An annual model-based report on “dead-zone” conditions in the Chesapeake Bay during 2018 indicates that the total volume of low-oxygen, “hypoxic” waters was very similar to the previous year, but a sharp drop in hypoxia during late July shows the critical role of wind mixing in short-term variations in the oxygen content of Bay waters. The duration of hypoxia in 2018 was greater than in recent years.

Manchester-based Volcanologists have developed a method and camera that could help reduce the dangers, health risks and travel impacts of ash plumes during a volcanic eruption.

In the Canadian Arctic, a mystery has troubled scientists and local communities for decades: Why do marine animals in the western Arctic have higher mercury levels than those in the east?

Elevated concentrations of strontium, an element associated with oil and gas wastewaters, have accumulated in the shells of freshwater mussels downstream from fracking wastewater disposal sites, according to researchers from Penn State and Union College.

Air pollution in the U.S. has decreased since about 1990, and a new study conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill now shows that this air quality improvement has brought substantial public health benefits. The study, published Oct 19 in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, found that deaths related to air pollution were nearly halved between 1990 and 2010.

A new U.S. Geological Survey laboratory study of two potentially toxic types of freshwater cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, found that exposure to salty water can damage the cyanobacteria cells’ walls, causing them to release their toxins into the water.

For more than 15 years, the Chinese government has invested billions of dollars to clean up its deadly air pollution, focusing intensely on reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal-burning power plants.

Children with asthma who grow up in a New York City neighborhood where air pollution is prevalent need emergency medical treatment more often than asthmatics in less polluted areas. This is according to researchers from Columbia University in the US in a new study published in the Springer Nature-branded journal Pediatric Research. Lead author, Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, warns however that neighborhoods where asthma cases in children are less common should not be excluded from efforts to improve air quality. This is because children that live in neighborhoods where asthma is less common may be more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution.

More than 1.5 million Michigan residents and potentially more than hundreds of sites nationwide ­– and counting – have PFAS-tainted water.

Scientists say there is not yet enough evidence to conclude that microplastics (MPs) do or do not cause harm to the environment, following a review of more than 300 global studies.