Pollution, features and articles | Educational Science

May 28, 2013

Tiny Sensor Promises Better Monitor for Environment

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Researchers are developing a device that they hope will allow real-time, onsite detection of water and air pollutants in an inexpensive and environmentally friendly manner. Professors Juejun Hu and Chaoying Ni of the University...

May 30, 2013

Air Pollution May Contribute to Childhood Obesity

Exposure to air pollution while in the womb may increase a child's risk of obesity, a new study suggests. Pregnant women exposed to high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons had children who were 1.8 times more likely to be obese at age 5, and 2.3 times more likely to be...

Jun 3, 2013

LA Pollution Is Losing Its Sting, Study Shows

An eye-stinging air pollutant in Los Angeles is decreasing due to stricter vehicle emissions standards in Southern California and the United States, a new study that examined emissions of chemicals in the City of Angels found. The chemical, called peroyxacetyl nitrate (PAN), is associated with eye irritation during smoggy days....

Jun 7, 2013

Africa's Worst Drought Tied to West's Pollution

The biggest drought to hit the planet in the 20th century, the Sahel drought sucked Central Africa dry from the 1970s to the 1990s. The severe famines that resulted killed hundreds of thousands of people during this period and gained worldwide attention. A new study blames the dry spell on...

Jun 11, 2013

American West Is Becoming a Dustier Place

The Old West was an infamously dusty place, the grime a symbol of the gritty frontier. But the West may be even dustier today than it was in the past, thanks to a combination of factors that include droughts, land-use changes and more frequent windstorms, a new study suggests. All...

Jun 21, 2013

Air Pollution Hits Record Levels in Singapore

Wildfires burning on the Indonesian island of Sumatra have sent a choking haze over Singapore, pushing air pollution to record levels. At 12:00 p.m. local time (04:00 GMT) Friday (June 21), the Pollution Standards Index — a scale of 0 to 500 to measure air pollution — hit 401 in...

Jul 11, 2013

2 Million Deaths Yearly Worldwide Linked with Air Pollution

Air pollution may be responsible for more than 2 million deaths around the world each year, according to a new study. The study estimated that 2.1 million deaths each year are linked with fine particulate matter, tiny particles that can get deep into the lungs and cause health problems. Exposure...

Jul 17, 2013

Burst Appendix Linked to Ozone Air Pollution

High levels of ozone — a major component of smog — may increase the risk of a burst appendix, according to a new study from Canada. Researchers found that people's risk of a burst appendix rose by 22 percent with every 16-part-per-billion increase in ozone levels over the previous seven...

Jul 24, 2013

Thousands of Dead Eels Wash Ashore in China

Tens of thousands of dead eels have washed ashore in China over the past few weeks. The eel is just the latest animal to die en masse in China's waters. In March, thousands of dead pigs were dumped by farmers into the Hangpu River in Shanghai, and hundreds of dead...

Aug 28, 2013

How Air Pollution Affects Climate: NASA Mission Explores

HOUSTON — In an attempt to better understand how air pollution and natural emissions of certain chemicals are distributed by storms and how that movement affects Earth's climate on a global scale, NASA has commenced its most complex airborne science study of the year, drawing together coordinated observations from the...

Sep 19, 2013

Will China's New Pollution Plan Matter?

Barbara Finamore is senior attorney and Asia director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). This Op-Ed was adapted from a post on the NRDC blog Switchboard. Finamorecontributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. As China prepares to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional time for viewing...

Sep 26, 2013

The Surprising Source of Most Mercury Pollution

If, as Robert Frost wrote, nothing gold can stay, then mercury sticks around forever. Mercury has an uncanny ability to bind to precious metals, and for millennia, people have used it to mine gold and silver. Small-scale, or artisanal, mining — which makes use of mercury in this way —...

Sep 26, 2013

How Climate Change Could Make Mercury Pollution Worse

Mercury pollution and climate change are both unintended consequences of burning fossil fuels for centuries. A new study finds another link between the two problems: Climate change has the potential to make mercury pollution worse. Mercury is a particularly persistent pollutant, and sticks around in surface waters and the air...

Oct 11, 2013

Erin Brockovich: Carcinogens Still Plague California's Drinking Water (Op-Ed)

Erin Brockovich is an environmental and consumer advocate. This article first appeared in The Desert Sun. The NRDC contributed this Op-Ed to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Our government should protect people from dangerous chemicals in our drinking water supplies. I'm not alone in that belief; basically, Californians agree....

Oct 14, 2013

Air Pollution 'Fertilizer' Threatens National Parks

An influx of nitrogen-based pollution is acting as an unwanted fertilizer and is disrupting the ecology of dozens of national parks, according to new research. Of the 45 U.S. parks the research team studied, 38 were blanketed with high levels of nitrogen-based air pollution from power plants, car exhaust and...