- How America’s push for the atomic bomb spawned enduring radioactive waste problems in St. Louis The Associated Press
- Records reveal 75 years of government downplaying, ignoring risks of St. Louis radioactive waste • Missouri Independent Missouri Independent
- Newly released government records shed light on radioactive waste problems in St. Louis St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Takeaways from AP’s examination of nuclear waste problems in the St. Louis region The Associated Press
- Government documents expected to raise new concerns about radioactive waste KMOV4
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: waste
Jellyfish-like creatures called Blue Buttons that spit out waste through their mouths are washing up on Texas beaches – CBS News
- Jellyfish-like creatures called Blue Buttons that spit out waste through their mouths are washing up on Texas beaches CBS News
- Watch out for these blue creatures washing up on Texas beaches KHOU 11
- Galveston blue jellyfish: Tentacled sea creature ‘blue buttons’ spotted ashore on Texas beaches along Gulf of Mexico KTRK-TV
- Bright blue ‘buttons’ washing up on Texas coast, photos show. But don’t press them Fort Worth Star-Telegram
- Invasive Australian spotted jellyfish washes ashore Texas beach. Here’s what you should know KPRC Click2Houston
Sex And The City’s Kristin Davis won’t ‘waste energy’ on Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker drama – Daily Mail
- Sex And The City’s Kristin Davis won’t ‘waste energy’ on Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker drama Daily Mail
- Kristin Davis Says She Has No Plans to ‘Waste Energy’ on Kim Cattrall Drama After ‘And Just Like That’ Cameo: ‘It’s Not in My Power’ to Fix Yahoo Entertainment
- Kristin Davis Wishes She Could ‘Fix’ Feud Between Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall Entertainment Tonight
- Kristin Davis Speaks Out on Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall Feud TooFab
- Kristin Davis weighs in on Kim Cattrall ‘Sex and the City’ drama: Fans are ‘upset’ New York Post
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81% of international flights into NYC had SARS-CoV-2 in waste, small trial finds – Ars Technica
- 81% of international flights into NYC had SARS-CoV-2 in waste, small trial finds Ars Technica
- Effect of Predeparture Testing on Postarrival SARS-CoV-2–Positive Test Results Among International Travelers — CDC Traveler-Based Genomic Surveillance Program, Four U.S. Airports, March–September 2022 | MMWR CDC
- Pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 viral components on human periodontal tissues and cells News-Medical.Net
- A multiplexed, paired-pooled droplet digital PCR assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva | Scientific Reports Nature.com
- Notes from the Field: Aircraft Wastewater Surveillance for Early Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Variants — John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, August–September 2022 | MMWR CDC
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A Florida waste facility fire has been burning for nearly a week, forcing schools to close and officials urging residents to stay inside – CNN
- A Florida waste facility fire has been burning for nearly a week, forcing schools to close and officials urging residents to stay inside CNN
- Doral trash incinerator fire still burning amid fears of air pollution Axios
- EPA advises Doral residents to shelter in place as renewable energy plant continues to burn WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale
- Air quality in Doral: Officials announce closures after waste-to-energy facility fire WPLG Local 10
- Doral Fire: Nearby Parks Close, Schools Impacted After EPA Report Shows ‘Unhealthy’ Air Quality NBC 6 South Florida
- View Full Coverage on Google News
‘It would lay this city to waste:’ Catonsville woman conspired with neo-Nazi leader to destroy Baltimore power grid, FBI says – CBS News
- ‘It would lay this city to waste:’ Catonsville woman conspired with neo-Nazi leader to destroy Baltimore power grid, FBI says CBS News
- Neo-Nazi leader and Maryland woman allegedly plotted to ‘completely destroy’ Baltimore, Justice Department says CNN
- Two arrested, including Neo-Nazi leader, in planned attack on Baltimore power grid MSNBC
- FBI arrested two, including neo-Nazi leader, who planned ‘potentially catastrophic’ attack on Maryland power grid Maryland Matters
- FBI arrests man, woman with ‘extremist’ views in alleged power grid attack plot targeting 5 substations Fox News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Bacteria Can Use Plastic Waste as a Food Source, Which Isn’t as Good as It Sounds : ScienceAlert
Plastic pollution is out of control. Each year, more than 8 million tonnes of synthetic polymers enter the ocean, and while some sinks to the floor, returns to the shore, or collects in the middle of nowhere, a significant portion isn’t so easily accounted for.
