Plastic pollution occurs in every ecosystem on the planet and lingers for decades. Could insects be part of the solution? Previous research found that insects can ingest and absorb pure, unrefined microplastics—but only under unrealistic, food-scarce situations. In a new Biology Letters paper, UBC zoologist Dr. Michelle Tseng and alumna Shim Gicole tested mealworms in…
With house building a priority for the new UK Government, researchers at the University of Surrey are urging city planners not to forget to build “greening areas” such as parks in new communities. Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), working with 30 co-authors from seven countries, found that parks may be the most…
Around 90 % (4.5 trillion) of cigarettes consumed globally are improperly discarded, making cigarette butts one of the most common waste types. They contain harmful chemicals such as metals, nicotine, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which leach into water and threaten aquatic life. Nicotine dissolves readily in water, with approximately half leaching out from cigarette butts…
Every time generative artificial intelligence drafts an e-mail or conjures up an image, the planet pays for it. Making two images can consume as much energy as charging a smartphone; a single exchange with ChatGPT can heat up a server so much that it requires a bottle’s worth of water to cool. At scale, these…
Scientists have suggested that materials being advocated as alternatives to plastic should be tested thoroughly before they are used in products Lloyd Russell Bio-based materials may pose a greater health risk to some of the planet’s most important species than the conventional plastics they are designed to replace, a new study has shown. Such materials…
It wasn’t until Sarah Paiji Yoo became a new mother that her journey into plastic-free living really began. Specifically, it was the switch to baby formula that changed her worldview. Yoo had been breastfeeding her son for a few months and was looking to transition him to a dissolvable formula in 2018. But she found…
Today the perilous state of the environment is often in the news. Many stories describe how Earth is being damaged by human beings and discuss ways to prevent this. These concerns are not new. Millennia ago, people in ancient Greece and Rome already knew humans were damaging the natural world. Literature from these ancient times…
Scientists discovered that bacteria commonly found in wastewater can break down plastic to turn it into a food source, a finding that researchers hope could be a promising answer to combat one of Earth’s major pollution problems. In a study published Thursday in Environmental Science and Technology, scientists laid out their examination of Comamonas testosteroni,…
Cargo ships, tankers etc are usually loaded at land-based terminals but sometimes it is necessary for various reasons for cargo to be transferred from one ship to another while at sea. Many of these ship-to-ship transfer (STS) operations involve the transfer of liquid fuels. This can be a risky business with a danger of spillage…
Water contamination by the chemicals used in today’s technology is a rapidly growing problem globally. A recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that 98 percent of people tested had detectable levels of PFAS, a family of particularly long-lasting compounds also known as “forever chemicals,” in their bloodstream. A new filtration material developed…