arsenic – Impact Lab

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Zapping Microbes With Electricity Could Cut Chemical Use in Wastewater by 50%

February 14, 2011

Changing the face of mining?

The mining industry requires significant amounts of water, and the water used becomes polluted with toxins including arsenic, mercury and sulfates. Typically, the water is cleaned with microbes which do their job by adding or removing electrons from the soup, but they need to be supplemented with chemical additives. But a new process could change that, feeding microbes with electric charges instead, and cutting the need for chemicals by half, or possibly even more…

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New Discoveries, Science & Technology News, Space

Evidence Mounts Daily That There is Life Somewhere Else in the Universe

December 9, 2010

Jupiter’s ice-covered moon, Europa.

Lately, a handful of new discoveries make it seem more likely that we are not alone – that there is life somewhere else in the universe.

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Analysis, Big Problems, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

Need Another Reason To Quit Smoking – Third Hand Smoke

December 29, 2008

Need Another Reason To Quit Smoking - Third Hand Smoke

Need another reason to add “Quit Smoking” to your New Year’s resolutions list? How about the fact that even if you choose to smoke outside of your home or only smoke in your home when your children are not there – thinking that you’re keeping them away from second-hand smoke – you’re still exposing them to toxins? In the January issue of Pediatrics, researchers at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and colleagues across the country describe how tobacco smoke contamination lingers even after a cigarette is extinguished – a phenomenon they define as “third-hand” smoke. Their study is the first to examine adult attitudes about the health risks to children of third-hand smoke and how those beliefs may relate to rules about smoking in their homes.

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