Environmental Engineers Receive Award for Investigation of Lead Poisoning of Washington D.C. Children
Marc Edwards, Virginia Tech professor of civil and environmental engineering, is the recipient of the Editor’s Choice Award for Best Science Paper of 2009 in Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T) for his investigative work that demonstrated a major increase in childhood lead poisoning of Washington D.C. children during the 2001-2004 lead-in-water crisis. (Virginia Tech Photo)
Marc Edwards and Simoni Triantafyllidou of Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering, along with colleague Dr. Dana Best of Children’s National Medical Center, published a 2009 article in Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T) that demonstrated a major increase in childhood lead poisoning of Washington D.C. children during the 2001-2004 lead-in-water crisis. The research contradicted years of government assertions that no residents in Washington D.C. had been harmed by years of unnecessary exposure to very high levels of lead in their potable water.
These discoveries prompted investigations by Congress and the D.C. Office of Inspector General into potential wrong-doing by the government agencies that made the claims.
ES&T has now selected the paper written by Edwards of Blacksburg, Va., Triantafyllidou of Veria, Greece, and Best of Washington, DC, as the Editor’s Choice Award for Best Science Paper of 2009, and is presenting the award today. ES&T publishes nearly 1500 papers annually. (more…)
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New Material Absorbs Oil Spills
A new material made at Case Western Reserve University is designed to clean up oil spills on land and at sea. The superlight material, a clay-based aerogel, absorbs oil out of water, leaving the water behind. The oil can then be squeezed out of the aerogel, and used.
An ultra-lightweight sponge made of clay and a bit of high-grade plastic draws oil out of contaminated water but leaves the water behind.
And, lab tests show that oil absorbed can be squeezed back out for use.
Case Western Reserve University researchers who made the material, called an aerogel, believe it will effectively clean up spills of all kinds of oils and solvents on factory floors and roadways, rivers and oceans.
The EPA estimates that 10 to 25 million gallons of oil are spilled annually in this country alone. Spilled oil ruins drinking water, is a fire and explosion hazard, damages farmland and beaches and destroys wildlife and habitats. The harm can last decades.
The aerogel is made by mixing clay with a polymer and water in a blender, said David Schiraldi, chairman of the Macromolecular Science and Engineering department at the Case School of Engineering.
The mixture is then freeze-dried; air fills the gaps left by the loss of water. The resulting material is super light, comprised of about 96 percent air, 2 percent polymer and 2 percent clay. (more…)
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Engineers Explore Environmental Concerns of Nanotechnology
Peter Vikesland and Linsey Marr, both associate professors of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, are members of the national Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT) at Virginia Tech. They are exploring the impact of nanotechnology research on the environment. (Virginia Tech Photo)
As researchers around the world hasten to employ nanotechnology to improve production methods for applications that range from manufacturing materials to creating new pharmaceutical drugs, a separate but equally compelling challenge exists.
History has shown that previous industrial revolutions, such as those involving asbestos and chloroflurocarbons, have had some serious environmental impacts. Might nanotechnology also pose a risk?
Linsey Marr and Peter Vikesland, faculty members in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, are part of the national Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2008. Along with Michael Hochella, University Distinguished Professor of Geosciences, they represent Virginia Tech’s efforts in a nine-member consortium awarded $14 million over five years, starting in 2008. Virginia Tech’s portion is $1.75 million.
CEINT is dedicated to elucidating the relationship between a vast array of nanomaterials — from natural, to manufactured, to those produced incidentally by human activities — and their potential environmental exposure, biological effects, and ecological consequences. It will focus on the fate and transport of natural and manufactured nanomaterials in ecosystems. (more…)
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U.S. Bill Aims To Protect Public from Exposure to Harmful Chemicals
The Endocrine Society has commended Representative Jim Moran (D-VA) and Senator John Kerry (D-MA) for introducing the Endocrine Disruption Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 4190; S. 2828). The bill, endorsed by the Society, amends the Public Health Service Act by authorizing the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to conduct a research program on endocrine disruption aimed at preventing and reducing the production of and the public’s exposure to harmful chemicals.
The legislation reflects the findings and recommendations of The Endocrine Society’s peer-reviewed Scientific Statement (http://www.endo-society.org/journals/scientificstatements/) on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) released by the Society this past June. The Scientific Statement presents evidence that endocrine disruptors—substances that interfere with hormone biosynthesis, metabolism or action—impact health resulting in adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological and immune effects in both humans and wildlife. (more…)
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Childhood Lead Exposure Causes Permanent Brain Damage
A study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate brain function revealed that adults who were exposed to lead as children incur permanent brain injury. The results were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
“What we have found is that no region of the brain is spared from lead exposure,” said the study’s lead author, Kim Cecil, Ph.D., imaging scientist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and professor of radiology, pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. “Distinct areas of the brain are affected differently.”
