Scientists Ask: Can Nanotech And Microbes Partner To Destroy PFAS?
Diana Aga, Henry M. Woodburn Professor of Chemistry at the University at Buffalo. Aga is the project s principal investigator.
Researchers will use analytical and computational techniques to understand, in detail, how PFAS degrade at each step of the proposed treatment process
Imagine this: In a wastewater treatment plant, engineered molecular-scale scissors chop up PFAS, toxic compounds that are so tough to break down that they’re called “forever chemicals.” Then, microbes digest the molecular scraps, clearing them from the water.
In a new project, researchers from the University at Buffalo and University of Pittsburgh are teaming up to design the approaches and tools that would make such a system possible. The group will seek to develop advanced catalytic carbon-metal nanomaterials that react with and snip PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), and to identify and isolate bacteria capable of consuming
The business of bees
The economic value of insect pollination services is much higher than previously thought in the U.S., new research finds
Researchers found that the economic value of insect pollinators was $34 billion in the U.S. in 2012.
Image: Leon Plump, Unsplash
The business of bees
February 04, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The economic value of insect pollinators was $34 billion in the U.S. in 2012, much higher than previously thought, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State. The team also found that areas that are economically most reliant on insect pollinators are the same areas where pollinator habitat and forage quality are poor.
The business of bees
The economic value of insect pollinators was $34 billion in the U.S. in 2012, much higher than previously thought, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State. The team also found that areas that are economically most reliant on insect pollinators are the same areas where pollinator habitat and forage quality are poor.
“Pollinators like bees play an extremely important role in agriculture,” explained senior author Vikas Khanna, Wellington C. Carl Faculty Fellow and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering. “The insects that pollinate farmers’ crops underpin our ecosystem biodiversity and function, human nutrition, and even economic welfare.”
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IMAGE: Vikas Khanna, Wellington C. Carl Faculty Fellow and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Pitt s Swanson School of Engineering view more
Credit: University of Pittsburgh
The economic value of insect pollinators was $34 billion in the U.S. in 2012, much higher than previously thought, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University. The team also found that areas that are economically most reliant on insect pollinators are the same areas where pollinator habitat and forage quality are poor. Pollinators like bees play an extremely important role in agriculture, explained senior author Vikas Khanna, Wellington C. Carl Faculty Fellow and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Pitt s Swanson School of Engineering. The insects that pollinate farmers crops underpin our ecosystem biodiversity and function, human nutrition, and even economic welfare.