News tagged with contaminants

Radioactive bluefin tuna crossed the Pacific to US

Across the vast Pacific, the mighty bluefin tuna carried radioactive contamination that leaked from Japan's crippled nuclear plant to the shores of the United States 6,000 miles away - the first time a huge ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created May 28, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 15

New type of biosensor is fast, super-sensitive

(Phys.org) -- A whole new class of biosensor that can detect exceptionally small traces of contaminants in liquids in just 40 minutes has been developed by a UNSW-led team of researchers.

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created May 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Probability of contamination from severe nuclear reactor accidents is higher than expected: study

Catastrophic nuclear accidents such as the core meltdowns in Chernobyl and Fukushima are more likely to happen than previously assumed. Based on the operating hours of all civil nuclear reactors and the number ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created May 22, 2012 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (30) | comments 77 | with audio podcast

From waste to water: Study examines solution to red mud problem

Scientists at the University of Glasgow are working to turn a toxic industrial waste product into a material which can be used to treat contaminated water.

Space & Earth / Environment

created May 21, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Methane levels 17 times higher in water wells near hydrofracking sites

A study by Duke University researchers has found high levels of leaked methane in well water collected near shale-gas drilling and hydrofracking sites. The scientists collected and analyzed water samples from 68 private ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created May 09, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (12) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Novel device removes heavy metals from water

An unfortunate consequence of many industrial and manufacturing practices, from textile factories to metalworking operations, is the release of heavy metals in waterways. Those metals can remain for decades, even centuries, ...

Chemistry / Other

created Dec 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (13) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Nasa's new carbon-counting instrument leaves the nest

(Phys.org) -- Its construction now complete, the science instrument that is the heart of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) spacecraft - NASA's first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 30

Alarm as Peru pelican and dolphin deaths rise

Peru's northern beaches have been declared off-limits as scientists scramble to pin down what is causing the mysterious deaths of thousands of birds and dolphins.

Biology / Ecology

created May 08, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2

Study confirms oil from Deepwater Horizon disaster entered food chain in the Gulf of Mexico

Since the explosion on the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, scientists have been working to understand the impact that this disaster has had on the environment. For ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 20, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (13) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel

Japan used seawater to cool nuclear fuel at the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant after the tsunami in March 2011 -- and that was probably the best action to take at the time, says Professor Alexandra ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Responding to the radiation threat

Berkeley Lab researchers are developing a promising treatment for safely decontaminating humans exposed to radioactive actinides from a major radiation exposure event, such as a nuclear reactor accident or ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Mar 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Researchers develop tools to make more complex biological machines from yeast

Scientists are one step closer to making more complex microscopic biological machines, following improvements in the way that they can "re-wire" DNA in yeast, according to research published today in the journal ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

New study queries interactions of metal-reducing bacteria with plutonium oxide

(PhysOrg.com) -- Recent work by scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has shed new light on the perplexing environmental chemistry of plutonium. They demonstrated that under anaerobic, or oxygen-free, ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New paper describes method for cleaning up nuclear waste

While the costs associated with storing nuclear waste and the possibility of it leaching into the environment remain legitimate concerns, they may no longer be obstacles on the road to cleaner energy.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Mar 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (12) | comments 16 | with audio podcast

Scientists reveal how cholera bacterium gains a foothold in the gut

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of biologists at the University of York has made an important advance in our understanding of the way cholera attacks the body. The discovery could help scientists target treatments for the globally ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jan 27, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms . Pollution can take the form of chemical substances, or energy, such as noise, heat, or light energy. Pollutants, the elements of pollution, can be foreign substances or energies, or naturally occurring; when naturally occurring, they are considered contaminants when they exceed natural levels. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution. The Blacksmith Institute issues annually a list of the world's worst polluted places. In the 2007 issues the ten top nominees are located in Azerbaijan, China, India, Peru, Russia, Ukraine and Zambia.

For more information about Pollution, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.