pollution •

Storks Choose Dumpsters over Migration

March 18, 2016 By Clayton Meason

Storks have been seen nesting around 5 landfills from Portugal.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Who can blame someone for wanting to eat some junk food once in a while? It may not be the best source of nutrients, but it keeps your spirits up. The same thing goes for birds. Recently a team of scientists from the University of East Anglia has discovered that storks prefer to stay in for the winter in order to feast on the delicious dumpsters.

As we know, there are certain species of birds called migratory birds, which choose to take a hike at the beginning of winter in order to secure their food.

Storks can be counted among migratory birds. With their stick-like legs and pointy beak, these feathered creatures, traditionally associated with birth and fertility, have the habit of ditching their nests at the beginning of winter, in order to migrate to warmer lands, more specifically to Africa.

Now, everyone knows that at the turn of winter, the amusing birds began their perilous journeys towards the warmer fields of Africa. But it would seem that the laws of Mother Nature are not immovable.

A team of researchers from the University of East Anglia have discovered that many storks nesting in Europe have decided that the annual trip to Africa is too much of a nuisance. Furthermore, these seemingly rebellious birds have ditched the old ways in order to feast on the garbage pits.

The team of scientists have tracked a group of 48 storks between 2012 and 2014 in order to see how their habits changed. The funny-looking birds were caught, sedated and outfitted with a tracking device which features a GPS and an accelerometer.

This way, the team could pinpoint the exact location of birds and to make other determination. During the experiment, the scientists have discovered that when the right time comes, the storks from Europe prefer to remain in Portugal for the winter, rather than making the journey to Africa.

It’s quite natural for birds to perform a quick pit stop, considering the fact that Portugal is a mid-way point between Europe and Africa, but the birds seemed to have formed of habit of staying instead of going.

Moreover, over the years, the researchers have determined that the storks have developed a habit of constructing their nest around dumpsters and landfills. Tracking the stork activity around five different landfills, the researchers have discovered that the birds were there to stay.

And it’s only natural, come to think of it because the whole point of the African migration is to secure food sources. Why should a bird leave after it stumbled about a bounty of delicious goodies?

Although the approach isn’t entirely new, this is the first one to prove that storks are actually erecting nests around dumpsters and landfills.

Photo credits:pixabay

Plastic-Eating Germs Could Reduce Pollution

March 11, 2016 By Clayton Meason

"PET Pollution might be Diminished with Bacteria"

A team of Japanse scientits managed to grow a strain of bacteria that can eat plastic.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Whilst the battle against pollution rages on, the good guys are doing their best to come up with useful means of getting rid of all the stuff choking up Mother Nature. The Paris climate talks set a new milestone in the fight against atmospheric pollution, and it would seem that plastic in next on the agenda. A strain of plastic-eating germs could reduce pollution, according to a team of Japanese scientists.

Recently, a team of Japanese scientists Keio University identified a strain of bacteria that literally eats up all the excess plastic bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottles.

The strain of plastic-eating germs dubbed Ideonella sakaiensis, which according to the scientists can be found in nature, are capable of breaking down any type of PET container using a chemical process called hydrolysis.

Using this chemical trigger, the strain of plastic-eating germs can break down PET material using two distinct types of enzymes. Shosuke Yoshida, one of the scientists working on the project said that if the germs can multiplying up to the point where they can be used on an industrial scale, then we should see a dramatical decrease in plastic containers.

As estimated by several comprehensive eco reports, each year all the countries in the world produce approximately 56 million of plastic containers. Sadly, only 14 percent of these recipients are recycled, most of them ending up in the Ocean.

Now, based on another report put together by the World Economic Forum, by the end of 2050, the number of plastic containers will exceed the fish population.

Getting back to the plastic-eating germs, according to the team, the bacteria use water to trigger a hydrolysis reaction which, in turn, breaks down plastic.

Based on their lab experiments, the breaking-down process has two steps: in the presence of water, the bacteria will produce an intermediate enzyme called ISF6_483. The enzyme breaks down only a part of the plastic mass.

After the first process, the bacteria will produce another enzyme called ISF6_0224, which gets the job done.

In their experiments, the team of scientists used 250 different PET containers to see if the bacteria had any limitation. Fortunately, the plastic-suckers managed to eat away all the containers.

The idea of using living organism to solve pollution problems in not entirely new. In fact, for quite a while now, scientists have discovered that a species of worms are capable of eating plastic products and even Styrofoam.

While the idea of using plastic-eating bacteria sounds good, there are other issues the scientists must address before deploying the weapon: how will the bacteria interact with the environment? Will there be any side-effects? And how much bacteria should we grow to get rid of all the excess plastic?

Photo credits:takopix

Air Pollution Death Toll Could Increase to 5.5 Million per Year

February 13, 2016 By Gary Wymore

A recent study predicted that the death toll attribut to air pollution might increase if ample measures are not taken.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Air pollution has become a major concern over the last couple of years, mainly because the number of people killed by this risk factor has gone up. Air pollution death toll could increase to 5.5 million per year. Whereas in 2013, the death toll attributed to air pollution was estimated at 3 million people, it would that according to a new study the odds have increased.

In developed countries like China or India, air pollution is far from being considered unhealthy. As a matter of fact, air pollution has been recently rated the fourth highest risk factor for death on the globe. Indeed, over the years, air pollution managed to claw its way up to the top of the list, threatening to surpass even cancer.

As stated, the projected number of casualties for air pollution was estimated around three million deaths per year. But, according to a recent study, performed by two major institutions, it would seem that the death toll could increase to 5.5 million per year.

The study in question was performed by the University of Columbia, with the help of the Institute of Heath Metrics and Evaluation. The mandate of the project was to evaluate the risk factors associated with air pollution.

The team of researchers in charge of the project reviewed the data from over 188 countries, from 1990 to 2003. Results have shown that that air pollution death toll could increase to 5.5 million per year.

Moreover, despite their attempts to minimize air pollution, it would seem that the level of dangerous emissions has increased over the years. This result is indeed surprising, considering the fact that the level of air pollution has significantly decreased in the last 20 year.

And according to the study, it looks like fast developing countries like China and India have an increased level of air pollution. Rapid urbanization and the growth spur were taken into account when computing the results. Moreover, the researchers have discovered that besides atmospheric pollution, there is another killer out there, more silent and quite deadly.

Besides outdoor pollution, we are now talking about indoor pollution. The phenomenon can be attributed to burning wood, coal and dung inside the house.

The health specialists have estimated that during 2013, approximately 1.6 million people have died in China and 1.4 million in India due to outdoor and indoor pollution. Both forms of pollution can contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases and many forms of cancer.

As a result of the recent Paris climate talks, China and India have decided to take ample measures. Thus, the two countries have decided to close down power plants which are using coal and to minimize traffic.

Photo credits:www.pixabay.com

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