air-quality – Impact Lab

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Ecovacs Air Purifying Robot

January 11, 2012

Now you can have a robot that moves where it needs to and purifies the air.

The level of pollution in our ecosystem is often higher than ever before. Many of us live in places where the air quality is questionable and could use help, especially if you already have some sort of health condition. Many types of air purification devices are available, but none function like this one. The Ecovacs Deebot A330 is an autonomously moving air purifier robot. It moves around in the house, and stops at different spots to filter the air…

Article by Andrew Frey with Thomas Frey reporting directly from CES in Las Vegas.

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U.S. girls sweep Google Global Science Fair 2011

July 20, 2011

Top honors went to three young ladies from the U.S.

Three girls in the U.S. won the top prizes in a global science fair launched by Google for their projects on ovarian cancer, grilled chicken and indoor air quality, the internet giant announced.

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Busy Microbial World Discovered in Deepest Ocean Crust Ever Explored

November 20, 2010

microbial life interactions going on in the deepest ocean crust ever explored!

The first study to ever explore biological activity in the deepest layer of ocean crust has found bacteria with a remarkable range of capabilities, including eating hydrocarbons and natural gas, and “fixing” or storing carbon.

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Secrets of Ancient Martian and Terrestrial Atmospheres

November 13, 2010

No its not an alien, its my sister… WHAT!?

Chemists at UC San Diego have uncovered a new chemical reaction on tiny particulates in the atmosphere that could allow scientists to gain a glimpse from ancient rocks of what the atmospheres of the Earth and Mars were like hundreds of millions years ago.

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Croplands Are Chipping Away at Carbon Stocks ?

November 2, 2010

This is all you will find if you live in NE… Voice of experience

Nature’s capacity to store carbon, the element at the heart of global climate woes, is steadily eroding as the world’s farmers expand croplands at the expense of native ecosystem such as forests.

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Pollution from Asia Circles Globe at Stratospheric Heights

March 26, 2010

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Factories line the shores of the lower Yangtze River in China. Heavy pollution tied to China’s rapid industrial growth has produced poor visibility and health effects.

The economic growth across much of Asia comes with a troubling side effect: pollutants from the region are being wafted up to the stratosphere during monsoon season. The new finding, in a study led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, provides additional evidence of the global nature of air pollution and its effects far above Earth’s surface.

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Frogs, Foam and Fuel: Solar Energy Converted to Sugars

March 24, 2010

In natural photosynthesis, plants take in solar energy and carbon dioxide and then convert it to oxygen and sugars.

For decades, farmers have been trying to find ways to get more energy out of the sun. In natural photosynthesis, plants take in solar energy and carbon dioxide and then convert it to oxygen and sugars. The oxygen is released to the air and the sugars are dispersed throughout the plant — like that sweet corn we look for in the summer. Unfortunately, the allocation of light energy into products we use is not as efficient as we would like. Now engineering researchers at the University of Cincinnati are doing something about that.

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Springtime Ozone in North America Linked to Emissions from Asia

January 21, 2010

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A new study links springtime ozone in North America with pollutants from Asia

Such increases in ozone could make it more difficult for the United States to meet Clean Air Act standards for ozone pollution at ground level, according to a new international study. Published online January 20 in the journal Nature, the study analyzed large sets of ozone data captured since 1984.

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Alligators Breathe Like Birds, Study Finds

January 15, 2010

Computerized tomographic (CT) X-ray images of side and top views of a 24-pound American alligator, with 3-D renderings of the bones and of airways or bronchi within the lungs.

University of Utah scientists discovered that air flows in one direction as it loops through the lungs of alligators, just as it does in birds. The study suggests this breathing method may have helped the dinosaurs’ ancestors dominate Earth after the planet’s worst mass extinction 251 million years ago.

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Rich Ore Deposits Linked to Ancient Atmosphere

November 20, 2009

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Volcano eruption on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

Much of our planet’s mineral wealth was deposited billions of years ago when Earth’s chemical cycles were different from today’s. Using geochemical clues from rocks nearly 3 billion years old, a group of scientists including Andrey Bekker and Doug Rumble from the Carnegie Institution have made the surprising discovery that the creation of economically important nickel ore deposits was linked to sulfur in the ancient oxygen-poor atmosphere.

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Common Plants Can Eliminate Indoor Air Pollutants

November 5, 2009

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Hemigraphis alternata, or purple waffle plant, one of the highest ratedornamentals for removing indoor air pollutants.

Air quality in homes, offices, and other indoor spaces is becoming a major health concern, particularly in developed countries where people often spend more than 90% of their time indoors. Surprisingly, indoor air has been reported to be as much as 12 times more polluted than outdoor air in some areas. Indoor air pollutants emanate from paints, varnishes, adhesives, furnishings, clothing, solvents, building materials, and even tap water.

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Going Green On Hold: Human Activities Can Affect ‘Blue Haze,’ World’s Weather

December 8, 2009

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Blue haze (tiny particles or aerosols suspended in the air) can be negatively affected by human activities such as power plants or fossil-fuel burning, according to Renyi Zhang, professor of atmospheric sciences.

“Blue haze,” a common occurrence that appears over heavily forested areas around the world, is formed by natural emissions of chemicals, but human activities can worsen it to the point of affecting the world’s weather and even cause potential climate problems, according to a study led by a Texas A&M University researcher. Continue reading… “Going Green On Hold: Human Activities Can Affect ‘Blue Haze,’ World’s Weather”