The bottom sediment of water bodies is an archive of all human activity. It is a reservoir of nutrients but also of harmful substances—and it can also turn into a source of emissions. "Most lakes tend to be remediated due ...
Potentially harmful chemicals can contaminate untreated water used in recycling plants to clean plastics before they're processed into new products, according to a new study by an Iowa State University research group. Researchers ...
Many people use drugs, including paracetamol, on a regular basis to treat headaches. But only part of each drug is taken into the bloodstream, while the rest is released into the wastewater through our urine when we go to ...
Each year, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is responsible for an estimated 1.1 to 1.4 million deaths worldwide. Now, scientists have found evidence that the spread of AMR isn't always driven by bacteria evolving to resist ...
Detergents may begin their journey by cleaning our clothes, but they end up contaminating the environment, flowing into rivers, ponds, and oceans, where they severely disrupt aquatic animal life. Even after wastewater treatment, ...
Kitchen sponges are considered a potential, yet largely understudied, source of microplastics in households. A study in Environmental Advances investigated how many microplastic particles are released from kitchen sponges ...
While parts of New York and New Jersey were "building back better" after Superstorm Sandy, residents of flood-prone public housing in Rockaway, Queens, were left without heat or running water for years.
Every time we do a load of laundry, tiny fibers of polyester escape from our clothes and slip down the drain. These microfibers, so small they can be invisible to the naked eye, are among the most common forms of microplastic ...
Antidepressants and other psychoactive drugs are designed to affect the human brain. But after they enter the water system in excrement or unused drugs flushed down the drain, traces of these compounds can enter the environment ...
Substances capable of mutating human genetic material—altering and permanently damaging it—are present in many everyday products. Researchers at Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) have, for the first time, detected mutagens ...
