How do microplastics interact with forever chemicals? Microplastics — small plastic particles measuring <5 mm — and highly stable polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are coming to public attention for their potential environmental and health risks. With these contaminants occurring more frequently…
Every time you exhale, you emit carbon dioxide. But does your body release CO2 in other ways? Emitted CO2 provides important information about metabolism and bodily function. However, measuring exhaled gases requires a tight-fitting mask that restricts daily activities. As…
Coral reefs create an outer skeleton through complex biomineralization. To build their underwater word, corals use the mineral calcium carbonate in the form of the metastable crystal aragonite. How these skeletons grow and crystallise is shrouded in mystery. To investigate…
Hematite is an iron oxide that occurs naturally around the world. Because of its abundance, it has been used by humans since prehistory, first as the pigment red ochre, then as an ore for smelting iron, and now in emerging…
Do dogs change the air around us? Daily life as a mammal causes emissions to be released into the atmosphere. Humans, for example, breath out carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds, while shedding skin cells and releasing ammonia. Although we…
You may be familiar with wind turbines, but have you ever heard of a fog turbine? Unlike their windy cousins, fog turbines aren’t built to generate electricity. Instead, their goal is to collect water from fog. Fog that forms inland…
If you remove a mummy from its burial site, beyond triggering an ancient curse, you could cause changes to the chemical make-up of the remains. While some of these changes may be inadvertent, during the 19th century, alterations were intentionally…
Instead of sugar doughnuts this January, why not use a lanthanide doughnut to reduce carbon dioxide? Converting carbon dioxide into useful chemicals with light can lower greenhouse gas emissions through a type of artificial photosynthesis. To accelerate this reaction, a…
Whenever you raise a toast, your glass of wine tells the story of how forever chemicals spread throughout the environment. During growth, winemaking grapes absorb polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through their roots. These chemicals bioaccumulate during processing into wine, with some…
Should we mix sewage and food? If the goal is to create a fuel source, then a new paper in Biomass and Bioenergy shows that the answer is yes. The authors combined sewage sludge, a solid-liquid mixture left over from…