All that missing plastic is a mystery, but some researchers suspect hungry microbes are partly responsible.
Experiments in the lab have now shown that a species of marine bacterium, known as Rhodococcus ruber, can slowly break down and digest plastic made from polyethylene (PE).
Used largely in packaging, PE is the most commonly produced plastic in the world, and while it’s not clear if R. ruber munches on this waste in the wild, the new research confirms it is at least capable of doing so.
Previous studies have found strains of R. ruber floating in dense cellular films on marine plastic. What’s more, initial research in 2006 suggested the plastic underneath R. ruber was breaking down at a faster rate than normal.
The new study confirms that to be the case.
“This is the first time we have proven in this way that bacteria actually digest plastic into CO2 and other molecules,” says microbial ecologist Maaike Goudriaan from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ).
To emulate the natural ways that plastic disintegrates on the ocean surface, Goudriaan and her colleagues exposed their plastic samples to UV light and placed them in artificial seawater.
“The treatment with UV light was necessary because we already know that sunlight partially breaks down plastic into bite-sized chunks for bacteria,” explains Goudrian.
Next, the team introduced a strain of R. ruber to the scene.
By measuring levels of an isotope of carbon released from disintegrating plastic called carbon-13, the authors estimated the polymers in their experiments broke down at a rate of about 1.2 percent a year.
The team can’t be sure how much the UV lamp decayed the plastic compared to the activity of the microbes, but the bacteria were clearly playing a role. Bacterial samples after the experiment showed fatty acid membranes that were enriched with carbon-13.
The rate of plastic decay identified in the current study is far too slow to completely solve the problem of plastic pollution in our oceans, but it does indicate where some of our planet’s missing plastic might have gone.
“Our data show that sunlight could thus have degraded a substantial amount of all the floating plastic that has been littered into the oceans since the 1950s,” says microbiologist Annalisa Delre.
Microbes could have then come in and digested some of the Sun’s leftovers.
Since 2013, researchers have warned that microbes are likely thriving on plastic patches in the ocean, forming a synthetic ecosystem that has come to be known as a ‘plastisphere’.
There’s even evidence to suggest that some of these microbial communities are adapting to eating different types of plastic.
Previous studies have identified specific bacteria and fungi, on land and in the sea, that appear to eat plastic. But while that knowledge could help us better recycle our waste before it ends up in the wild, its other uses are controversial.
Some scientists have proposed we unleash plastic-munching equivalents on pollution hotspots, like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Others are not so sure that’s a good idea. Engineered enzymes and bacteria that break down plastic might sound like a great way to make our waste disappear, but some experts are worried about unintended side effects to natural ecosystems and food webs.
After all, breaking down plastic isn’t necessarily a good thing. Microplastics are a lot harder to clean up than larger pieces, and these tiny remnants could infiltrate food webs. Filter feeders, for instance, might mistakenly grab tiny pieces of plastic before microbes do.
In a study in 2020, every single seafood sample tested at a market in Australia contained microplastics.
What that is doing to human or animal health is completely unknown.
“Much better than cleaning up, is prevention,” argues Goudriaan.
“And only we humans can do that.”
The study was published in Marine Pollution Bulletin.
‘Revolutionize how we deal with waste’
© Provided by The Cool Down
Plastic eating enzyme can break down waste in 24 hours
Researchers at The University of Texas in Austin discovered an enzyme that eats plastic fast, and scientists think it could revolutionize how we deal with waste.
The team used artificial intelligence, chemical engineering, and synthetic biology to turn a natural enzyme called PETase into a plastic-eating machine.
Quick science lesson: PET, which is short for polyethylene terephthalate, the chemical name for polyester, is a clear, strong, and lightweight plastic that’s widely used in food packaging and plastic bottles. PETase got its name from its ability to degrade these PET plastics.
To deconstruct PET plastic even more quickly and at low temperatures, researchers adjusted PETase to create a new enzyme, called FAST-PETase, which gives bacteria the ability to recycle waste plastic efficiently.
