News by Subject Biology

Researchers writing in Microchemical Journal are bringing attention to the fact that commonly used antibiotic drugs are making their way out into the environment, where they can harm microbes that are essential to a healthy environment. Their review article has been selected for the Elsevier Atlas Award, which recognizes research that could significantly impact people's lives around the world or has already done so.

For nearly a century, the O'Shaughnessy seawall has held back the sand and seas of San Francisco's Ocean Beach. At work even longer: the Galveston seawall, built after America's deadliest hurricane in 1900 killed thousands in Texas.

Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University and the University of Chemistry and Technology (Prague, Czech Republic) have created novel chemical sensors for Raman spectrometers. Having combined physical and chemical methods scientists obtained highly sensitive sensors for determining dyes prohibited in Europe and heavy metals in water at ultralow concentrations. The process of analysis lasts a couple of minutes, so the sensors are appropriate for using in mobile laboratories.

Industrial ecologist Roland Geyer measures the production, use and fate of all the plastics ever made, including synthetic fibers.

Whales, sharks, butterflies and lotus leaves might together hold the secret to saving the shipping industry millions and help save the planet, according to a marine biologist at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

When it comes to the current plans to retire US power plants, Carnegie Mellon University researchers believe we are 'running towards a cliff with no fence.' They found that power plant retirement trends will complicate achieving long-term carbon dioxide emission reduction targets and require a significant increase in capital investments.