New Atlas

Environment Audio available

Environmentally-friendly bricks made from sewage-treatment byproduct

Ben Coxworth January 22, 2019

When sewage sludge is processed at wastewater treatment plants, the leftover "biosolid" material is generally dried and set aside. While some of it ends up being used as fertilizer, much is often just stockpiled. Soon, however, it could find its way into eco-friendly fired-clay building bricks.

RMIT estimates that if 15 percent of bricks produced worldwide contained at least 15 percent biosolids, ...

Environment

Radar tags to monitor albatross interactions with fishing vessels

David Szondy January 22, 2019

Threatened and endangered albatrosses in the South Atlantic are getting a break as BAS seabird ecologist Richard Phillips puts newly developed radar-detecting tags on the seabirds. The tags show when and where the birds are scanned by ship navigation radar.

Wandering albatrosses on South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic

Environment

Nestlé to pull plastic straws from its products as it ramps up its war on waste

Nick Lavars January 20, 2019

Food and beverage giant Nestlé is ramping up its efforts to rein in plastic pollution, outlining plans to phase out plastic straws and hard plastics as part of a wider plan to use purely recyclable and reusable materials in its products by 2025.

Nestlé says plastic straws will be eliminated from its products beginning next month

Environment Audio available

Fish found thriving in waters with almost no oxygen

Michael Irving January 20, 2019

During a recent expedition to the Gulf of California, a team of marine biologists discovered huge schools of fishes living in an environment that’s almost completely devoid of oxygen – levels well below the amount previously thought necessary for these animals.

A lollipop catshark, which was recently discovered thriving in an environment with far less oxygen than ...

Environment Audio available

How to feed 10 billion people: Landmark report lays out a sustainable diet for the planet

Nick Lavars January 17, 2019

Billed as a planetary health diet for both the Earth and its people, the set of diet guideline put forward by the EAT-Lancet Commission gun for nothing short of a "Great Food Transformation," something they say would feed 10 billion people, save lives and avoid large-scale environmental destruction.

Scientists are calling for the global population to move towards a more plant-based diet

Environment

Climate change may be breeding more powerful ocean waves

Anthony Wood January 15, 2019

The power of ocean waves is getting a significant boost from human-made climate change, according to a recently-published study. Gaining a greater understanding of how Earth’s wave climate is changing could help authorities mitigate some of the damaging effects of global warming.

The study examined the energy contained in ocean waves

Environment

Tiny Intel-powered poaching camera uses AI to detect intruders on approach

Nick Lavars January 3, 2019

Intel’s latest AI chips are poised to play a part in conservation through integration with advanced new camera systems trained to detect intruders with bad intentions.

TrailGuard AI will be deployed in 100 reserves across Africa in 2019

Environment

Ocean Cleanup Project drags its fractured plastic-catching barrier in for repairs

Nick Lavars January 2, 2019

Things aren't exactly going to plan for the Ocean Cleanup Project. Inspections of the approximately 600-meter-long barrier have uncovered a problematic break in the chain, prompting a return to shore for repairs.

Despite the latest setback, CEO Boyan Slat is adamant this is a speed hump rather than ...

Environment

Holier-than-thou: Highly porous powder captures double the carbon

Nick Lavars January 2, 2019

A promising new technology developed at Canada’s University of Waterloo hinges on a special kind of powder that could be applied as a filter at power plants to gather CO2 molecules at the source, and is claimed to offer double the efficiency of the materials that are currently available.

A new powder developed in Canada has the potential to give carbon capture technologies a huge ...

Environment

Aquatraz is made to be an Alcatraz for farmed salmon

Ben Coxworth January 2, 2019

Among the criticisms of salmon farms are the facts that non-native fish can escape into the local marine environment, plus the farmed fish may become infected with parasites that spread to wild populations. A new type of salmon pen, however, is designed to address those problems.

The walls of the Aquatraz salmon pen are composed of exposed netting at lower depths, but ...