Pollution News

August 3, 2024

Top Headlines

Climate Change Will Bring More Turbulence to Flights in the Northern Hemisphere, Study Finds

July 25, 2024 — A type of invisible, unpredictable air turbulence is expected to occur more frequently in the Northern Hemisphere as the climate warms. Known as clear air turbulence, the phenomenon also increased in ...

Combined Effects of Plastic Pollution and Seawater Flooding Amplify Threats to Coastal Plant Species

Aug. 2, 2024 — A new study highlights how a combination of environmental stressors -- namely plastic pollution and seawater flooding -- can increase the threats faced by plants in some of the planet's critical ...

Scientists Find a Human 'Fingerprint' in the Upper Troposphere's Increasing Ozone

Aug. 2, 2024 — Scientists confirmed that much of ozone's increase in the upper troposphere is likely due to humans. A team detected a clear signal of human influence on upper tropospheric ozone trends in a 17-year ...

Multiple Urinary Metals Play Key Role in Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality, Study Finds

Aug. 1, 2024 — Higher levels of urinary metals such as cadmium, tungsten, uranium, cobalt, copper and zinc are linked to increased cardiovascular disease and mortality in a racially and ethnically diverse U.S. ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:14pm EDT

Smell Reports Reveal the Need to Expand Urban Air Quality Monitoring, Say Researchers

July 31, 2024 — Researchers have uncovered surprising insights into the Vancouver region's 'smellscape' using data from the Smell Vancouver app. Analyzing 549 ...

North Sea Oil and Gas Extraction Spikes Pollution by 10,000 Percent, Study Finds

July 30, 2024 — North Sea oil and gas extraction can cause pollution to spike by more than 10,000 percent within half a kilometer around off-shore sites, a study has ...

Genes or Environment? A New Model for Understanding Disease Risk Factors

July 30, 2024 — Researchers have developed a model that more accurately predicts how genetics and air pollution levels causally influence disease ...

Thousands of Birds and Fish Threatened by Mining for Clean Energy Transition, Study Finds

July 26, 2024 — Our increasing demand for metals and minerals is putting over four thousand vertebrate species at risk, with the raw materials needed for clean ...

Study Tracks Exposure to Air Pollution Through the Day

July 29, 2024 — For people moving through the Bronx at different times, exposure to particulate matter 2.5 microns or bigger rises by about 2.4 percent when daily travel patterns are taken into account, according to ...

Nitrogen Emissions Have a Net Cooling Effect: But Researchers Warn Against a Climate Solution

July 25, 2024 — An international team of researchers has found that nitrogen emissions from fertilizers and fossil fuels have a net cooling effect on the climate. ...

The Ocean Is Becoming Too Loud for Oysters, Research Finds

July 24, 2024 — Baby oysters rely on natural acoustic cues to settle in specific environments, but new research reveals that noise from human activity is interfering with this critical ...

July 24, 2024 — Ultrafine particles, UFPs, the smallest contributors to air pollution, hinder the function of mitochondria in human olfactory mucosa cells, a new ...

Warehousing Industry Increases Health-Harming Pollutants, Research Shows

July 24, 2024 — A new study shows an average 20-percent spike of nitrogen dioxide polluting the air for communities located near huge warehouses. And people of color are harder ...

Drawing Water from Dry Air

July 23, 2024 — A prototype device harvests drinking water from the atmosphere, even in arid ...

Earlier Headlines

Downwind States Face Disproportionate Burden of Air Pollution

July 31, 2024 — A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to block a federal rule curbing interstate air pollution further complicates efforts to reduce emissions and adds to an already disproportionate burden on ...

Seven Steps to Achieving the Right to Clean Indoor Air Post-Pandemic

July 26, 2024 — Seven lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic about ventilation's crucial role in preventing the spread of airborne pathogens has been set out in a new ...

Waters Along Bar Harbor, Acadia Home to Billions of Microplastics

July 24, 2024 — Researchers reveal there are an estimated 400 billion microplastic fibers on the surface of Frenchman Bay, which borders Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in Maine, and several connected rivers and ...

