2022 Environmental Chemistry

News Article:  https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/world/antarctica-human-pollution-causing-more-snow-melt-climate/index.html Scientific Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28560-w I chose an article from CNN titled “What is black carbon? The latest way humans are causing changes in Antarctica” that referenced a study that was published in Nature Communications early this year. I chose this article because it was interesting to learn about Anatartica’s place in the climate crisis, regarding increasing emissions from coal production and consumption. It is the one and only continent with no permanent human inhabitants; so one would assume that it would be on the lowest priority for any physical, organic pollutant remediation. The article explains very deeply black carbon (BC) or soot’s effect on melting in the Antarctic. BC is produced during combustion in diesel engines, coal burning, or wildfires. Deposition of light-absorbing impurities onto snow-covered surfaces “reduc...

  News article: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/03/world/baby-bees-brains-pesticides-scn/index.html     Scientific article: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rspb.2019.2442     In a CNN news article published in 2020, Katie Hunt describes a scientific article studying the effect of pesticides on bumble bees. This article was very eye catching to me because when thinking of climate change two common narratives pop into my head: the polar bears and the bumble bees.     In a study by the Gill group in London, they studied how contaminated food entering the colonies effected offspring development. They did this by exposing worker bees to pesticide contaminated sucrose, imitating their nectar, at the concentration of 5 ppb. The figure below details the exposure timeline. They had a control line where no pesticide was introduced. Then they dosed the bees in their “brood development period” which is everything before adulthood. The third line of...

  11.17.2022 U.S. News Article   Scientific Article: Science 2022 , 377 , 839-845.     I chose an article from U.S. News and World Report titled: “Breakthrough Might Break Down PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’” that covered a paper published on August 18, 2022 in Science titled “Low-temperature mineralization of perfluorocarboxylic acids.” I chose this article because I was intrigued by the mechanism of how simple basic reaction conditions could induce degradation of highly resilient fluorinated compounds. Perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) are one of the most common classes of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are commonplace in our modern society for their favorable properties leading to their use as water and oil-resistant protectants, non-stick cookware, fire-fighting foams, and in electronic devices. The combination of how widely used PFAS are with their high stability has led them to be designated as forever chemicals that are prolific in our ...

News Article: “Even Alligators Might Be Harmed by PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’”   Scientific Article: “Blood concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are associated with autoimmune-like effects in American alligators from Wilmington, North Carolina”   Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are highly stable organic compounds with fluorinated aliphatic backbones. Because of their enhanced stability, these substances have become persistent and global contaminants in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. PFAS contamination largely originates from anthropogenic activities such as fluorochemical production, manufacturing, wastewater treatment, and fire suppressants. Through human epidemiology studies, elevated PFAS exposure has been linked to immunotoxicity and altered immune functions such as increased incidence in childhood infection, decreased antibody production, thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel diseases, and the list goes on. The mechanisms of PFAS induced...

  News article: "Pharmaceuticals in Rivers Threaten World Health - Study" Scientific paper: "Pharmaceutical Pollution of the World's Rivers" I chose a BBC news article from earlier this year that discusses the findings of a scientific paper published in PNAS, both discussing the presence of pharmaceuticals in rivers around the world. The scientific paper, entitled “Pharmaceutical Pollution of the World’s Rivers,” was published in February 2022 with 127 co-authors representing 86 different institutions, led by Dr. John Wilkinson at the University of York. This paper presents the results from an extensive global study of the concentrations of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in various rivers across the world.  Impressively, water samples were collected from 1,052 different sampling sites covering 104 countries across all 7 continents, and 61 different APIs were analyzed at each site. Additionally, 36 of these countries had never been monitored previously ...

David Huang  Paper Article Development of new, sustainable renewable energy sources to reduce carbon emissions has been a hot topic for the past decade. Equally important has been developing rechargeable batteries that can store this energy. Zn-metal batteries have been an attractive candidate because of their inherent safety, fast charging/discharging capabilities, low cost, and environmental friendliness. However, these batteries have not yet been commercialized in large part because of issues involving the Zn-metal anode. Research has been conducted to deal with these issues, however solving one issue has led to others, such as compromising the safety of the battery, or hindering performance.  The research paper I chose focuses on using chitosan-zinc electrolytes for zinc metal batteries. Chitosan is an eco-friendly and biodegradable biopolymer derived from chitin, a naturally abundant polymer that is widely available in crustacean shells. The paper talks extensively on t...