The study is part of a large research project called the Cincinnati Lead Study, a long-term lead exposure study conducted through the Cincinnati Children’s Environmental Health Center, a collaborative research group funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Cincinnati Lead Study followed prenatal and early childhood lead exposure of 376 infants from high-risk areas of Cincinnati between 1979 and 1987. Over the course of the project, the children underwent behavioral testing and 23 blood analyses that yielded a mean blood lead level.
Lead, a common and potent poison found in water, soil and lead-based paint, is especially toxic to children’s rapidly developing nervous systems. Homes built before 1950 are most likely to contain lead-based paint, which can chip and be ingested by children.
“Lead exposure has been associated with diminished IQ, poor academic performance, inability to focus and increased risk of criminal behavior,” Dr. Cecil said. (more…)
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Exposures to Metals and Diesel Emissions in Air Linked to Respiratory Symptoms in Children
Exposure shortly after birth to ambient metals from residential heating oil combustion and particles from diesel emissions are associated with respiratory symptoms in young inner city children, according to a new study by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The study is the first to analyze the effects of exposure to airborne metals in this very young population and the findings could have important public health implications.
Published in the December 2009 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the study also contributes to a further understanding of how specific sources of air pollution may impact child health.
The study compared pollutant levels with respiratory symptoms of children between birth and age two living in Northern Manhattan and in the South Bronx, and found that the airborne metals nickel and vanadium, were risk factors for wheezing in young children. Residual oil combustion for heating is a major source in New York City of these metals. Elemental carbon, an indicator of diesel exhaust, was associated with increased frequency of coughing only during cold and flu season (September through April). (more…)
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Nuclear Weapons: Predicting the Unthinkable
This picture was taken in 1970 when the French military tested a number of nuclear bombs on the French Polynesian islands of Mururoa and Fangataufa. (Courtesy Sean Buckley)
If a nuclear weapon were detonated in a metropolitan area, how large would the affected area be? Where should first responders first go? According to physicist Fernando Grinstein, we have some initial understanding to address these questions, but fundamental issues remain unresolved.
“The predictive capabilities of today’s state-of-the-art models in urban areas need to be improved, validated and tested,” says Grinstein. “Work in this area has been limited primarily because of lack of consistent funding.”
At the upcoming 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society’s (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics in Minneapolis, Adam Wachtor — a student who worked with Grinstein at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico — will present his efforts to improve the way that models track the movement of radioactive fall-out carried by the wind. His wind models track the aftermath of a plume of hot gas released by a small, one-ton device in a typical urban setting at a three-meter resolution.
Current models use wind direction and wind speed to draw a predicted cone-shape area of fall-out. Wachtor’s results show that these models are too simple in some ways. For instance, they do not include the complex dynamics of wind movements around buildings, which can concentrate fall-out preferentially in certain areas. They also indicate that small changes in the location of the blast and the temperature of the plume released can have a large effect on the contamination patterns. (more…)
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Searching for the Green Parking Lot
Paved parking lots and driveways make our lives easier, but they often create an easy pathway for pollutants to reach underground water sources and alter the natural flow of water back into the ground. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a study that will investigate ways to reduce pollution that can run off paved surfaces and improve how water filters back into the ground. EPA is testing a variety of different permeable pavement materials and rain gardens in the parking lot at the agency’s Edison, N.J. facility, which houses offices and its laboratory. Most major sources of pollution going into our waterways are well-controlled, but pollution runoff from hard surfaces remains a complicated problem.
“Runoff from parking lots and driveways is a significant source of water pollution in the United States and puts undo stress on our water infrastructure, especially in densely-populated urban areas,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou. “By evaluating different designs and materials, this study will help us develop strategies to lessen the environmental impacts of parking lots across the country and make our communities more sustainable.” (more…)
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Remote Sensing of Disasters from Space
An image from TAU's orbiting Hyperspectral Remote Sensor (HRS)
One small step for mankind is now a leap for averting natural and man-made disasters on earth.
New Tel Aviv University technology combines sophisticated sensors in orbit with sensors on the ground and in the air to create a “Hyperspectral Remote Sensor” (HRS). It can give advance warnings about water contamination after a forest fire, alert authorities of a pollution spill long before a red flag is raised on earth, or tell people in China where a monsoon will strike.
