To help finance the protection of the world’s remaining high integrity forests, Congo’s Minister of Forest Economy and WCS have launched on August 30 Africa’s first HIFOR project in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park.
Tag: Degradation
Pioneering approach advances study of CTCF protein in transcription biology
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital used the auxin-inducible degron 2 system on CTCF, bringing the novel approach to bear on a fundamental protein.
Nanoplastics unexpectedly produce reactive oxidizing species when exposed to light
A team of researchers led by Young-Shin Jun at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis found that nanoplastics facilitate formation of manganese oxide on polystyrene nanoparticles.
Color Change in Space Materials May Help Measure Degradation Remotely
For the next six months, a camera system on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) will be snapping photos of more than a dozen different material samples, gathering detailed information that will help researchers determine how – and why – the harsh conditions of space affect these materials.
Making cleaner, greener plastics from waste fish parts
Derived from crude oil, toxic to synthesize, and slow to degrade, polyurethanes are not environmentally friendly. Today, researchers discuss a safer, biodegradable alternative derived from fish waste that would otherwise likely be discarded. They will present their results at ACS Spring 2021.
Indigenous People Vital for Understanding Environmental Change
Grassroots knowledge from indigenous people can help to map and monitor ecological changes and improve scientific studies, according to Rutgers-led research. The study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, shows the importance of indigenous and local knowledge for monitoring ecosystem changes and managing ecosystems. The team collected more than 300 indicators developed by indigenous people to monitor ecosystem change, and most revealed negative trends, such as increased invasive species or changes in the health of wild animals. Such local knowledge influences decisions about where and how to hunt, benefits ecosystem management and is important for scientific monitoring at a global scale.
Sunlight degrades polystyrene much faster than expected
Polystyrene persists in the environment for millennia, according to some international governmental agencies. But now researchers have challenged this common assumption with the finding that sunlight can break down polystyrene over a much shorter time scale, from decades to centuries.