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News & Articles By Frances Bloomfield

10/25/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

Industrial agriculture terrorizes Borneo: Palm oil plantations are responsible for deforestation, fires, habitat loss, air pollution

Palm oil plantations may have brought revenue into the country, but they’ve caused a multitude of problems of well. From fire-induced deforestation to shrunken orangutan populations, the environmental impact of palm oil plantations is nothing short of overwhelming. Yet a small team of researchers from the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) project has revealed […]

10/24/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

TNT-sniffing elephants could soon be assisting landmine-location efforts in Angola

The 27-year Angolan Civil War has left indelible marks on the former Portuguese colony. The most enduring of these are, undoubtedly, the millions of undetonated landmines underneath the Angolan countryside. Tens of thousands of people have been seriously wounded or killed by landmines. In a bid to solve this crisis, people have turned to the […]

10/12/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

Biodegradable (and edible) seaweed may soon replace plastic packaging on food in an effort to reduce pollution

Durable, versatile, and affordable — the three qualities that make plastic so common in nearly every item we use, and the three biggest reasons why reducing plastic waste can be difficult to do. Indonesian start-up Evoware is working to change all that with bioplastics: a line of fully biodegradable plastics made from seaweed. According to […]

10/11/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

EPA announces new reporting rules on nano-sized particles manufactured in the United States

As of Aug. 14, 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put into effect a working guidance for the eighth section of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) about the Nanotechnology Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements Rule. According to Nanowerk.com, this rule necessitates manufacturers and importers to provide a one-time reporting and record-keeping of certain chemicals. The information […]

09/27/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

Predicted decline in coffee production may be thwarted — if they save the bees first

Hang on to that bag of coffee beans in your kitchen: a team of researchers estimated that the coffee-growing regions of Latin America will undergo a significant decline by 2050 due to environmental changes. In their study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they predict that coffee-suitable areas can shrink by as […]

09/12/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

Researcher discovers way to transform waste aluminum foil into biofuel catalyst

The pervasiveness of aluminum foil in daily life has reached a point where it occupies landfills in thousands of tons. Whatever isn’t thrown into landfills is instead incinerated because many recycling centers refuse to take in aluminum foil due to the possible damage to recycling equipment by the grease and oils coating the foil. Fortunately, […]

09/11/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

Reef fish found to be surprisingly resilient to ocean acidification caused by carbon dioxide (climate change)

Ocean acidification is a phenomenon that has been associated with increased dangers for species of fish, such as leaving them unable to flee from predators and enemies. This chemical reaction is the product of boosted carbon dioxide uptake from the atmosphere and results in seawater undergoing fundamental changes to its chemistry. However, a team of researchers […]

08/15/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

Vertical-axis wind turbines potential sources of cheaper electricity in urban and suburban areas, researchers discover

The average onshore wind turbine is a good source of energy, but the same can’t be said of their smaller cousins. To some, the smaller, cylindrical wind turbines are too inefficient to be of any real use. To others, that need not be the case. Lam Nguyen and Meredith Metzger, both mechanical engineers from the […]

07/26/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

Is your insect repellent made from toxic ingredients?

As people emerge from their homes to enjoy the sunny weather, so too do the various insects creep out of the figurative and literal woodwork. It seems that summer just wouldn’t be summer without mosquitoes, ants, and flies skulking about. These bugs are the bane of every outdoor barbecue and woodsy jaunt, as well as […]

07/12/2017 / By Frances Bloomfield

Researchers find that concrete structures can actually REDUCE air pollution by adsorbing sulfur dioxide

Could one effective solution to air pollution have been under our noses all along? That seems to be case, according to researchers from Stony Brook University. Dr. Alex Orlov and his colleagues have discovered that concrete structures can adsorb and remove sulfur dioxide from the air, reported ScienceDaily.com. For their study, the researchers utilized two […]

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