Prof. Eyal Ben-Dor of TAU’s Department of Geography describes his team’s HRS technology as a combination of physical, chemical and optical disciplines. “When a devastating forest fire hits the Hollywood Hills, for example, we can see from space how the mineralogy of the soil has changed,” he explains. “Because of these changes, the next rainstorm may wash out all the buildings or leach contaminants into the soil. With our new tool, we can advise on how to contain the pollutants after the fire, and warn if there is a risk for landslides.” (more…)
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Breakthrough for Manmade Enzymes, Safer for Nature
By Jes Andersen
Professor Mikael Bols, University of Copenhagen
Custom built enzyme to replace harsh and hazardous chemicals
Perilous and polluting industrial processes can be made safer with enzymes. But only a short range of enzymes have been available for the chemical industry.
Recently a group of researchers at The Department of Chemistry at University of Copenhagen succeeded in producing an artificial enzyme that points the way to enzymes tailor-made for any application.
With their group leader, Professor Mikael Bols, Ph.d. students Jeanette Bjerre and Thomas Hauch Fenger are publishing details of their breakthrough in recognized international ChemBioChem (15/2009) under the title “Cyclodextrin Aldehydes are Oxidase Mimics”
Artificial enzymes for unnatural tasks
An enzyme unlike any seen in nature, this new one distinguishes itself in three ways. Its effect is powerful. It’s easy to produce. And the researchers from the Copenhagen labs are the first to fashion an enzyme that is capable of speeding up oxidizing processes. With the simple and cheap compound Hydrogen Peroxide no less. (more…)
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Killer Algae a Key Player in Mass Extinctions
James Castle
Supervolcanoes and cosmic impacts get all the terrible glory for causing mass extinctions, but a new theory suggests lowly algae may be the killer behind the world’s great species annihilations.
Today, just about anywhere there is water, there can be toxic algae. The microscopic plants usually exist in small concentrations, but a sudden warming in the water or an injection of dust or sediment from land can trigger a bloom that kills thousands of fish, poisons shellfish, or even humans.
James Castle and John Rodgers of Clemson University think the same thing happened during the five largest mass extinctions in Earth’s history. Each time a large die off occurred, they found a spike in the number of fossil algae mats called stromatolites strewn around the planet. Castle will be presenting the research on Monday, 19 October at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of American in Portland, Oregon.
“If you go through theories of mass extinctions, there are always some unanswered questions,” Castle said. “For example, an impact – how does that cause species to go extinct? Is it climate change, dust in the atmosphere? It’s probably not going to kill off all these species on its own.” (more…)
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Developing Enzymes to Clean Up Pollution by Explosives
Dr Gideon Grogan, York Structural Biology Laboratory
Scientists at the University of York have uncovered the structure of an unusual enzyme which can be used to reverse the contamination of land by explosives.
The discovery, by scientists in the York Structural Biology Laboratory and the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, will support the development of plants that can help tackle pollution caused by royal demolition explosive, also known as RDX.
Researchers at York have identified bacteria that use RDX as a food source and used that knowledge to develop transgenic plants that can draw pollutants out of the soil and break them down.
The latest findings, published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, focus on the XplA enzyme which plays an important role in that process.
Dr Gideon Grogan, from the York Structural Biology Laboratory, said: “The biological process for tackling the pollution caused by RDX already exists but we need to find ways of making it work faster and on the scale required. (more…)
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Are Common Pills and Plastics Feminizing Fish, Endangering People?
From left, John McLachlan, director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research; Douglas Meffert, deputy director; and Charles Allen III, assistant director. (Photo by David Maag)
Synthetic and natural hormones from plastics, pesticides and even common prescription drugs are seeping into rivers and streams and having unintended consequences on wildlife, causing some male fish to become feminized and lay eggs. In fact, a recent report found that one third of small mouth bass were feminized in nine major U.S. river basins, and almost all of the rivers and streams tested in the United States contained some hormonally active chemicals.
The long-term consequences of hormones and endocrine disruptors in the environment will be the focus of the Tenth International Symposium on Environment and Hormones (E.hormone 2009), a four-day conference starting Oct. 21 at Tulane University that will bring together leading experts from around the world to talk about the latest research in this emerging field.
“It is one of the hottest topics in environmental biology right now,” says John McLachlan, director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, which is hosting the conference. “The biological activity of these compounds both in terms of other species and, potentially, ourselves is something that scientists are becoming more and more aware of through research.” (more…)
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Mobile Lab Allows Researchers to Study Air Quality & Health Effects
MSU professor Jack Harkema is seen atop AirCARE 2, his team's second mobile lab to study air pollution and its damaging health effects.
A new mobile air research laboratory will help a team of researchers led by a Michigan State University professor better understand the damaging health effects of air pollution and why certain airborne particles - emitted from plants and vehicles - induce disease and illness.
