Pollution

Scientists have developed what they claim is the smallest particle sensor in the world, designed specifically to detect harmful pollutants and offer a highly localized picture of air quality by being integrated into wearables and mobile devices.

Scientists at the University of Utah have come up with a relatively low-tech solution for air quality monitoring, demonstrating how the buildup of magnetic particles on tree leaves can be used to gauge the quality of the surrounding air.

While we hear a great deal about the huge patches of garbage that are floating on the world's oceans, there's even more trash lying on the seabed. The European Union-funded SeaClear project aims to gather much of it up, using autonomous robots.

While electric vehicles usually cost more for the consumer at the point of purchase, a new study has applied a much broader scope to the economics of green transportation, and found it could actually save the US tens of billions of dollars each year.

Scientists have begun to uncover evidence of how the digestive systems of certain animals can play a part in plastic fragmentation, with the latest concerning a small crustacean that can turn microplastics into “nanoplastics” in just four days.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in many ways. Now, scientists have quantified an effect that lies a few links down the chain, finding that solar panels in certain cities have seen a boost in output, due to reduced air pollution.

For some time now, there have been concerns that microplastic particles eaten by fish could be passed along to human seafood consumers. According to a new study, though, such may not be the case with sea bass, and possibly not with many other fish.

Rice University researchers have happened upon a powerful new tool they say can neutralize the threat posed by dangerous pollutants known as "forever" chemicals, offering a new catalyst that can destroy them in a matter of hours.

Fireworks are a surefire way to create a spectacle of color and light, but research has revealed these dazzling displays could pose a health risk by releasing a range of harmful toxins that can linger in the air once the lights go out.

Although we've seen many materials designed for removing oil spills from water, many of them are single-use, ultimately ending up in landfills. Now, however, scientists have created an oil-absorbing sponge that can be used over and over again.

A new study has revealed the dangers plastic pollution poses to blue mussels, with researchers finding they may ingest three times as much plastic when clumped together in the reef structures commonly seen in nature.

A fuller picture is beginning to emerge of how the coronavirus shutdowns are clearing the air in major epicenters of the outbreak, with some measures of air pollution dropping by as much as 60 percent in parts of northern China.