Over 60 years of nuclear activity have resulted in a global legacy of contaminated land and radioactive waste. Uranium (U) is a significant component of this legacy and is present in radioactive wastes and at many contaminated sites. U-incorporated iron (oxyhydr)oxides may provide a long-term barrier to U migration in the environment. However, reductive dissolution of iron (oxyhydr)oxides can occur

Combustion-derived black carbon (BC) is an important component of sedimentary carbon pool. Due to different physicochemical properties, determining the source of char and soot is crucial for BC cycling, especially for nonhomologous char and soot in the Tibetan Plateau (TP). This study analyzed the sequestration and source of BC, char, and soot in the Dagze Co (inner TP) sediment core via the content

Increasing amounts of hydropower are being exported from Canada to the northern United States. Recently proposed projects would increase transmission capacity to U.S. population centers without increasing generation. This avoids generation-side impacts from hydroelectric development and introduces power to the U.S. energy mix that is dispatchable, unlike wind and solar, with greenhouse gas emissions

The performance of chemical safety assessment within the domain of environmental toxicology is often impeded by a shortfall of appropriate experimental data describing potential hazards across the many compounds in regular industrial use. In silico schemes for assigning aquatic-relevant modes or mechanisms of toxic action to substances, based solely on consideration of chemical structure, have seen

A nanofiltration (NF) membrane with high salt permeation and high retention of small organics is appealing for the treatment of high-salinity organic wastewater. However, the conventional negatively charged NF membranes commonly show high retention of divalent anions (e.g., SO42–), and the reported positively charged NF membranes normally suffer super low selectivity for small organics/Na2SO4 and high

Alkaline gases, including NH3, C1–3-amines, C1–3-amides, and C1–3-imines, were measured in situ using a water cluster-CIMS in urban Beijing during the wintertime of 2018, with a campaign average of 2.8 ± 2.0 ppbv, 5.2 ± 4.3, 101.1 ± 94.5, and 5.2 ± 5.4 pptv, respectively. Source apportionment analysis constrained by emission profiles of in-use motor vehicles was performed using a SoFi-PMF software

Higher air temperature is associated with increased age-related morbidity and mortality. To date, short-term effects of air temperature on leukocyte telomere length have not been investigated in an adult population. We aimed to examine the short-term associations between air temperature and leukocyte telomere length in an adult population-based setting, including two independent cohorts. This population-based

City and regional planners have recently started exploring a circular approach to urban development. Meanwhile, industrial ecologists have been designing and refining methodologies to quantify and locate material flows and stocks within systems. This Perspective explores to which extent material stock studies can contribute to urban circularity, focusing on the built environment. We conducted a critical

Airborne microplastics (AMPs) have been reported in indoor and outdoor air in high-income countries and are expected to be a significant contributor to daily microplastic (MP) exposure for human beings. To date, there are only a handful of studies in lower-middle-income countries. In this study, AMPs from 5000 to 50 μm were sampled across selected areas of Sri Lanka using an active sampling technique

Examination of stable Fe isotopes is a powerful tool to explore Fe cycling in a range of environments. However, the isotopic fractionation of Fe in acid mine drainage (AMD) has received little attention and is poorly understood. Here, we analyze Fe isotopes in waters and Fe(III)-rich solids along an AMD flow-path. Aqueous Fe spanned a concentration and δ56Fe range of ∼420 mg L–1 and + 0.04‰ at the

Studies on neonicotinoid (NEO) exposure in pregnant women and fetuses are scarce, and transplacental transfer of these insecticides is unknown. In this study, parent NEOs (p-NEOs) and their metabolites (m-NEOs) were determined in 95 paired maternal (MS) and cord serum (CS) samples collected in southern China. Imidacloprid was the predominant p-NEO in both CS and MS samples, found at median concentrations

Bromophenols (BPs) have both natural and artificial sources in the environment and are frequently detected in plants. Herein, the ubiquitous 2,4,6-TriBP was hydroponically exposed to rice seedlings at two concentrations (0.2 and 2.0 mg/L) to characterize the dose-dependent abiotic stress responses of rice plants to BPs. The 2,4,6-TriBP induced oxidative damage to rice roots and subsequently inhibited