Jack Harkema, a University Distinguished Professor of pathobiology and diagnostic investigation in the College of Veterinary Medicine, will deploy the new 53-foot, 36,000-pound center - dubbed “AirCARE 2″ - throughout southern Michigan, including metropolitan Detroit.
“The mobile laboratory allows us to analyze ‘real-world’ pollution in communities that may be at risk,” he said. “We can study why certain ailments, such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and even obesity, may be more pronounced after exposure to particulate air pollution.” (more…)
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Do Dust Particles Curb Climate Change?
Every cloud is different from the next. It is therefore important to study the types of cloud systems in which aerosols have the greatest influence. (Max Planck Institute for Meteorology / Stevens)
A knowledge gap exists in the area of climate research: for decades, scientists have been asking themselves whether, and to what extent man-made aerosols, that is, dust particles suspended in the atmosphere, enlarge the cloud cover and thus curb climate warming. Research has made little or no progress on this issue. Two scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg (MPI-M) and the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report in the journal Nature that the interaction between aerosols, clouds and precipitation is strongly dependent on factors that have not been adequately researched up to now. They urge the adoption of a research concept that will close this gap in the knowledge. (Nature, October 1st, 2009)
Greenhouse gases that heat up the earth’s atmosphere have their adversaries: dust particles suspended in the atmosphere which are known as aerosols. They arise naturally, for example when wind blows up desert dust, and through human activities. A large proportion of the man-made aerosols arise from sulfur dioxides that are generated, in turn, by the combustion of fossil fuels. (more…)
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Man-Made Activities Affect Blue Haze
“Blue haze,” a common occurrence that appears over heavily forested areas around the world, is formed by natural emissions of chemicals, but human activities can worsen it to the point of affecting the world’s weather and even cause potential climate problems, according to a study led by a Texas A&M University researcher.
Renyi Zhang, professor of atmospheric sciences who has studied air chemistry for more than 20 years, says blue haze (tiny particles or aerosols suspended in the air) can be negatively affected by human activities such as power plants or fossil-fuel burning.
Team members included researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, the Molina Center for Energy and Environment in La Jolla, Calif., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their work is published in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and the project was funded by the Welch Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. (more…)
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Researchers Reveal Key to How Bacteria Clear Mercury Pollution
Mercury is a dangerous toxin that has become widespread throughout our environment. Coal-fired power plants, waste incinerators, chlor-alkali plants, and other U.S. sources dump 150 tons of mercury per year into our air. (Senator Patrick Leahy)
Mercury pollution is a persistent problem in the environment. Human activity has lead to increasingly large accumulations of the toxic chemical, especially in waterways, where fish and shellfish tend to act as sponges for the heavy metal.
It’s that persistent and toxic nature that has flummoxed scientists for years in the quest to find ways to mitigate the dangers posed by the buildup of mercury in its most toxic form, methylmercury.
A new discovery by scientists at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, however, has shed new light on one of nature’s best mercury fighters: bacteria.
“Mercury pollution is a significant environmental problem,” said Jeremy Smith, a UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair and lead author of the new study. “That’s especially true for organisms at or near the top of the food chain, such as fish, shellfish, and ultimately, humans. But some bacteria seem to know how to break down the worst forms of it. Understanding how they do this is valuable information.” (more…)
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Air Pollutants From Abroad a Growing Concern, Says New Report
An elevated view of one of Linfen's main streets. Linfen, China has been named by some organizations as the dirtiest city in the world. (Sheila/CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic)
Plumes of harmful air pollutants can be transported across oceans and continents — from Asia to the United States and from the United States to Europe — and have a negative impact on air quality far from their original sources, says a new report by the National Research Council. Although degraded air quality is nearly always dominated by local emissions, the influence of non-domestic pollution sources may grow as emissions from developing countries increase and become relatively more important as a result of tightening environmental protection standards in industrialized countries.
“Air pollution does not recognize national borders; the atmosphere connects distant regions of our planet,” said Charles Kolb, chair of the committee that wrote the report and president and chief executive officer of Aerodyne Research Inc. “Emissions within any one country can affect human and ecosystem health in countries far downwind. While it is difficult to quantify these influences, in some cases the impacts are significant from regulatory and public health perspectives.” (more…)
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U.S. Needs Nearly $200 Million More on Climate-Related Health Research
Kristie Ebi testifying before the US Senate on climate change and public health, April 10, 2008.
A recent commentary suggests that the U.S. should spend roughly $197 million more than it currently does to research the impact of climate change on public health.
