Hacker News with Generative AI: Pollution

Scented products cause indoor air pollution on par with car exhaust (newatlas.com)
Using scented products indoors changes the chemistry of the air, producing as much air pollution as car exhaust does outside, according to a new study.

Environmental Science, Health, Pollution, Chemistry

366 points by clumsysmurf 2 days ago | 192 comments

Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds (e360.yale.edu)
In cars, pollution doesn’t come from exhaust alone. It also comes from wear and tear on roads, tires, and brakes. According to new research, tiny bits of dust cast off by brake pads may inflict more harm than car exhaust.

Environmental Science, Transportation, Health, Pollution

450 points by Brajeshwar 6 days ago | 454 comments

Age of Invention: How Coal Won (ageofinvention.xyz)
Over the course of 1570-1600, people all along the eastern coast of England, and especially in the rapidly-expanding city of London, stopped using wood to heat their homes. They instead began to burn an especially crumbly, sulphurous coal from near Newcastle in Northumberland — a fuel whose thick, heavy smoke reeked, stinging their eyes, making them wheeze and cough, and tarnishing their clothes, furnishings, and skin.

History, Energy, England, Pollution, London

10 points by Khaine 9 days ago | 1 comments

Accumulation of Microplastics in Human Brain Tissue Rising Rapidly: Study (ecowatch.com)
In a new study, health sciences researchers at the University of New Mexico (UNM) have found microplastics in human brain tissue in concentrations much higher than in other organs.

Environmental Science, Human Health, Pollution, Microplastics, Research

8 points by mikhael 15 days ago | 0 comments

Microplastics in the human brain (smithsonianmag.com)
The human brain may contain up to a spoon’s worth of tiny plastic shards—not a spoonful, but the same weight (about seven grams) as a plastic spoon, according to new findings published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.

Science, Health, Environment, Pollution

245 points by headclone 16 days ago | 206 comments

Trump administration halts proposed EPA limits on PFAS pollution (thenewlede.org)
Amid a flurry of actions curtailing Biden’s environmental policies, the administration of newly inaugurated President Donald Trump this week withdrew a plan to set limits on toxic PFAS chemicals in industrial wastewater.

Politics, Environment, Pollution, Chemicals

30 points by adomasm3 24 days ago | 5 comments

Burning Teslas Add to Toxic Mix of Pollution Delaying LA Return (bloomberg.com)
As the smoke clears from devastating Los Angeles wildfires, efforts to clean up the affected areas are being complicated by burnt-out electric and hybrid vehicles and home-battery storage systems.

Wildfires, California, Pollution, Electric Vehicles

14 points by petethomas 35 days ago | 0 comments

The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem (japantimes.co.jp)
Flowing more than 4,300 kilometers from the Tibetan Plateau in China, through mainland Southeast Asia and then into Vietnam’s Mekong Delta before finally emptying into the South China Sea, the Mekong River is among the top 10 waterways in Asia most responsible for riverine plastic waste reaching the world’s oceans.

Environmental Issues, Pollution, Mekong River, Southeast Asia, Plastic Waste

5 points by PaulHoule 54 days ago | 0 comments

Microplastics in the Air May Be Leading to Lung and Colon Cancers (ucsf.edu)
Tires and degrading garbage shed tiny pieces of plastic into the air, creating a form of air pollution that UC San Francisco researchers suspect may be causing respiratory and other illnesses.

Health, Environment, Pollution, Cancer, Research

15 points by srameshc 63 days ago | 1 comments

Car tires shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment (phys.org)
Every year, billions of vehicles worldwide shed an estimated 6 million tons of tire fragments. These tiny flakes of plastic, generated by the wear and tear of normal driving, eventually accumulate in the soil, in rivers and lakes, and even in our food. Researchers in South China recently found tire-derived chemicals in most human urine samples.

Microplastics, Environment, Pollution, Tires, Science

295 points by geox 85 days ago | 321 comments

Is a 'Green' Revolution Poisoning India's Capital? (nytimes.com)
India promised to burn its trash mountains and safely turn them into electricity. But a New York Times investigation found hazardous levels of toxic substances around homes, playgrounds and schools.

