Results tagged “pollution” from 60 Second Science

We hit double digits. Champagne all around!

In this episode: A timelapse video of the U.S.'s carbon footprint, a plan to turn pollution into DVDs (and fleece Al Gore?), a warning against nanotoxic socks, and a duel between two green-tech press releases.

Created, written & designed by John Pavlus / Screencasts produced by Smashcut Media / Music by Jeff Alvarez

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Today's 60 Second Science Podcast is brought to you by those busy sperm:

Sperm Subject To Attack—By Pollution

Full transcript after the jump...

Continue reading 'Sperm Subject To Attack — By Pollution [podcast]' >

For realz, people-- the pollution in Beijing is no joke, forget what their government says. ("Nearly five times above World Health Organization standards for safety"-- apparently there's smog INSIDE the velodrome, for eff's sake.) And the US Olympic Committee's exercise physiologist, Randy Wilber, has to figure out what to do about it.

• Acclimate the athletes somehow? NO. Unlike training for, say, high altitudes, having prolonged exposure to sulfur dioxide, ozone and particulate matter won't make your body "used to it."
• Wear masks while competing? Nope. Big political faux pas. The Chinese don't want 4 billion people watching images of gold medals being draped over facemasks.
• Get approved for drugs? Maybe. Wilber's running tests for exercise-induced asthma (which pollution this extreme can exacerbate). The inhalers used to treat it contain a drug banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, but if he can prove it's necessary to the I.O.C., some athletes could use them.
• Train in a nearby non-hellhole, then take your chances on the day? Yup. Wilber has scouted training locations in South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, and recommended that athletes "wear specially designed masks over their noses and mouths from the minute they step foot in Beijing until they begin competing."

Continue reading 'How should Olympic athletes train when the air is POISON?' >

A new xenith in audio slideshows: Photographer Chang W. Lee and cellist Zoe Keating have collaborated to produce a work of art from, of all things, the overwhelming industrial pollution engulfing China.

More here.

Just how close is your neighborhood power plant? How many kilowatts of energy is it producing? And how much carbon dioxide does that eyesore emit into the air?

Answer these questions and find out more fun and frightening facts about 50,000 plants worldwide at CARMA.org, Carbon Monitoring for Action. The newly unveiled site is hosted by the think tank, the Center for Global Development.

Continue reading 'World's best place for power-plant voyeurism now open' >

In a few decades, the dating scene in Canada could get tricky and air pollution may be to blame. More girls are being born in some towns in the country than boys.

Researchers have linked the rise in baby girl numbers to dioxins, airborne pollutants from oil refineries, paper mills, and other sources as far as 15 miles away. The health risks of these pollutants spread farther distances than scientists previously estimated.

Continue reading 'Dioxin making more baby girls in Canada' >