Heavy Metals in the Ocean Become More Toxic

How Climate Change Impacts Contaminants in the Sea

11-Oct-2024 - Toxic trace elements such as lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium occur naturally in small quantities in coastal seas. However, human activities such as industry and agriculture contribute significantly larger amounts. A new study has examined how climate change is already affecting the ...

Plant-inspired polymers for water purification

German-Japanese research team takes inspiration from nature, creating a polymer that selectively removes toxic heavy metal ions from water

31-Jul-2024 - Clean drinking water is a basic demand for our health and wellbeing. However, as the global population grows, achieving this for all communities worldwide becomes more challenging. Now, in a study published in Nature Communications, researchers from the HeKKSaGOn Alliance – involved were ...

Green steel from toxic red mud

An economical process with green hydrogen can be used to extract CO2-free iron from the red mud generated in aluminium production

01-Feb-2024 - The production of aluminium generates around 180 million tonnes of toxic red mud every year. Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, a centre for iron research, have now shown how green steel can be produced from aluminium production waste in a relatively simple way. In an ...

Synthesis of pharmaceuticals with light

06-Aug-2018 - A new synthesis method in organic chemistry enables the production of numerous pharmaceuticals without the use of toxic heavy metals. Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology in Jena (Leibniz HKI) discovered this reaction and subsequently developed ...

Bacteria produce gold by digesting toxic metals

01-Feb-2018 - High concentrations of heavy metals, like copper and gold, are toxic for most living creatures. This is not the case for the bacterium C. metallidurans, which has found a way to extract valuable trace elements from a compound of heavy metals without poisoning itself. One interesting side-effect: ...

A Protective Shield against the Heavy Metal Uranium

The glutathione molecule aids in cellular resilience

07-Jun-2016 - Microorganisms can better withstand the heavy metal uranium when glutathione is present, a molecule composed of three amino acids. Scientists from the German based Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University of Bern in Switzerland have now proven this resilience by closely ...

New International Forum for Heavy Metal Research

01-Nov-2012 - Research on radioactive heavy metals in environmental systems considers diverse tasks, e.g. restoration measures for contaminated industrial fallow grounds, the safe storage of chemical-toxic and radioactive waste, carbon dioxide sequestration to reduce green-house gas emissions as well as the ...