The widespread footprint of blue jean microfibers

Researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters have detected indigo denim microfibers not only in wastewater effluent, but also in lakes and remote Arctic marine sediments.

Why Hurricane Laura’s Storm Surge Could Be Unsurvivable

Having strengthened with astonishing speed into a Category 4 storm, Hurricane Laura will make landfall in Texas and Louisiana sometime early Thursday morning. With the landfall comes a dreaded storm surge—a rise in water level generated by a storm—that scientists say could spread seawater up to 30 miles inland, an inundation the National Hurricane Center just called “unsurvivable…”

Plastics, waste and recycling: It’s not just a packaging problem

Discussions of the growing plastic waste problem often focus on reducing the volume of single-use plastic packaging items such as bags, bottles, tubs and films. But a new University of Michigan study shows that two-thirds of the plastic put into use in the United States in 2017 was used for other purposes.