Archive for the 'Water - Air Quality / Agriculture' Category


How Ammonia Affects City’s Air

Motor vehicles and industry are primary producers of ammonia in Houston’s atmosphere, and cars and trucks appear to boost their output during the winter, according to a new study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Houston (UH)…


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Bacteria From Dog Poop In City Air

The air of two Midwestern US cities contains significant amounts of bacteria from feces, particularly dog poop, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder, published recently in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology…


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New Threshold Values For Fine Particulates At The Workplace

The 2011 MAK and BAT Values List compiled by the Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, a Senate Commission of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), recommends reducing the general threshold limit value for dust for the alveolar fraction in light of recent studies and classifies such dusts as c…


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Pollution ‘Butterfly’ From Fires In Central Africa Measured By NASA’s Aura Satellite

Fires raging in central Africa are generating a high amount of pollution that is showing up in data from NASA’s Aura Satellite, with the ominous shape of a dark red butterfly in the skies over southern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Angola…


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Tiny Diesel Fume Particles Raise Risk Of Heart Attacks

Ultrafine particles in diesel exhaust fumes can harm blood vessels, leading to a greater chance of blood clots developing in the arteries, resulting in a greater risk of heart attack or stroke, researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland revealed in the European Heart Journal…


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Tiny Chemical Particles Emitted By Diesel Exhaust Fumes Could Raise The Risk Of Heart Attacks As Well As Damaging Lungs

Tiny chemical particles emitted by diesel exhaust fumes could raise the risk of heart attacks, research has shown. Scientists have found that ultrafine particles produced when diesel burns are harmful to blood vessels and can increase the chances of blood clots forming in arteries, leading to a heart attack or stroke…


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Researchers Developing Hard Data On Level Of Dust Emissions From Cotton Gins

The last of seven cotton gins is being tested this year as the fieldwork for a major 4-year cotton gin dust sampling project draws to a close. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists organized the project to intensively sample emissions from seven cotton gins across the Cotton Belt…


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Pollution From New Mexico, Arizona Fires Measured By NASA’s Aura Satellite

NASA’s Aura Satellite has provided a view of nitrogen dioxide levels coming from the fires in New Mexico and Arizona. Detecting nitrogen dioxide is important because it reacts with sunlight to create low-level ozone or smog and poor air quality…


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EPA Regulators Should Not Hide Behind Children To Push For Costly New Regulations

On June 8, 2011, the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety and the Subcommittee on Children’s Health and Environmental Responsibility of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a joint hearing on, “Air Quality and Children’s Health…


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The Next Generation Of Life-Saving Pollution Sensors

New research from the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is helping Duvas Technologies Ltd (Duvas) to develop improved air quality monitoring instrumentation. Currently over 1bn people a year suffer from respiratory disease associated with pollution, and according to the World Health Organisation, over 3m a year die from its effects…


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