ScienceDaily for July 2, 2008 reported on pesticides contamination of ground-water.
The downward movement of pesticide degradation products, formed in situ, can also contribute to the contamination of ground water. Once in ground water, pesticides and their degradation products can persist for years, depending upon the chemical structure of the compounds and the environmental conditions.
Prions, rogue proteins that cause incurable brain infections such as Mad Cow disease and its human equivalent, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, are difficult to inactivate, resisting extreme heat, chemical disinfectants, and irradiation. Until now, scientists did not know whether prions entering sewers and septic tanks from slaughterhouses, meatpacking facilities, or private game dressing, could survive and pass through conventional sewage treatment plants.
The U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research has released a scientific assessment that provides the first comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America and U.S. territories. Among the major findings reported in this assessment are that droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more commonplace as humans continue to increase the atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
With the help of his colleagues from Environment Canada and the Armand-Frappier Institute, Sauvé chose to study nanoparticles in mussels. “This mollusk is often utilized to measure water pollution levels,” says Sauvé. “But it's the first time we use them to measure the potential toxicity of nanoparticles.”
New research shows that while engineered nanomaterials can be transferred up the lowest levels of the food chain from single celled organisms to higher multicelled ones, the amount transferred was relatively low and there was no evidence of the nanomaterials concentrating in the higher level organisms. The preliminary results observed by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggest that the particular nanomaterials studied may not accumulate in invertebrate food chains.
National Geographic News for May 27-29, 2008 is discussing the food crisis that is plaguing the world.
VIDEO: World Food in Crisis
"Perfect Storm" in Food Prices Caused by Many Factors
Australia's Long Drought Withering Wheat, Rice Supplies
Until 1992, when California's magnitude-7.3 Landers earthquake set off small jolts as far away as Yellowstone National Park, scientists did not believe large earthquakes sparked smaller tremors at distant locations. Now, a definitive study shows large earthquakes routinely trigger smaller jolts worldwide, including on the opposite side of the planet and in areas not prone to quakes.The World Science article is here.
In January, public officials and residents of Orange County, California, toasted the culmination of a water supply project more than a decade in the making. But at these festivities champagne took a backseat to the beverage of choice as celebrants lifted glasses of recycled sewage water.
LiveScience for May 21, 2008 reported on earth quake simulations by scientists.
The “Big One,” as earthquake scientists imagine it in a detailed, first-of-its-kind script, unzips California's mighty San Andreas Fault north of the Mexican border. In less than two minutes, Los Angeles and its sprawling suburbs are shaking like a bowl of jelly.
Food, clean water, medicines and protection from natural hazards are important ingredients in maintaining our security and quality of life. If they are to be maintained then the species, natural habitats and ecosystems that support them need to be protected. In 2002 the world’s governments set themselves a target to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but WWF’s report shows that they are clearly not on track.
For the past three decades, researchers and health workers have engaged in a similar battle against one of the most cunning viruses to afflict humanity and much of the animal world: the dread influenza virus. This pathogen is even smarter than Death; it continuously changes the appearance of its chess pawns—the proteins on its coat—so that im-mune systems do not recognize the new disguise.
“We estimate that 20 percent of the population in the four affected administrative divisions could be affected by Cyclone Nargis,” said Shannon Doocy, PhD, an assistant professor with the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, who developed the vulnerability estimates with colleagues from the Bloomberg School’s Center for Public Health and Human Rights, and from Lehman College. “These are rough estimates, but our calculations could be of great help to relief agencies that are trying to provide aid on the ground.”
ScienceDaily for May 17, 2008 reported on the effect of pollutants in the mother's body to physical deformities in boys.
Mothers with high levels of organochlorine compounds in their bodies are at a greater risk of bearing sons with undescended testicles (cryptorchidism). In a study of 40 boys undergoing surgical treatment for the condition, researchers from New York and Michigan analyzed PCB serum levels from both the patient and the mother and compared the readings to residual PCB levels in the patients' fatty tissue samples (taken at surgery). Patients ranged from eight to 18 months of age at the time of treatment.
An article in ScienceDaily for May 12, 2008 reported on inadequate cleaning of toilets in hospitals.
A team of Canadian scientists using a lotion which glows under ultraviolet light have shown that up to a third of patient toilets are not properly cleaned. Their findings also show that spores from the nasty bacteria Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) linger in the loo even when it has been thoroughly wiped down.
LiveScience for May 6, 2008 discussed natural disasters.
It is impossible to compare modern and historical disasters and develop any objective list of the worst, yet a subjective list can prove instructive. Here are the challenges:
Four thousand people are reported dead after a cyclone tore through the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar late Friday night and early Saturday morning. Over 10 hours, winds traveling up to 150 miles per hour struck Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, and dumped 20 inches of rain on the harbortown, formerly known as Rangoon. According to CNN, the country's foreign minister expects that the final death toll to rise to more than 10,000 That would make the storm -- Tropical Cyclone Nargis -- one of Myanmar's most deadly natural disasters and the second largest in the region after the tsunami of 2004, which took nearly 200,000 lives.The National Geographic News articles are here and here. The LiveScience articles are here and here. A space.com photograph of the cyclone is here. The ScienceDaily article is here.
Comparatively little research has been done on what happens to nanoparticles when they are released through accidental spills -- or when products containing them are discarded. Researchers want to know more about the environmental fate of nanoparticles to avoid creating problems like those of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), in which the harmful effects of the compounds were discovered only after their use became widespread.
LiveScience for March 28, 2005 listed the deadliest earthquakes in history.
Tsunamis and fires have contributed to some of the largest death tolls in earthquakes. Here are the most notable known earthquake events, based on the number of deaths. Both deaths and magnitudes, when show, are estimates.
LiveScience discussed the common belief that California will someday sink into the ocean.
If plate tectonics followed the laws of Hollywood physics, Los Angeles would be tearing violently from the mainland as we speak. The scenario would probably include a buxom seismologist and a secret nuclear warhead, too.
LiveScience lists the top 10 natural disasters that might plague the United States.
Government officials are evaluating and revising disaster plans around the United States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, just as they did after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. While war and automobiles kill more people than nature, find out what natural disasters top scientists? worry lists.
