pollution – Page 2

Bacteria Responsible for Missing ‘Atmospheric Brooms’ That Sweep the Sky Clean

Written on September 19, 2011.

James Mitchell Crow, RSC: Advancing the Chemical Sciences Hydroxyl radicals play a central role in cleaning pollutants from our atmosphere – but the ultimate source of Earth’s ‘atmospheric brooms’ has proven difficult to track down. An international team of researchers have now found that the answer could lie not in the air above us, but in the ground beneath our feet. Previous research has established that up to one third of the hydroxyl radicals formed in the lower...

Keeping the coast clear

Written on February 28, 2011.

March 4 symposium highlights how citizens have partnered with scientists, politicians and bureaucrats to protect public access to the coast and ensure its continued health. If you’ve watched birds at the Bolsa Chica wetlands, built sand castles at Crystal Cove State Park or gotten barreled at Trestles lately, thank the broad coalition of citizens’ groups and nonprofit organizations that have spent decades protecting Orange County’s 42 miles of shoreline. Coastal preservationists will present...

Environment: Mexico’s scientist in chief

Written on October 10, 2010.

After winning a Nobel prize for helping to protect the planet, Mario Molina is tackling a much more difficult problem — trying to clean up Mexico City. Jeff Tollefson, Nature 467, 902-905 (2010) Cab drivers have heard of him. Political leaders seek his advice. Strangers often shake his hand in a mixture of congratulations and thanks. Such is the fame of Mario Molina, the 67-year-old chemist who has become something of a national icon in his hometown of Mexico City. More than four decades...

UC researchers lend expertise in Gulf crisis

Written on July 15, 2010.

Donna Hemmila, UC Office of the President Integrated Communications UC Davis veterinarian Michael Ziccardi has led animal rescue efforts in more than 65 oil spills, but the April 20 blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is like no other disaster he’s seen. “This spill is different,” Ziccardi said. “We have new challenges occurring daily.” The latest challenge is trucking 70,000 sea turtle eggs from the Florida Panhandle to the Kennedy Space Station on the Atlantic...

Is the ocean making you sick?

Written on July 12, 2010.

This summer, surfers and swimmers will risk more than sunburn — the ocean could make them sick. UCI researchers are testing the waters and working to improve the detection, identification, measurement and elimination of coastal pollutants. Sunny Jiang, a UC Irvine researcher studying pollution in Orange County’s coastal waters, recently got a graphic look at how swimming and surfing in the ocean can make people sick. She and a team of graduate students charted incidents of poor water quality...

Assessing Aerosols In The Air

Written on July 12, 2010.

By Jyllian N. Kemsley C&EN, Chemical & Engineering News Researchers delve into the unknowns of airborne particulates that affect health and climate When it comes to the quality of Earth’s atmosphere and the overall temperature of the globe, much of the discussion focuses on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide. But another component of the atmosphere, suspended particles known as organic aerosols, plays a similarly important role. Ranging...

Dust From Farming May Affect Rainfall

Written on July 7, 2010.

Steve Baragona | Washington, DCVOANews.com New research suggests agriculture has greatly increased the amount of dust blowing off of West Africa, the world’s largest source of atmospheric dust, and may have been one factor driving the decrease in rainfall in the region over the past several centuries. Dust is more than a housekeeping nuisance. To climate scientists, dust is a force of nature. It’s the most abundant particle in the atmosphere, and it reflects sunlight and heat. The...

UC Irvine: BP spill polluting the air

Written on July 5, 2010.

By Lauren DiPerna, Orange County Register Gulf oil spill is bubbling up and polluting the air with fuel-vapor contaminants, according to UC Irvine researchers who captured air samples as their plane flew above the disaster zone. While scientists are still assessing the chemical concentrations in their samples, they have found traces of the material that makes up crude oil — long-chain hydrocarbons, as well as aromatic compounds, such as benzene, toluene, and xylene, all known...

BP oil disaster at 75 days

Written on July 2, 2010.

By David Walsh, http://www.wsws.org For 75 days now, crude oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the wreck of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. While BP and the US government have done everything possible to downplay and obscure the amount of oil that has spilled out, estimates range as high as 150,000,000 to 200,000,000 gallons. The consequences will be incalculable. The BP spill is one of the worst ecological catastrophes in history, and yet now it barely makes the front pages...

Fighting the ocean’s plastic pollution

Written on June 29, 2010.

UC Irvine professor William Cooper follows the trail of plastic debris that’s spreading from the coast to the deep sea. Kathryn Bold, University Communications On a clear spring day at Crystal Cove State Park, UC Irvine professor William Cooper and undergraduate Tova Handelman sift though a mound of seaweed and sand, oblivious to the curious stares of beachgoers. They’re too busy studying trash. “Look at all this plastic!” says Cooper, picking out a pellet no bigger than a grain...

Tag: pollution