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For metals of the smartphone age, no Plan B

By Guest PostDecember 5, 2013Science, Technologybarbara reck, best substitute materials, cardiovascular imaging, catalyst, chromium, comprehensive analysis, copper, dysprosium, ermelinda harper, europium, flat panel displays, laser technologies, lead, lifecycle of metals, manganese, metals, modern products, no plan b, numerical rating, periodic table, permanent magnets, platinum group metal, rare earth elements, rees, rhodium, smartphone age, solar energy systems, solar panels, thallium, thomas e graedel, thulium, vehicle emissions, yale study, ytterbium, yttrium

Many of the metals needed to feed the surging global demand for high-tech products, from smart phones to solar panels, cannot be replaced, leaving some markets vulnerable if resources become scarce, according to a new Yale study.

In a comprehensive analysis, a team of researchers from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) evaluated how all 62 metals or metalloids on the periodic table of elements are used in consumer products, and the extent to which each of those metals could be replaced if reserves dwindle or supplies become unreliable. (more…)

Women 16–49 at Risk of Multiple Pollutants

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2012Environment, Healthamerican women, babies, blood level, body burden, brain development, brown university, chemical coexposures, chemical pollutant, childbearing age, environmental pollutant, fetuses, harm, kim boekelheide, lead, marcella thompson, median, mercury, nhanes, PCBs, pollutant, polychlorinated biphenyls, research document, rhode island, risk factor, sigma theta tau, university, us women

In a new analysis of thousands of U.S. women of childbearing age, Brown University researchers found that most exceeded the median blood level for two or more of three environmental pollutants that could harm brain development of fetuses and babies: lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Nearly 23 percent of American women of childbearing age met or exceeded the median blood levels for all three environmental chemical pollutants — lead, mercury, and PCBs — tracked in an analysis of data on thousands of women by Brown University researchers. All but 17.3 percent of the women aged 16 to 49 were at or above the median blood level for one or more of these chemicals, which are passed to fetuses through the placenta and to babies through breast milk. (more…)

Acid Rain

By Guest PostMay 4, 2012Environmentacid rain, acidic, acidity, air, basic, canopy, cape henlopen, carbonic acid, clean air act, concentration, copper, delaware rain, ecosystem, joseph scudlark, lake sediments, lead, lewes, marine studies, mercury, monitoring, nitric, organism, ph, pollutant, precipitation, rainwater, state park, sulfuric, thomas church, trace metal, zinc

UD’s long-term monitoring shows 60 percent reduction in acidity of Delaware rain

Several decades ago, precipitation in Delaware was among the most acidic in the country. Pollutants in the air reacted with rainwater to sprinkle sulfuric, nitric and carbonic acids onto the ground below, affecting crops and ecosystems statewide.

The scientific consensus is that pollution controls enacted through the Clean Air Act Amendments in the 1990s and other measures have helped decrease the acidity of rain by approximately 60 percent to less harmful levels, as reflected in data gathered nationwide and by UD researchers in Lewes, Del., as part of a longstanding study. (more…)

Scientist: Temperate Freshwater Wetlands Are ‘Forgotten’ Carbon Sinks

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2012Environmentblanca bernal, boreal peatland, buffer zone, canada, carbon dioxide, carbon holding power, carbon measurement, carbon sequestering system, carbon sequestration, carbon sink, carbon storage, cesium 137, climate change, depressional wetland, ecosystem, freshwater wetland, gahanna wetland, global carbon budget, greenhouse gas emission, lake erie, lead, marker, northern ohio, ohio wetland, old woman creek, organic matter, pb 210, plant, productive system, radioactive form, rate, sediment, Siberia, subarctic region, swamp, temperate region, william mitsch

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study comparing the carbon-holding power of freshwater wetlands has produced measurements suggesting that wetlands in temperate regions are more valuable as carbon sinks than current policies imply, according to researchers.

The study compared several wetlands at two Ohio wetland sites: one composed of mostly stagnant water and one characterized by water regularly flowing through it. The study showed that the stagnant wetland had an average carbon storage rate per year that is almost twice as high as the carbon storage rate of the flow-through wetland. (more…)

How Tattoos ‘Move’ With Age

By Guest PostJune 6, 2011Culture, Sciencecadmium, dyes, fibroblast cells, fluid mechanics, ian eames, initial immune response, ink particles, iron, lead, lymphatic system, mathematical framework, mathematical model, mathematics today, mercury, nickel, skin, surface of the skin, suspension of particles, tattoos, white blood cells, zinc

The dyes which are injected into the skin to create tattoos move with time – permanently altering the look of a given design. In this month’s Mathematics Today Dr Ian Eames, a Reader in Fluid Mechanics at UCL, publishes a mathematical model enabling us to estimate the movement of these ink particles and predict how specific tattoo designs will look several years in the future.

“Tattoos are incredibly popular worldwide with more than a third of 18-25 year olds in the USA sporting at least one design,” says Dr Eames. “A great deal of work has already been done on the short term fate of ink particles in the skin, tracking them over periods of just a few months – but much less is known about how these particles move over longer periods of time. (more…)

Ancient Colorado River Flowed Backwards

By Guest PostOctober 4, 2010Sciencearizona, california river, colorado river, colorado-green river system, colton formation, geologist, gulf of california, isotope, lead, mineral, mojave region, rocky mountains, southern california, steven davis, uranium, utah, zircon

Palo Alto, CA — Geologists have found evidence that some 55 million years ago a river as big as the modern Colorado flowed through Arizona into Utah in the opposite direction from the present-day river. Writing in the October issue of the journal Geology, they have named this ancient northeastward-flowing river the California River, after its inferred source in the Mojave region of southern California. (more…)

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