Hot spots of mercury pollution in aquatic sediments and soils can contaminate local food webs and threaten ecosystems, but cleaning them up can be expensive […]

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The Republic of Panama’s proposal to implement four Traffic Separation Schemes for commercial vessels entering and exiting the Panama Canal and ports was approved unanimously […]

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Here’s some good news that should hit you in the gut. A team of scientists searching thousands of environments for bacteria that produce the deadly […]

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Images obtained by NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft during the low-altitude orbital phase of the mission have revealed previously undetected […]

The post Mercury Joins Earth As Tectonically Active Planet appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian biologist Cindy Gilmour describes where mercury pollution comes from, how it morphs into the neurotoxin methylmercury, and if we’re finally starting to solve the […]

The post Ecosystems on the Edge: Tracking Mercury appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This free report highlights the main facts, numbers and trends of the Russian ecommerce and e-payments markets in an international perspective.

The new Cross-Border Payments and Commerce Report 2019 – 2020 depicts the major trends driving growth in cross-border payments, cross-border commerce, and marketplaces.

(The Paypers) Ecommerce Foundation has surveyed 5.200 consumers from 42 countries to better...

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While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys guideline for protecting the public from a toxic form of mercury is justifiable based on the latest scientific evidence, some children of women who consume large amounts of fish and seafood during pregnancy may be at special risk of neurological problems.

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlines a research agenda for improving the commercial viability of technologies that turn greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels into useful products such as fuels, construction materials, and chemicals.

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Opah fish are hauled onto a dock for sale last week in San Diego. Fishermen coming home to California after weeks at sea are finding strict anti-coronavirus measures, and nowhere to sell their catch.; Credit: Gregory Bull/AP

Commercial fishermen in the U.S. who have already faced challenges in recent years to make it in an increasingly globalized and regulated industry, are now struggling to find customers during the coronavirus crisis.

"This is totally unprecedented. This is the biggest crisis to hit the fishing industry ever, no question about that," Noah Oppenheim, executive director of The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations told NPR in a phone interview. The federation is a trade association representing commercial fishermen along the West Coast.

On Tuesday, seafood industry leaders, processors and fishermen sent a letter to House and Senate leaders requesting $4 billion in aid for the industry.

The closings of restaurants due to the coronavirus pandemic has hit commercial fishermen particularly hard.

An estimated 50% to 60% of wild seafood caught in the U.S. is exported, says Oppenheim. Those international markets have dried up. He says, of the seafood that's not exported, around 80% of that is sold to restaurants.

"Both of those sectors of the seafood economy are largely nonfunctional at the moment, so we're going to have to make up for approximately 90% of our markets ... through either new supply pipelines or new sets of customers."

Jerid Rold, a fishermen in Moss Landing, Calif., tells NPR, he's been out of work for a month, since South Korea stopped taking imports of hagfish. Further damaging profits, Dungeness crab prices on the West Coast have fallen from up to $7 dollars a pound to $2, says Oppenheim.

In Eureka, Calif., "there are no buyers purchasing products at the harbor there. You can't move the Dungeness crab out of the Humboldt bay," Oppenheim said. "It's actually extraordinary how similar these impacts are playing out across the country. They are palpable, they are profound and they are severe."

On the North Atlantic coast, Sam Rosen, a 30-year-old lobsterman based in Vinalhaven, Maine, said he and others are "selling lobster for amounts they shouldn't be sold for."

That's been close to $2.50 a pound, compared to a usual $10 a pound this time of year, Rosen said.

"It's definitely a shock to the system," Rosen said. "This is uncharted territory right now. I don't think anyone thought it was going to be as bad as it's getting."

If aid isn't provided to fishermen soon, "I think we could see hundreds to thousands of fishermen leave the industry nationwide," Oppenheim said.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

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Research into mercury has identified two genes in bacteria that appear to be required for turning the metal into its most toxic form, methylmercury. The study adds to a growing body of research that helps us to understand the transformations that mercury undergoes in the environment and the microbes involved in these transformations.

Desktop three-dimensional (3D) printers, available for use in offices and homes, can release between 20 and 200 billion ultra-fine particles (UFPs) per minute, finds new research. UFPs may pose a risk to health, and the study’s authors recommend caution when operating 3D printers inside unventilated or unfiltered indoor environments.

A new study provides clues as to which innovative low-carbon technologies will successfully get onto the market quickly. The historical analysis of 16 energy technologies — from steam engines to wind power — found that the average length of a product’s ‘formative phase’ is 22 years. This important period of innovation in a technology’s development is shorter for products which do not need extensive new infrastructure or changes to user behaviour. The findings could help policymakers identify new technologies that can be deployed more rapidly to meet short-term environmental targets.

Allowing supply of non-essential items through ecommerce would have defeated the purpose of lockdown, according to a joint secretary in the MHA

Small sellers on e-commerce platforms said they are faced with a working capital crunch and the delay would force them to pay partial or no salaries for April.

78% respondents of the survey said that the government should permit online retailers to ship all products, apart from essential items.

To test the possible health impacts of human exposure to methylmercury through fish consumption, researchers fed mice a diet containing fish at levels that corresponded to a typical Western diet for humans. The mice suffered adverse health impacts after two months of being fed this diet, including reduced body growth rates and modified gene expression patterns.

