Pollution News and Research

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Multifaceted Impact of Human Activities on Biodiversity

Research highlights the complex effects of human activities on biodiversity, urging conservation efforts to focus on vulnerable species and ecosystem health.

3 Apr 2025

Mitochondria Found to Control DNA Repair Protein and Delay Inflammaging

In humans and other multicellular organisms, cells multiply. This defining feature allows embryos to grow into adulthood, and enables the healing of the many bumps, bruises and scrapes along the way.

14 Mar 2025

Novel Biorecycling Method Transforms Nylon Waste into Bioplastics

A group of researchers from the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences – Biotechnology at Forschungszentrum Jülich, in collaboration with the company Novonesis, has successfully engineered a bacterium capable of “eating” individual building blocks of various types of nylon and converting them into value-added products.

11 Feb 2025

Genetic Editing Reveals Key Functions of Bean Plant Genes in Nitrogen Fixation

Beans are a key food at the dietary level, boasting high nutritional value and constituting the most directly consumed legume.

8 Feb 2025

New VR Technology Offers Fresh Insights into Neural Activity

In recent years, mice have entered a new arena – virtual reality – and now Cornell University researchers have built mini VR headsets to more fully immerse them.

20 Dec 2024

DNA Barcoding Reveals Hidden Species

When it comes to species diversity, the Earth is nearly unthinkable. Between two and three million species have been identified by scientists, but there are many more about which people know nothing.

11 Dec 2024

Researchers Use Bacteria to Convert Plastic Waste Into Human Therapeutics, Including Insulin

A new study from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology describes a novel biological method to convert mixed municipal waste-like fractions – including food scraps, plastics, and textiles – into valuable bio-products.

9 Dec 2024

Developing Plant-Based Strategies to Mitigate DNAN Pollution

The increased use of a chemical compound to replace TNT in explosive devices has a damaging and long lasting effect on plants, new research has shown.

29 Nov 2024

Researchers Aim to Illuminate Biological Dark Matter with DNA Barcoding

The Earth is an almost unimaginably diverse planet in terms of species. Researchers have identified between two and three million species, but there are many more that we know nothing about.

18 Oct 2024

Researchers Unravel Plant-to-Fungi Communication Using Baker's Yeast

Researchers at the University of Toronto have cracked the code of plant-to-fungi communication in a new study published in the journal Molecular Cell.

18 Oct 2024

Bioengineered Bacteria with Mussel-Like Adhesion Could Clean Up Plastic

Researchers at Rice University have created bioengineered microbes with strong adhesion that have the potential to revolutionize environmental cleanup by drawing on nature's genius for adhesives, the sticky power of mussels.

8 Oct 2024

How Comamonas Bacteria Transform Plastic Waste into Food

Researchers have long observed that a common family of environmental bacteria, Comamonadacae, grow on plastics littered throughout urban rivers and wastewater systems.

7 Oct 2024

Microbial Enzyme From Sewage Sludge Offers Hope for Plastic Waste Reduction

Plastic pollution is everywhere, and a good amount of it is composed of polyethylene terephthalate. This polymer is used to make bottles, containers and even clothing.

4 Oct 2024

EPA-Funds Study on Antimicrobial Resistance in Wastewater and Agricultural Runoff

Aided by a $2.4 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, a team of University of Nebraska–Lincoln engineers and scientists is leading a multi-state effort to assess the potential threat to human health from antimicrobial-resistant pathogens spread via wastewater and agricultural runoff.

4 Oct 2024

Xinjiang Cotton Fields Show Lasting Benefits From Mulched Drip Irrigation

Long-term mulched drip irrigation enhances soil health, reduces salinity, and increases cotton yields, showcasing its sustainability in water-scarce areas.

3 Oct 2024

Human Urine Recycling Promotes Agricultural Sustainability

Bacterial communities in soil are as resilient to human urine as synthetic fertilizers – making recycling the bodily fluid as a fertilizer for agricultural crops a viable proposition, according to a new study.

24 Sep 2024

A Computational Toolkit for Large-Scale Metabolomics Analysis

A computational workflow for analyzing massive data sets in metabolomics, the study of tiny chemicals found within cells, biofluids, tissues, and entire ecosystems has been developed by a research team led by experts at the University of California, Riverside.

23 Sep 2024