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Shipping traffic can be a major source of tiny plastic particles floating in the sea, especially out in the open ocean. In a paper published in the scientific journal
Environmental Science & Technology, a team of German environmental geochemists based at the University of Oldenburg s Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment and led by Dr Barbara Scholz-Boettcher for the first time provides an overview of microplastics mass distribution in the North Sea.
The scientists found that most of the plastic particles in water samples taken from the German Bight, an area in the south-eastern corner of the North Sea which encompasses some of the world s busiest shipping lanes, originate from binders used in marine paints. Our hypothesis is that ships leave a kind of skid mark in the water which is of similar significance as a source of microplastics as tyre wear particles from cars are on land, Scholz-Boettcher says.
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IMAGE: A University of Texas at Arlington assistant professor in the Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering (IMSE) Department received a $248,404 sub-grant to study how to make farming more sustainable and. view more
Credit: UT Arlington
A University of Texas at Arlington assistant professor in the Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering (IMSE) Department received a $248,404 sub-grant to study how to make farming more sustainable and environmentally friendly. We re trying to determine what it would take to have peri-urban and urban farms in central Iowa produce enough consumable food crops to supply 50% of Des Moines residents nutritional needs, and what the impact on the environment would be Assistant Professor Caroline Krejci said.
Credit: Stupp Lab / Northwestern University
Imagine if surgeons could transplant healthy neurons into patients living with neurodegenerative diseases or brain and spinal cord injuries. And imagine if they could grow these neurons in the laboratory from a patient s own cells using a synthetic, highly bioactive material that is suitable for 3D printing.
By discovering a new printable biomaterial that can mimic properties of brain tissue, Northwestern University researchers are now closer to developing a platform capable of treating these conditions using regenerative medicine.
A key ingredient to the discovery is the ability to control the self-assembly processes of molecules within the material, enabling the researchers to modify the structure and functions of the systems from the nanoscale to the scale of visible features. The laboratory of Samuel I. Stupp published a 2018 paper in the journal