a scent station in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The photograph was taken by one of the remote camera stations and was triggered by the wolves’ movement. Image credit: Sarah Webster / Jim Beasley / National Geographic.

Camera Study Reveals Wildlife Abundance in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Apr 19, 2016 by News Staff

New research published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment documents animal species prevalent in the human-free Chernobyl Exclusion...

Taxis in New York City. Image credit: Prayitno Hadinata / CC BY 2.0.

Robotic Taxis Could Help Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Scientists Say

Jul 7, 2015 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, per-mile greenhouse gas emissions of an electric vehicle deployed as an autonomous...

Bathymetric map of the Arctic Ocean.

Arctic Ocean Becoming Less Hospitable to Shelled Species

Jun 17, 2015 by News Staff

The surface waters of the Arctic Ocean could reach levels of acidity that threaten the ability of animals to build and maintain their shells by 2030, according...

Permafrost in High Arctic. Image credit: TheBrockenInaGlory / CC BY-SA 3.0

Frozen Soils Could Become Major Source of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Apr 9, 2015 by News Staff

Thawing permafrost in the Artic and sub-Arctic regions will likely produce a gradual and prolonged release of large quantities of greenhouse gases spanning...

Dr Martin Vollmer and his colleagues detected a rapid accumulation of anesthetic gases isoflurane, desflurane, and sevoflurane, in the global atmosphere. Image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Anesthetic Gases Contribute to Climate Change, Say Atmospheric Chemists

Apr 9, 2015 by News Staff

Desflurane, isoflurane, sevoflurane and halothane – clinically used inhalation anesthetic agents – are accumulating in the atmosphere of our...

Pasig River, Manila, Philippines. Image credit: Bar Fabella / CC BY 2.0

New Low-Cost Method Can Detect Sewage Pollution in Streams, Rivers

Mar 31, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of Sheffield, UK, has developed and tested a promising novel method that uses inexpensive samplers (cotton tampons)...

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