Study of Urban Moss Raises Concerns About Lead Levels in Older Portland Neighborhoods

July 24, 2024 — Lead levels in moss are as much as 600 times higher in older Portland, Oregon, neighborhoods where lead-sheathed telecommunications cables were once used compared to lead levels in nearby rural ...

Children's Exposome Associated With Changes in Serum Metabolites

July 23, 2024 — The combined effect of environmental exposures and unhealthy lifestyle habits can affect children's cardiometabolic health in a way that exceeds their separate effects. A new study shows the ...

Converting Captured Carbon to Fuel: Study Assesses What's Practical and What's Not

July 22, 2024 — A new analysis sheds light on major shortfalls of a recently proposed approach to capture CO2 from air and directly convert it to fuel using electricity. The authors also provide a new, more ...

New Humidity-Driven Membrane to Remove Carbon Dioxide from the Air

July 19, 2024 — A new ambient-energy-driven membrane that pumps carbon dioxide out of the air has been developed by ...

How Pollution May Remain in Water After Oil Spill Cleanups

July 18, 2024 — The way oil drops break up at the water's surface means some oil may not get cleaned up after a ...

Rural Belts Around Cities Can Reduce Urban Summer Temperatures by Up to 0.5°C

July 18, 2024 — The key to cooling 'urban heat islands' may lie in the countryside, according to a new ...

Children Living in Greener Neighborhoods Show Better Lung Function

July 17, 2024 — A large study of 35,000 children from eight countries has found a 'robust' link between exposure to green spaces in early childhood and better lung function. The study used data from 10 ...

Smart Soil Can Water and Feed Itself

July 17, 2024 — A newly engineered type of soil can capture water out of thin air to keep plants hydrated and manage controlled release of fertilizer for a constant supply of ...

Microplastic Pollution Increases Sea Foam Height and Stability

July 16, 2024 — Researchers examine the specific impacts of microplastics on the geophysics of sea foam formation in the critical zone where water meets air in the top layer of the ocean. They devised two ...

Weather Experts Discover New Effect of Storm -- In a Teacup

July 16, 2024 — A new study reveals that Storm Ciaran cut an invisible path of mayhem across southern Britain last autumn, destroying any possibility that 20 million people could have a proper cup of tea at ...

Oil and Natural Gas Development in Permian Is a Key Source of Ozone Pollution in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Study Finds

July 16, 2024 — New research shows that ozone concentrations at Carlsbad Caverns National Park frequently exceed Environmental Protection Agency health standards, likely due to oil and natural gas development in the ...

Local Dragonflies Expose Mercury Pollution Patterns

July 16, 2024 — A new study has unveiled surprising findings about mercury pollution: where it comes from and how it moves through the environment vary significantly depending on the ecosystem. In drier regions, ...

Scientists Find New Way Global Air Churn Makes Particles

July 12, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a new mechanism by which particles are formed around the ...

Study Finds Health Risks in Switching Ships from Diesel to Ammonia Fuel

July 11, 2024 — Without additional regulation, burning ammonia in ship engines could cause serious impacts on air quality that could result in more than 600,000 additional premature deaths per year, according to new ...

Mapping the World's Fungi from Air Samples

July 11, 2024 — Researchers have found that the key to a quick and cost-effective mapping of biodiversity has been right in front of our eyes all along, but at the same time invisible -- i.e., in the air that ...

Air Pollution Harms Pollinators More Than Pests, Study Finds

July 11, 2024 — Pollinators experienced a 39-percent decline in foraging efficiency after being exposed to elevated air pollution levels. In contrast, plant-eating aphids and other pests were not significantly ...

Targeted Home Systems to Remove PFAS More Cost-Effective Than System-Wide Solutions

July 11, 2024 — PFAS, the potentially cancer-causing chemicals known as 'forever chemicals', have become an increasing concern in home drinking water. Solutions to reduce the risk of exposure range from ...