Since plastics account for 8% of all solid waste globally and this new enzyme is laser-focused on breaking it down, this is a potentially crucial discovery.
Most plastic — about 90% — isn’t recycled and either ends up in landfills, where it can leach long-lasting chemicals into the ground, or is burned or broken down at huge energy costs and tons of pollution produced. This enzyme, however, takes much less energy to produce and works quickly.
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Plastic that would last almost 500 years in a landfill can be broken down in a day by bacteria armed with FAST-PETase and turned into base units that can be reused.
Hal Alper, a professor of Chemical Engineering at UT Austin, told UT News that the possibilities of this discovery “are endless.”
“Beyond the obvious waste management industry, this also provides corporations from every sector the opportunity to take a lead in recycling their products,” he said. “We can begin to envision a true circular plastics economy.”
The “circular economy” refers to an economic approach that relies on developing new goods without waste or pollution, reusing products and materials to their fullest extent, and restoring natural systems.
Right now, humans have a so-called linear economy, also known as a “take/make/waste system,” in which we take raw materials, make a product, and then throw it away when the product becomes damaged or is no longer usable. By recycling plastic more efficiently, plastic waste can be diverted into more useful products, and the entire industry can become more sustainable.
The scientists at UT Austin are ramping up production for real-world uses. They see this product cleaning up landfills, high-waste industries, and polluted natural areas in the future.
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Scientists discover plastic-gobbling enzyme that can break down trash in 24 hours: ‘Revolutionize how we deal with waste’ first appeared on The Cool Down.
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Don’t Waste Your Time With These Terrible Diet Tips
It’s the new year and everybody’s on a diet—I mean, a wellness journey. Whether you want to lose weight or not is none of my business, but I do beg you to please, please let all the following silly weight loss “hacks” die. Many of them verge on disordered eating behaviors, while others are just ways to make yourself miserable for no reason.
(By the way, if you feel like your relationship with food is out of control, the National Eating Disorders Association has a screening tool, helpline, and more resources here.)
Smaller plates don’t make us eat less
This one is a classic: Serving yourself on a smaller plate is supposed to make a small amount of food look bigger. Therefore, you’ll eat less food overall, and eventually lose weight.
But our brains and bodies are too smart to actually be tricked by that. The idea that smaller plates promote smaller portions came from a lab that was later found to be engaging in sketchy research practices. Other labs ran their own plate size experiments and found that people usually don’t eat less when given smaller plates. What’s more, we get better at estimating portion sizes when we’re hungry. The small plate hack wasn’t fooling us after all.
Drinking a glass of water isn’t going to satisfy your hunger
There’s a common healthy eating tip that says if you’re hungry, you should have a big glass of water, because sometimes our bodies can’t tell hunger and thirst cues apart.
But there’s no evidence that this is true, or that drinking a glass of water will help. One of the oft-cited papers on hunger, thirst, eating, and drinking found that we actually get a little hungrier after drinking—so even if it were true that our bodies mix up the signals, the proposed solution isn’t likely to help.
Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with drinking a glass of water if you think you might like one, whether you’re hungry or not. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that hunger pangs are your body telling you that you’re thirsty. Your body knows the difference between food and water, okay? That’s why you haven’t starved or dehydrated to death yet.
It’s not necessarily a good idea to eat like a bodybuilder
There’s a stereotype about bodybuilders eating nothing but chicken breast, brown rice, and broccoli out of little plastic containers. They eat with discipline and end up shredded, so this must be a healthy meal choice, right?
While it can be a fine meal if you enjoy it, this combination is not the best or only way to meal prep—especially if you aren’t a fan of the individual components. Chicken breast and rice are both notoriously unforgiving when it comes to meal prep, anyway. They tend to dry out, especially if you prepare them without marinades or sauces.
So ditch your idea of what healthy food looks like, and make a plan that involves foods you actually enjoy. Upgrade to chicken thighs, learn to use a good marinade, throw that dry rice in a waffle maker, or just make an entirely different recipe. It’s okay for food to taste good.
Oh, and while we’re discussing bodybuilder habits: no, eating many small meals does not “boost” your metabolism.
