pollution

Invisible Air Pollution in The Country May Be Just as Toxic as The Smog of The City

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It’s easy to see air pollution when it settles as smog over a city. Yet even in rural areas, where the air looks clearer, researchers have found unhealthy particles floating in the atmosphere.   That sweet country air may not be as invigorating as we once thought. Fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in … Read more

Methane Pollution Just Reached New Heights, And The Sources May Not Be What You Think

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Methane recently reached 1,900 parts per billion (ppb) of Earth’s atmosphere according to measurements taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US. This compares with about 700 ppb before the industrial revolution.   Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, but lasts around nine years in the air. Including the knock-on effects … Read more

We May Finally Understand Why Clouds Are Different Between Earth’s Hemispheres

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You might think that clouds are clouds all over Earth, but that’s not quite so. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, the clouds there are different, more abundant, and more reflective than clouds found in the Northern Hemisphere, a fact scientists are well familiar with, but have not been able to fully explain.   Now, … Read more

Pollution is the forgotten global crisis and we need to tackle it now

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By Graham Lawton Leon Werdinger/Alamy Stock Photo IN THE lead-up to Christmas, my household began to feel like a badly managed waste-processing facility. We planned to spend time with vulnerable relatives, so were keeping a close eye on our covid-19 status. Each lateral flow test generated seven items of non-recyclable waste, which piled up in … Read more

Air pollution makes it harder for pollinators to find plants

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A field trial found that levels of nitrogen oxides and ozone similar to those near roads led to a 70 per cent drop in the numbers of bees and butterflies on mustard plants Environment 19 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan A marbled white butterfly (Melanargia galathea) feeding on a greater knapweed flower (Centaurea scabiosa) robertharding … Read more

Ozone pollution: Gas causes $63 billion damage per year to East Asian crops

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Rising levels of ground-level ozone in China and nearby countries are having a big effect on the yields of staple crops such as wheat, rice and maize Environment 17 January 2022 By Michael Le Page Emissions from vehicles in places like Beijing, China, are contributing to a rise in ozone pollution in East Asia AerialPerspective … Read more

Air pollution: One in 12 child asthma cases linked to nitrogen dioxide exposure

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Researchers estimate that 1.85 million new childhood asthma cases in 2019 were linked with exposure to nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas released by diesel vehicles Health 5 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan Heavy traffic on a street in New Delhi, India Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times/Getty Images About one in 12 new child asthma cases worldwide … Read more

Air pollution: US wildfires now lead to air pollution events affecting millions

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The simultaneous occurence of extreme levels of ozone and particulate matter have increased significantly in the past decade due to wildfires in the western US Environment 5 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles during the wildfire season in September 2020 Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/Shutterstock The area of the western … Read more

Microplastics: Pollution in French mountain air may have crossed Atlantic Ocean

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Microplastics travelled thousands of kilometres across oceans and continents in a fast-moving layer of the atmosphere before being captured on a mountain in the French Pyrenees Environment 21 December 2021 By Carissa Wong Capturing microplastics at the Pic du Midi Observatory Jeroen Sonke Microplastics found at a mountain top in the French Pyrenees may have … Read more