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Top Headlines

Unexpected Wildfire Emission Impacts Air Quality Worldwide

Sep. 21, 2020 — During wildfires, nitrous acid plays a leading role -- spiking to levels significantly higher than scientists expected, driving increased ozone pollution and harming air quality, according to a new ...

Devonian landscape | (c) (c) nicolasprimola / Adobe

Exploding Stars May Have Caused Mass Extinction on Earth, Study Shows

Aug. 18, 2020 — Killer cosmic rays from nearby supernovae could be the culprit behind at least one mass extinction event, researchers said, and finding certain radioactive isotopes in ...

Geoengineering Is Just a Partial Solution to Fight Climate Change

July 20, 2020 — Could we create massive sulfuric acid clouds that limit global warming and help meet the 2015 Paris international climate goals, while reducing unintended impacts? Yes, in theory, according to a new ...

Removing Toxic Chemicals from Water: New Environmentally-Friendly Method

June 30, 2020 — Researchers have developed a new environmentally friendly method for removing toxic chemicals from water. A newly invented machine, called the Matrix Assembly Cluster Source (MACS), has been used to ...

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Pollination: Air Pollution Renders Flower Odors Unattractive to Moths

Sep. 4, 2020 — Researchers showed that tobacco hawkmoths lost attraction to the scent of their preferred flowers when that scent had been altered by ozone. This oxidizing pollutant thus disturbs the chemical ...

Forest Emissions: A Chiral Surprise in the Rainforest

Aug. 27, 2020 — Reversed ratio of chiral volatile organic compounds over the Amazon rainforest reveal insects as unexplored important source of forest ...

Experts Reveal Major Holes in International Ozone Treaty

Aug. 26, 2020 — Scientists have revealed major holes in an international treaty designed to help repair the ozone layer, putting human health at risk and affecting ...

Ozone Across Northern Hemisphere Increased Over Past 20 Years

Aug. 21, 2020 — In a first-ever study using ozone data from commercial aircraft, researchers found that levels of the pollutant in the lowest part of Earth's atmosphere have increased across the Northern Hemisphere ...

Erosion of Ozone Layer Responsible for Mass Extinction Event

May 27, 2020 — Researchers have shown that an extinction event 360 million years ago, that killed much of the Earth's plant and freshwater aquatic life, was caused by a brief breakdown of the ozone layer that ...

CFC Replacements Are a Source of Persistent Organic Pollution in the Arctic

May 14, 2020 — Substances used to replace ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) may be just as problematic as their predecessors, a new study ...

COVID-19 Lockdowns Significantly Impacting Global Air Quality

May 11, 2020 — Levels of two major air pollutants have been drastically reduced since lockdowns began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a secondary pollutant -- ground-level ozone -- has increased in China, ...

Nearly Half of US Breathing Unhealthy Air; Record-Breaking Air Pollution in Nine Cities

Apr. 21, 2020 — Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of air pollution on lung health is of heightened concern. A new report finds nearly half of the nation's ...

Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Levels Hit Record Low in March

Apr. 16, 2020 — Ozone levels above the Arctic reached a record low for March, researchers report. An analysis of satellite observations show that ozone levels reached their lowest point on March 12 at 205 Dobson ...

International Ozone Treaty Stops Changes in Southern Hemisphere Winds

Mar. 25, 2020 — The Montreal Protocol of 1987 phased out production of ozone-destroying substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Beginning around 2000, concentrations of those chemicals in the stratosphere ...