The analysis found that the U.S. spends about $3 million in federal funds on research related to the health impacts of climate change, says Marie S. O’Neill, one of the commentary co-authors. This isn’t nearly enough to adequately address the public health issues related to global warming, the group concluded.
The commentary’s lead author was Kristie Ebi, a University of Michigan-trained epidemiologist and expert on climate change and public health, who is an adjunct professor of Environmental Health Sciences. The article was inspired by another study, mandated by Congress, that assesses the importance of global climate change on health, also led by Ebi. During their research and in preparing testimony for Congressional hearings on the topic, the team realized that the U.S. is woefully underfunding climate change health-related research. (more…)
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New Research: The Impact of Regional Aerosols in China
Zhanging Li is a professor in the University of Maryland's Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science (CMPS).
Moisture-laden clouds frequently gather over the heavy industrial regions of southeastern China, yet little rainfall is recorded there. A University of Maryland scientist, working with climate experts from NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discovered one reason may be in a component of those clouds: aerosols.
A heavy concentration of aerosols — tiny airborne particles of soot, dust, sulfuric acid and organic matter — can affect rainfall, air quality and the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface, according to the researchers. Their initial findings from a seven-month study are featured in an article published this week (Sept. 24) in Nature magazine.
“To better understand the impact of aerosols in China is to better understand climate change worldwide,” says Zhanqing Li, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic science (CMPS) at Maryland and lead investigator of the project. (more…)
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Electronic Nose Sniffs Out Toxins
Kenneth S. Suslick, Ph.D. (above) and his colleagues have created an artificial nose for the detection of toxic industrial chemicals that is simple, fast, inexpensive, and works by visualizing colors. (University of Illinois)
Imagine a polka-dotted postage stamp-sized sensor that can sniff out some known poisonous gases and toxins and show the results simply by changing colors.
Support for the development and application of this electronic nose comes from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health. The new technology is discussed in this month’s issue of Nature Chemistry and exemplifies the types of sensors that are being developed as part of the NIH Genes, Environment and Health Initiative (GEI) (http://www.gei.nih.gov/index.asp).
Once fully developed, the sensor could be useful in detecting high exposures to toxic industrial chemicals that pose serious health risks in the workplace or through accidental exposure. While physicists have radiation badges to protect them in the workplace, chemists and workers who handle chemicals do not have equivalent devices to monitor their exposure to potentially toxic chemicals. The investigators hope to be able to market the wearable sensor within a few years. (more…)
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Nanoparticles May Have Negative Effects on the Environment and Human Health
Mark Wiesner from Duke University. (Duke University Photography)
The same properties of nanoparticles that make them so appealing to manufacturers may also have negative effects on the environment and human health.
However, little is known which particles may be harmful. Part of the problem is determining exactly what a nanoparticle is.
A new analysis by an international team of researchers from the Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT), based at Duke University, argues for a new look at the way nanoparticles are selected when studying the potential impacts on human health and the environment. They have found that while many small particles are considered to be “nano,” these materials often do not meet full definition of having special properties that make them different from conventional materials. (more…)
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Using Bacteria to Make Radioactive Metals Inert
Judy Wall, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Missouri, is working with bacteria that convert toxic radioactive metal to inert substances. (Reprinted with permission from MIZZOU magazine)
The Lost Orphan Mine below the Grand Canyon hasn’t produced uranium since the 1960s, but radioactive residue still contaminates the area. Cleaning the region takes an expensive process that is only done in extreme cases, but Judy Wall, a biochemistry professor at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, is researching the use of sulfate-reducing bacteria to convert toxic radioactive metal to inert substances, a much more economical solution.
The bacteria Wall is studying are bio-corrosives and can change the solubility of heavy metals. They can take uranium and convert it to uraninite, a nearly insoluble substance that will sink to the bottom of a lake or stream. Wall is looking into the bacteria’s water cleansing ability and how long the changed material would remain inert. (more…)
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Pesticides — Easier Detection of Pollution and Impact in Rivers
Researchers of the UFZ have developed a tool that can estimate the harmful effect of pesticides, such as those flushed into rivers and streams from agricultural land, within minutes. (Photo: André Künzelmann/UFZ)
The long-term effects of pesticides on living organisms in rivers and on water quality can now be assessed more easily. Researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) have developed a tool that can estimate the harmful effect of pesticides, such as those flushed into rivers and streams from agricultural land, within minutes. “It used to be very difficult to detect which chronic effects occur,” explains Dr Matthias Liess, head of the UFZ’s System Ecotoxicology Department. In their new approach, the Helmholtz researchers exploit the fact that pesticides cause characteristic changes to the composition of the life community that is affected. (more…)
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