It’s a diet, not a lifestyle change
This last one isn’t so much a hack as an oft-repeated platitude: “It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change.” If you’re trying to lose weight, please do not make this a lifelong process. Dieting is the act of deliberately undernourishing yourself. If you want or need to do it for a short time, then own that choice, and do it in the healthiest manner you’re able. But once you’ve lost some weight, get back to fully nourishing your body again.
After all, it would not be healthy or smart to lose weight forever. Since the way we lose weight is by eating fewer calories than we burn, the exact meals and habits that help us lose weight are not going to be the ones that help us maintain our ideal weight once we get there. At the very least, you’ll have to increase your portions.
So if you feel like your current diet or habits need to change, make sure to separate out what should change in general (example: cook at home more often) and what should change temporarily (example: smaller portions). Healthy eating and undereating are not at all the same thing.
‘Cirkus’ Movie Review: An unendurable waste of time!
Movie: Cirkus
Rating: 2/5
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Pooja Hegde, Jacqueline Fernandes, Johny Lever, Sanjay Mishra and Varun Sharma.
Cinematography: Jomon T. John.
Music: Devi Sri Prasad, Badshah and Lijo George.
Director: Rohit Shetty
Release Date: Dec 23, 2022
‘The Bard of Avon’ can never go wrong. The timeless Shakespeare, 400-plus years after he entertained Queen Elizabeth I and her courtiers, continues to resonate in different ways with each generation. And his ‘Comedy of Errors’ has been a favourite of Bollywood filmmakers.
After Kishore Kumar’s ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ and Sanjeev Kumar’s ‘Angoor’ and a few other forgettable adaptations, comes Rohit Shetty’s ‘Cirkus’, featuring Ranveer Singh playing two sets of identical twins who are accidentally separated at birth. Sadly, though, Bollywood is as bad at adapting as it is at conceiving fresh ideas.
So, what does the film have to offer? Old gags, insufferable jokes, bad acting and a plot that just doesn’t take off. Even when writers Farhad Samji, Sanchit Bedre and Vidhi Ghodgaonkar attempt to Indianise the much-amended tale, there’s nothing out there in terms of a creative twist in this over-two-hour-long film.
Twins Roy and Roy (Singh) and Joy and Joy (Sharma) get separated at birth. Coincidentally, the two pairs get adopted by two different sets of parents — one Roy is deliberately paired with another Joy and the other Roy with the other Joy in Ooty and Bengaluru, respectively.
From the basic premise, this should have been a laugh riot as the identical twins who live in different cities come together and mistaken identity causes a host of ludicrous situations. The two sets of twins run into each other several years later, when they are coincidentally in the same town. Needless to add, misunderstandings reign supreme when people mistake one for the other.
One Roy works in a circus and is unaffected by electric currents, causing much awe and laughter among the audience. His act of holding naked electric wires has everyone enthusiastically applauding him for an encore. He earns his living professionally, but whenever his body touches an electric wire, his twin in another city feels the shock as the current flows through his tissues.
Short of getting electrocuted, the twin brother experiences the severity of the shock to such an extent that whoever comes in contact with him, feels it too. Now, that could have led to not one but numerous funny moments.
And though the writers do their best to introduce characters, such as the mothers (Ashwini Kalsikar and Sulabha Arya) and girlfriends Mala and Bindu (Hegde and Fernandes) to add to the mix-ups, chaos and disorder, all we have are pathetic example of poor writing skills and excruciatingly unbearable situations, so much so that even the gifted Ranveer Singh can barely salvage the film. His character repeats himself so often that he probably didn’t have to memorise his lines — nor did he get any opportunity to deliver a dialogue impulsively.
From among the ensemble cast, which is comprised of veterans Tiku Talsania, Vrajesh Hirje, Mukesh Tiwary, Brijender Kala, Sanjay Mishra and Johny Lever, not one of them has a scene that could be described as hilarious, comical or mildly amusing.
Shetty, who has specialised in a certain kind of humour in superhits such as ‘Singham’, ‘Golmaal’ and ‘Chennai Express’, fails miserably in raising laughs. The only thing that works for the film is Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh’s sudden impromptu jig to ‘Current laga re’.
That’s the only ‘paisa vasool’ part of the film, which must go down as a massive wasted opportunity.