Environmental Science

How do conifers, which are commonly seen on Christmas trees, maintain their needles’ green hue despite the boreal winter causing the shedding of leaves from most trees? Science has yet to give a definitive answer to this.
However, a group of international scientists, including experts from Umeå University, has discovered that there is a short way in the photosynthetic mechanism that makes conifers’ needles to keep their green color. The research was released in the journal called Nature Communications.
During winter, molecules from green chlorophyll absorb light energy. However, this energy cannot be used for …

The most commonly traded food commodity in the world is seafood. Sadly, in the past 10 years, there has been an increase in reports wherein seafood mislabeling. Nevertheless, the impact of this in the environments still has to be researched further.
Kailin Kroetz, a researcher from Arizona State University, and her team studied the effects of mislabeled seafood on the effectiveness of fishery management, ecosystems and habitats in the US, and marine creatures’ health. This study was released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Kroetz’s team discovered that around 190,000 to 250,000 tons of …

Because plastic found in the ocean does not chemically break down, it breaks up into small pieces. As a result, microplastics are formed and have become an alarming environmental issue. Weizmann Institute of Science discovered this from their recent study about the problem with microplastics.
Microplastics are particles that have sizes smaller than 5 mm across. They are moved into the atmosphere and brought to various parts of the ocean because of the wind. Studies show that even the smallest pieces can be suspended in the air for hours or days. Therefore, these pieces can harm the environment by disrupting the food chain and …