News tagged with environmental contaminants

In environmental disasters, families respond with conflict, denial, silence

Environmental disasters impact individuals and communities; they also affect how family members communicate with each other, sometimes in surprising ways, according to a paper published by a faculty member ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Apr 12, 2012 | popularity 2 / 5 (2) | comments 0

A capsule for removing radioactive contamination from milk, fruit juices, other beverages

Amid concerns about possible terrorist attacks with nuclear materials, and fresh memories of environmental contamination from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, scientists today described ...

Chemistry / Other

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 2

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

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 study confirms low levels of fallout from Fukushima

Fallout from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power facility in Japan was measured in minimal amounts in precipitation in the United States in about 20 percent of 167 sites sampled in a nationwide study released today. ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Nationwide radium testing of groundwater shows most susceptible regions: Central US and East Coast

Groundwater in aquifers on the East Coast and in the Central U.S. has the highest risk of contamination from radium, a naturally occurring radioactive element and known carcinogen.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 15, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Bird populations near Fukushima are more diminished than expected

(PhysOrg.com) -- Low-level radiation in Fukushima Prefecture appears to have had immediate effects on bird populations, and to a greater degree than was expected from a related analysis of Chernobyl, an international ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

US health experts seek more study on 'fracking'

A group of US medical professionals called Monday for a halt to a type of drilling for natural gas called "fracking" in populated areas until more is known about its health impacts.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

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

Cold spots contaminated in high humidity incubators

Microbes in human incubators, like those found in neonatal intensive care units, grow most robustly on cold spots when the relative humidity is at least 60 percent, according to a paper in the December 2011 issue of the journal ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 16, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Keeping our beaches safe: New wireless sensor device rapidly detects E. coli in water samples

Fecal contamination of public beaches caused by sewage overflow is both dangerous for swimmers and costly for state and local economies. Current methods to detect Escherichia coli, a bacterium highly indicative of the pr ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers study toenails as marker for arsenic exposure

(PhysOrg.com) -- UA scientists have teamed up to study the relationship between arsenic in human toenails and arsenic concentration in drinking water. Exposure to arsenic is associated with several chronic diseases ranging ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 07, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

UI engineers conduct residential soils study, one of few such US studies ever done

University of Iowa engineers have published their findings from a study of residential soils in the city of Cedar Rapids, making it one of only a few such U.S. urban soil studies ever conducted.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers unlock bacteria's beneficial side

Researchers now understand how bacteria can break down phosphonic acids, persistent and potentially hazardous environmental pollutants found in many common medicinal products, detergents and herbicides.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 28, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast