Tag: Environmental Science

Impact Lab > Environmental Science
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Pollution from Asia Circles Globe at Stratospheric Heights

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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

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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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Are High Speed Elephants Running or Walking?

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Young African Elephant leaving a waterhole in the Savute/Savuti area of Chobe N.P. in Botswana.

Most animals don’t think anything of breaking into a run: they switch effortlessly from walking to a high-speed bouncing run. But what about elephants? Their sheer size makes it impossible for them to bounce up in the air at high speeds. So how are high-speed elephants moving: are they running or walking?

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Alligators Breathe Like Birds, Study Finds

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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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Common Plants Can Eliminate Indoor Air Pollutants

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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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First Neotropical Rainforest Was Home Of The Titanoboa — World’s Biggest Snake

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Plant megafossils from Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia look much like modern rainforest plants.

Smithsonian researchers working in Colombia’s Cerrejón coal mine have unearthed the first megafossil evidence of a neotropical rainforest. Titanoboa, the world’s biggest snake, lived in this forest 58 million years ago at temperatures 3-5 C warmer than in rainforests today, indicating that rainforests flourished during warm periods. Continue reading… “First Neotropical Rainforest Was Home Of The Titanoboa — World’s Biggest Snake”

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World-first Sustainable Racing Car Runs On Chocolate, To Take On Formula 3

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World-first sustainable Formula 3 racing car.

Can the idea of ‘green motorsport’ actually work? Yes, according to EPSRC funded researcher, Dr Kerry Kirwan at the University of Warwick, who led the research team which designed and built the worldfirst fully sustainable Formula 3 racing car.

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Surprise In Earth’s Upper Atmosphere: Mode Of Energy Transfer From The Solar Wind

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In addition to emitting electromagnetic radiation, the sun emits a stream of ionized particles called the solar wind that affects Earth and other planets in the solar system.

UCLA atmospheric scientists have discovered a previously unknown basic mode of energy transfer from the solar wind to the Earth’s magnetosphere. The research, federally funded by the National Science Foundation, could improve the safety and reliability of spacecraft that operate in the upper atmosphere. Continue reading… “Surprise In Earth’s Upper Atmosphere: Mode Of Energy Transfer From The Solar Wind”

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Tunnels Concentrate Air Pollution By Up To 1,000 Times

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New research suggests that ultrafine particles are lurking inside road tunnels in concentration levels so high they have the potential to harm drivers and passengers.

A toxic cocktail of ultrafine particles is lurking inside road tunnels in concentration levels so high they have the potential to harm drivers and passengers, a new study has found.

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Is The Sky The Limit For Wind Power?

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In the future, will wind power tapped by high-flying kites light up New York?

In the future, will wind power tapped by high-flying kites light up New York? A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution and California State University identifies New York as a prime location for exploiting high-altitude winds, which globally contain enough energy to meet world demand 100 times over. The researchers found that the regions best suited for harvesting this energy match with population centers in the eastern U.S. and East Asia, but fluctuating wind strength still presents a challenge for exploiting this energy source on a large scale.

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Orange Peels help clean up Dirty Water

 

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“Orange peel ” Jump out of your garbage to help clean water”

Highly colored industrial waste water is a serious environmental problem as it seriously discolors waterways as well as blocking sunlight for photosynthesizing plant species in the water. Now, researchers in Algeria have discovered that nothing more sophisticated than orange peel could be used to remove acidic dyes from industrial effluent…

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