News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but a new study suggests it could have an unexpected downside: A few minutes of mopping indoors with a fresh-scented cleaning product can generate as many airborne particles as vehicles on a busy city street. The finding suggests custodians and professional cleaners may be at risk of health effects … Read more
A global summit on clearing up the oceans has produced big promises – is it just blah, blah, blah, or can we make the future of plastic fantastic, asks Graham Lawton Environment | Columnist 23 February 2022 By Graham Lawton Elena Valeeva/Shutterstock IN JUNE 2021, the government of the Seychelles decided it was time to … Read more
Each year, an estimated 11 million tons of plastic waste enter the ocean, equivalent to a cargo ship’s worth every day. The rising tide—in the oceans and beyond—is just a symptom of much wider problems: unsustainable product design, short-sighted consumption, and insufficient waste management, scientists say. To curb the flood, says Jenna Jambeck, an environmental … Read more
A simple test for water pollution involving engineered strands of DNA can report levels of contamination, and this biological system can carry out logical operations like those done by computers Technology 17 February 2022 By Matthew Sparkes The DNA computer – although not set up for a formal analysis Julius Lucks/Northwestern University A biological computer … Read more
Urban noise pollution is getting worse. Wildfires are growing more severe. And climate change is disrupting the timing of natural events and the life cycles of plants and animals all over the world. These are the major threats highlighted in a new United Nations report on emerging environmental concerns. The report, released today, is the … Read more
The number of active satellites in the night sky has more than doubled since 2019 – from around 2,200 to 5,000. That is mostly due to Starlink, a SpaceX project aimed at providing internet anywhere in the world through ‘mega-constellations’ of satellites. Since it began, Starlink has launched over 2,000 satellites. Unfortunately, the thousands of … Read more
Domestic dogs are fertilizing the green spaces where they regularly poop and pee, and not in a good way. Even in nature reserves where dogs are supposed to be kept on leash, a new study in Belgium shows our pets’ droppings are a major disturbance to wildlife. Each year, researchers estimate the paths that run … Read more
Images captured by satellite have been run through an algorithm to automatically detect the biggest plumes of methane streaming from oil and gas facilities worldwide Environment 3 February 2022 By Adam Vaughan Example of a methane plume detected over the United States in satellite images from 2019 Kayrros, Inc.; Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, … Read more
The Evenlode in Oxfordshire, UK, has been plagued by pollution, but farmers, the water industry and local volunteers are working together to clean it up Environment 2 February 2022 By Adam Vaughan “It’s depressing. It’s something we should be able to put right,” says Mark Purvis, standing next to a brook feeding the Evenlode, a … Read more
Carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide pollution have fallen sharply in Hong Kong since it introduced a world-first scheme to detect and repair vehicles with the highest emissions Technology 2 February 2022 By Alice Klein A busy road in Hong Kong picturelibrary / Alamy Stock Photo Hong Kong has improved its air quality by using roadside … Read more