Transitioning to more sustainable energy technologies is a vital step in the move toward reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. However, several physical constraints could hinder the implementation of these technologies, and many of the raw materials required to produce new infrastructure are scarce, nonrenewable, and nonsubstitutable. Various factors relating to material extraction and processing

Given that anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be immediately reduced to avoid drastic increases in global temperature, methane emissions have been placed center stage in the fight against climate change. Methane has a significantly larger warming potential than carbon dioxide. A large percentage of methane emissions are in the form of industry emissions, some of which can now be readily

Fe(II) clays are common across many environments, making them a potentially significant microbial substrate, yet clays are not well established as an electron donor. Therefore, we explored whether Fe(II)-smectite supports the growth of Sideroxydans lithotrophicus ES-1, a microaerophilic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacterium (FeOB), using synthesized trioctahedral Fe(II)-smectite and 2% oxygen. S. lithotrophicus

Secondary organic matter (SOM) formed from gaseous precursors constitutes a major mass fraction of fine particulate matter. However, there is only limited evidence on its toxicological impact. In this study, air–liquid interface cultures of human bronchial epithelia were exposed to different series of fresh and aged soot particles generated by a miniCAST burner combined with a micro smog chamber (MSC)

The risk of human exposure to cyanotoxins is partially influenced by the location of toxin-producing cyanobacteria in waterbodies. Cyanotoxin production can occur throughout the water column, with deep water production representing a potential public health concern, specifically for drinking water supplies. Deep cyanobacteria layers are often unreported, and it remains to be seen if lower incident

Renewable, low-carbon biofuels offer the potential opportunity to decarbonize marine transportation. This paper presents a comparative techno-economic analysis and process sustainability assessment of four conversion pathways: (1) hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of wet wastes such as sewage sludge and manure; (2) fast pyrolysis of woody biomass; (3) landfill gas Fischer–Tropsch synthesis; and (4) lignin–ethanol

Peatlands store carbon in the form of dead organic residues. Climate change and human impact impose risks on the sustainability of the peatlands carbon balance due to increased peat decomposition. Here, we investigated molecular changes in the upper peat layers (0–40 cm), inferred from high-resolution vertical depth profiles, from a boreal peatland using two-dimensional 1H–13C nuclear magnetic resonance

The crucial role of healthy soil in achieving sustainable food production and environment is increasingly recognized, as is the importance of proper assessment of soil quality. We introduce a new framework, open soil index (OSI), which integrally evaluates soil health of agricultural fields and provides recommendation for farming practices. The OSI is an open-source modular framework in which soil

The harmful, filamentous cyanobacteria Microseira (Lyngbya) wollei produces several toxic analogues of saxitoxin (Lyngbya wollei toxins 1–6, or LWTs 1–6), grows in shallow water, and can deposit significant biomass on nearby shorelines. Here, we show that the LWTs are stable in the biomass during subsequent drying but that the process facilitates the later release of LWTs upon return to the water column

Understanding plant biology and related microbial ecology as a means to phytoremediate soil and groundwater contamination has broadened and advanced the field of environmental engineering and science over the past 30 years. Using plants to transform and degrade xenobiotic organic pollutants delivers new methods for environmental restoration. Manipulations of the plant microbiome through bioaugmentation

Figure 1. I identify eight commonly held misconceptions about polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). These misconceptions contribute to ongoing human exposures to airborne PCBs in schools. Keri Hornbuckle is the Donald E. Bently Professor of Engineering and Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering. She holds a secondary appointment as Professor of Occupational and Environmental Health and serves on

Oxidative stress mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a key process for adverse aerosol health effects. Secondary organic aerosols (SOA) account for a major fraction of fine particulate matter, and their inhalation and deposition into the respiratory tract causes the formation of ROS by chemical and cellular processes, but their relative contributions are hardly quantified and their link to

Predicting the redox behavior of magnetite in reducing soils and sediments is challenging because there is neither agreement among measured potentials nor consensus on which Fe(III) | Fe(II) equilibria are most relevant. Here, we measured open-circuit potentials of stoichiometric magnetite equilibrated over a range of solution conditions. Notably, electron transfer mediators were not necessary to reach