Tag: pollution

By Margot Roosevelt, LA Times Public outrage over the BP oil spill fouling the Gulf of Mexico has focused on water pollution. But an air pollution health threat may also be serious, according to UCI researchers. A team of UCI scientists, including Nobel laureate F. Sherwood Rowland and Chemistry department Chairman Donald Blake, has detected concentrations of toxic chemicals such as alkyl nitrates, methane, hexane and butane compounds that can irritate or burn skin and eyes or cause dizziness,...

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 of rice from his growing pile. “This is a ‘nurdle.’ They’re used to make plastic products. They shouldn’t be on the beach, but...