Learning lessons from BP oil spill

In an attempt to limit the harm of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, three million liters of dispersant were used to dissipate the oil. "The question is whether that was the best approach," said ...

Microplastics in soils: First consistent risk assessment

Microplastics in soil are extremely diverse and complex. This makes it difficult to determine the risks of plastic pollution to soil life, which is an increasing concern among policymakers and scientists. Researchers from ...

New water soluble polymer for water resistant coatings

A new polymer on the basis of a trick used by mussels has been developed by the Wageningen PhD student Juan Yang. The polymer should be able to let water-based paint flow better and produce water resistant coatings. Yang ...

Moths prefer to reproduce in the dark

Night-time is no longer dark by definition in our country. 'Light pollution' is increasing by around 6% each year, while the ecological consequences are still largely unknown. 'Cloaked in darkness,' as Koert van Geffen puts ...

Growing crops on Mars? Probably not under the naked sun

If humans want to live on Mars for a longer period it will be necessary to grow their own crops over there. And what is more logical than growing the crops in a greenhouse on the surface, profiting from the sunlight, as seen ...

Do forests lead to more or fewer clouds? It depends

Large-scale deforestation, forest restoration, forest fires, and droughts all have one thing in common: Most research on these topics focuses on forest ecosystems' impact on carbon storage and release. Other effects of forests ...

New immune system discovered in bacteria

Like humans, bacteria have various immune systems to defend against pathogens such as viruses. These immune systems usually degrade the DNA of the pathogens to make it harmless. In the research group of assistant Professor ...

Electricity from the marshes

An unexpected source of new, clean energy has been found: the Plant-Microbial Fuel Cell that can generate electricity from the natural interaction between living plant roots and soil bacteria. The technique already works ...

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