Researchers have created an inexpensive hydrogel that can filter phosphorus from contaminated surface waters, drinking water supplies or wastewater streams to reduce phosphorus pollution and reuse the phosphorus for agricultural and industrial applications. In addition to efficiently capturing and releasing phosphorus, the hydrogels can be reused multiple times – making them cost-effective.

A new study published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology used a novel modeling method to link electronic health records containing data on in-home environmental exposures to housing and neighborhood location data for children with asthma living in low-income households. It found that children living in homes with greater chances of having cockroaches and rodents had worse lung function. As the majority of the children in the study were Black and lived in historically segregated neighborhoods, these findings highlight the consequences of longstanding racial inequities in housing characteristics and quality, borne by structural racism. 

A new study finds that while many Americans misjudge the relative climate impact of dozens of behaviors, they readily commit to higher-impact choices when they get more information. Willingness to engage in actions promoting larger-scale change falls off, however, if interventions focus solely on individual behavior.

Some volcanoes don’t give much — or any — warning before they go off. Veniaminof, Alaska, is one of them: it is a ‘stealthy’ volcano, which doesn’t show the traditional warning signs of an impending eruption, like the ground deforming or earthquakes. Now scientists have developed a way of modelling its behavior which could more effectively monitor potential eruptions and provide warning to people in the path of danger. Many stealthy volcanoes, like Stromboli in Italy or Popocatépetl in Mexico, are close to major air routes or large communities, so this modelling could save lives.