Environmental Issues, India, Pollution, Public Health, Journalism

9 points by bobthepanda 104 days ago | 3 comments

It's raining PFAS in South Florida – study (sciencedirect.com)
Atmospheric deposition plays a crucial role in the fate and transport of per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), especially in areas far from production sites.

Environmental Science, Pollution, Chemistry, South Florida, PFAS

85 points by Jimmc414 107 days ago | 40 comments

'Shocking' microplastic research prompts review (bbc.com)
A water company has said it is reviewing research by an undergraduate that found high levels of microplastics in an Isle of Wight estuary.

Environment, Science, Pollution, Water, Research

7 points by lsllc 110 days ago | 0 comments

Tesla spills chemicals into Palo Alto creek (paloaltoonline.com)
Tesla Motors last week dumped more than 500 gallons of water-treatment chemicals that it uses to cool its supercomputer into a storm drain near Matadero Creek, prompting a cleanup effort at the creek and in the nearby Ventura neighborhood, according to local and state officials.

Tesla, Environmental Issues, California, Pollution, Water Contamination

11 points by dsv3099i 120 days ago | 2 comments

Farm waste can filter microplastics in surface runoff, prevent pollution (phys.org)
Using treated plant waste as a filter reduced the presence of harmful microplastics in agricultural runoff by more than 92%, according to a new study authored by a University of Mississippi research team.

Environmental Science, Pollution, Agriculture, Sustainability, Water Treatment

8 points by PaulHoule 127 days ago | 0 comments

Migrating Seabirds Are Bringing Forever Chemicals into the Arctic (hakaimagazine.com)
Between March and May each year, 15 million black-legged kittiwakes gather from across the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to nest and breed on rocky Arctic cliffs—some making the journey from as far as Florida or North Africa.

Environmental Science, Climate Change, Wildlife, Arctic, Pollution

20 points by pseudolus 140 days ago | 0 comments

Airborne plastic levels shock researchers (chronic DEHP/DiNP/DEHT exposure) (news.ucr.edu)
A new study documents how Southern Californians are chronically being exposed to toxic airborne chemicals called plasticizers, including one that’s been banned from children’s items and beauty products.

Environmental Science, Health, California, Pollution, Research

49 points by nabla9 142 days ago | 15 comments

Microplastics Seem to Be in Every Kind of Animal Except One (sciencealert.com)
Rocks crumble into the sea as sand. Similarly, the ocean is an inevitable destination of disintegrating human rubbish: microplastics.

Environmental Science, Marine Biology, Pollution, Microplastics

5 points by speckx 151 days ago | 1 comments

Nanoplastics put stress on trees and impair photosynthesis (phys.org)
It is well known that more and more plastic waste is ending up in soil and bodies of water. Researchers are particularly concerned about tiny micro- and nano-sized particles. It remains unclear how and to what extent they are able to enter living organisms—and what effect they may have on metabolism.

Nanoplastics, Environment, Science, Biology, Pollution

18 points by PaulHoule 159 days ago | 3 comments

AI Has Helped Shein Become Fast Fashion's Biggest Polluter (grist.org)
In 2023, the fast fashion giant Shein was everywhere. Crisscrossing the globe, airplanes ferried small packages of its ultra-cheap clothing from thousands of suppliers to tens of millions of customer mailboxes in 150 countries.

Artificial Intelligence, Fast Fashion, Environmental Impact, Pollution

19 points by Link_ke 160 days ago | 16 comments

UBC engineers develop all-in-one solution to catch and destroy forever chemicals (news.ubc.ca)

Environmental Engineering, Chemistry, Pollution, Water Treatment

24 points by givinguflac 174 days ago | 9 comments

Microplastics are infiltrating brain tissue, studies show (theguardian.com)

Science, Environment, Health, Pollution

6 points by flexagoon 183 days ago | 0 comments

Bioaccumulation of Microplastics in Decedent Human Brains (nlm.nih.gov)

Microplastics, Pollution, Human Health, Science

131 points by apsec112 184 days ago | 153 comments

Detailed Map of Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution in the U.S. (propublica.org)