New research has shed light on the source of highly toxic monomethylmercury (MMHg) in Arctic marine waters. A study of polar seawater suggests that relatively harmless inorganic mercury is being transformed into the toxic MMHg within the water itself.

Record high prices for gold have driven a recent six-fold increase in deforestation in parts of the Peruvian Amazon with damage that can be measured from space, according to a new study. Rates of forest clearance and imports of mercury, used to process gold ore by local, small-scale miners, were both found to increase with the rising international price of gold.

A new modelling study has indicated that rivers could be the main pathway of mercury entering the Arctic Ocean. More research is needed to support this claim, but climate change could be increasing the release of mercury into rivers through thawing permafrost and increased wildfires.

A US study has concluded that issuing public health advice on fish consumption is the best short-term solution to reducing people’s exposure to mercury contamination. Reducing mercury emissions at source is considered a longer-term solution. Health advice should be targeted towards populations at greatest risk and consider the pollution levels of the water from which the fish came.

Research into mercury has identified two genes in bacteria that appear to be required for turning the metal into its most toxic form, methylmercury. The study adds to a growing body of research that helps us to understand the transformations that mercury undergoes in the environment and the microbes involved in these transformations.

Methylmercury may accumulate more quickly in fish as the climate grows warmer, new research suggests. Researchers in the US have found that levels of the toxin were higher in fish exposed to higher temperatures; global warming could therefore lead to increased human exposure to methylmercury through seafood consumption.

Mercury, in the form of monomethylmercury, can accumulate in fish to high concentrations, presenting the greatest concern for human exposure to this potent neurotoxin. New long-term research of fish in a natural setting has shown that removal rates of the toxin from body tissues are likely to be even slower than thought.

Mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) reduce albatrosses’ chances of successfully breeding, a recent study finds. These pollutants add to the list of environmental pressures, including climate change, disease and fishery bycatch, affecting this highly threatened species.

Mercury-resistant bacteria could help scientists to understand more about mercury cycling in the environment. In a new study, researchers identified one particular strain of soil bacterium that could serve as a model for the conversion of the toxic metal into less toxic forms. They also discovered a new gene involved in the conversion process.

Water pollution by toxic elements is a major economic and environmental concern, and mercury is one of the most poisonous of the elements to be released into the environment by industry. Mercury exposure can cause severe ill health. Efficient, simple and convenient methods to remove mercury from industrial and other waste streams and drinking water are essential. This study successfully trialled a new technique, using magnetised multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), to remove mercury from waste water.

Large benefits can be achieved for society by reducing global emissions of mercury. Global savings of US$1.8-2.2 billion (€1.3-1.6 billion) can be made by reducing damage to IQ alone, according to recent research.

New research has estimated the global footprint of emissions from commercial aircraft. In 2006 nearly 190 million tonnes of fuel were burnt and 162 million tonnes of carbon from CO2 were emitted. The vast majority of the fuel was burned in the Northern hemisphere and half the emissions were over the US, Europe and East Asia.

A recent study suggests that mercury deposited from the atmosphere is the main source of mercury pollution in the open oceans. Curbing mercury emissions will slowly lead to a decrease in contaminated fish, as eaten by humans, within a few years to decades after the cuts have been made, the researchers suggest.

Cutting mercury pollution could save Europe €8-9 billion per year by protecting children’s brain development, suggests a recent study. A third of babies in Europe are estimated to be exposed to unsafe levels of mercury before they are born, when in the womb, which may reduce their IQ and, in turn, restrict their educational and working achievements over their lifetime. This has long-term implications for society and the economy.

Under the United Nations Minamata Convention on mercury, China and India could avoid a combined 242 tonnes of mercury emissions in 2050 from coal-fired power plants, a new study predicts. This amount is equal to approximately 12% of total emissions in 2010. While the benefits will be mostly regional, lower mercury deposition in surrounding oceans is good news for Europeans who eat fish sourced from those waters.

Mercury levels in bream (Abramis brama) collected from six European sampling sites from 2007 to 2013 exceeded the Water Framework Directive’s safety limit for fish in all but one site in 2012, a new study discovers. The findings suggest greater efforts need to be made to prevent mercury pollution.

Mercury is a heavy metal that is well known for being the only metal that is liquid at room temperature and normal pressure. It is also a potent neurotoxin with severe global human health impacts. It can be converted from one form to another by natural processes, and, once released, actively cycles in the environment for hundreds to thousands of years before being buried in sediment. This In-Depth Report from Science for Environment Policy summarises the latest scientific studies and research results on mercury pollution in the global environment.

A new study has, for the first time, estimated total anthropogenic releases of mercury over the last 4 000 years, up to 2010. Overall, the study estimates that a total of 1 540 000 tonnes of mercury have been released; three-quarters of this since 1850, and 78 times more than was released through natural causes over this period. Therefore, human activity has been responsible for a significant level of contamination, and this inventory can be used to inform and assess mitigation measures. The publication coincides with the ratification of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, and the new EU Mercury Regulation1, which prohibits the export, import and manufacturing of mercury-added products, among other measures.

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