Oestrogens are ‘female’ hormones that can enter the aquatic environment after excretion by humans and animals, causing ‘feminisation’ of male fish. This study carried out a risk assessment for oestrogen-like endocrine disruption in the UK in the 2050s, based on likely changes to the human population, river flows and temperature. The authors found that risk is likely to increase under future conditions and recommend further research to assess whether improving sewage treatment could reduce oestrogen pollution.

A study of the pollution caused by ship scrapping in Alang, India, shows significantly higher levels of heavy metal and petroleum hydrocarbons in sediment and seawater, compared to a control site. The researchers also found reduced populations of zooplankton — a critical food source for marine biota — and increased numbers of pathogenic bacteria.

The Alang shipbreaking yards in India recycle almost half of all end-of-life ships worldwide. The major activity at the yards is plate-cutting, used to recover steel from ships. This process consumes nearly 29 kg of oxygen and 7 kg of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and emits almost 22 kg of CO2 per 1 km-long cut with a 1 mm depth. This study reveals the carbon footprint and resources consumed in the cutting of steel plates. The method used to derive these findings could be adapted to ship dismantling yards worldwide.

How does the law protect the environment? The responsibility for the legal protection of the environment rests largely with public authorities such as the police, local authorities or specialised regulatory agencies. However, more recently, attention has been focused on the enforcement of environmental law — how it should most effectively be implemented, how best to ensure compliance, and how best to deal with breaches of environmental law where they occur. This Thematic Issue presents recent research into the value of emerging networks of enforcement bodies, the need to exploit new technologies and strategies, the use of appropriate sanctions and the added value of a compliance assurance conceptual framework.

Researchers have presented a comprehensive new classification manual of asbestos-containing products (ACP), materials (ACM) and waste (ACW) in a recent study. They also mapped suitable landfill sites for the proper disposal of ACW in Italy and developed guidance on assigning ACW to correct European Waste Catalogue (EWC) codes. The research will help operators engaged in asbestos waste disposal across Europe and should contribute to aims for the total removal of asbestos from the EU.

Researchers have developed a new approach to hierarchise pesticides based on their risk to or via the aquatic environment, which has been implemented in the Pinios River Basin of Central Greece. The analysis indicated that a number of pesticides were found in concentrations that could cause negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems. The results provide detailed information to inform decisions regarding the monitoring of pesticides in the Pinios River Basin and outline an approach that could be used in other watersheds.

Micropollutants — small, persistent and biologically active substances — are found in aquatic environments all over the world and can have negative effects on plants, animals and humans. The EU recently adopted a ‘watch list’ of potential priority substances, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals and personal care products that need to be monitored to determine their environmental risk. A new study reviews data on their worldwide occurrence and options for their removal from wastewater, and from surface and groundwater used to produce drinking water.

Maps of the risk of griffon vultures’ exposure to lead in north-eastern Spain have been produced in a new study. High-risk places are mountainous areas where there are high levels of bioavailable sources of lead in the soil, but also where game hunting is prevalent, and carcasses scavenged by the birds may contain lead ammunition.

A recent study has evaluated frameworks and tools used in Europe to assess the potential health and environmental risks of manufactured nanomaterials. The study identifies a trend towards tools that provide protocols for conducting experiments, which enable more flexible and efficient hazard testing. Among its conclusions, however, it notes that no existing frameworks meet all the study’s evaluation criteria and calls for a new, more comprehensive framework.

A common anti-parasitic drug used to control gastrointestinal worms in livestock has been shown to inhibit seed germination of three common grassland species. This recent study is the first to show that anthelmintics may negatively affect plant regeneration. The researchers say that treatments should be carefully timed in order to avoid the strongest impact of the drugs on germination and the consequential negative affect on grassland regeneration.

New figures on how much titanium dioxide nanomaterial (TiO2-NM) could be released into the environment from photocatalytic cement — a new type of self-cleaning cement — are presented in a recent study. Based on experimental test results, the researchers estimate that between 0.015% and 0.033% of photocatalytic cement’s TiO2-NM content could potentially escape over several years of cement use, depending on the level of cement porosity. The study could help inform environmental risk assessment of TiO2-NM, as well as safer design of nano-products (i.e. commercialised products incorporating nanomaterials).

A recent study has assessed the environmental impact of a group of technology-critical elements (TCEs) — niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), gallium (Ga), indium (In), germanium (Ge) and tellurium (Te) — that, to date, have been relatively under-researched. The researchers reviewed published concentrations of these elements in environmental archives and evaluated trends over time in surface waters. Overall, they found no evidence that the rising use of these elements in modern technologies is causing environmental concentrations to increase on a global level. These findings are relevant to future policy discussions regarding the source, usage and presence of less-studied TCEs, particularly in relation to critical raw metals.

A new study has investigated the movement of antibiotic resistance genes between farm animals, soil and water in Finland. The results show that many of these genes are spread from animals to the soil through manure application; however, these genes do not appear to persist in soil. The study suggests that practices that minimise the use of antibiotics, as used in Finland, may lead to lower levels of clinically relevant resistance genes in agricultural soils.

A new study has examined the toxic effects of silver nanoparticles on plants. Using a range of spectroscopic and imaging techniques, the researchers demonstrate how silver nanoparticles can reduce the growth of wheat, as well as interfere with genes that help the plant deal with pathogens and stress.

The presence of organic pollutants in waste water and drinking water can have alarming environmental and public health implications. Current water treatment methods have limitations: they can only remove certain contaminants, to certain extents, and also produce harmful by-products. New and improved methods are required. A recent review paper presents radiation processing as a promising approach, providing strong evidence of its efficacy, efficiency, safety, and feasibility. Focusing particularly on the use of electron-beam processing for the removal of organic pollutants from waste water and drinking water, the researchers present a compelling picture, relevant to stakeholders involved in water treatment and management.

Advances in nanotechnology mean that a rapidly increasing number of products are being produced using engineered nanomaterials, for example, nano-enabled thermoplastics. Many of these nano-enabled products are destined to reach their end-of-life through waste incineration or accidental fire. Now, an original study has revealed that the presence of nanofiller in thermoplastics significantly enhances both the concentration and toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) produced during thermal decomposition at the product’s end- of-life, resulting in concentrations of total PAHs and more toxic PAHs that are up to eight times higher than those found in pure (non nano-enabled) thermoplastics. This finding has significant environmental health implications.

According to most EU legislation, regulatory assessment of chemicals should make use of all available and relevant studies. However, in practice, assessments tend to be predominantly based on research sponsored and provided by industry as part of their legal obligations to show safety of their products, rather than on independent peer-reviewed findings. To bridge this science–policy gap, a team of Swedish researchers, in combination with regulators at three Swedish governmental agencies, have published a list of recommendations aimed at increasing the regulatory usability and impact of academic research. This advice is aimed at researchers, for whom it clarifies relevant regulatory data requirements and quality criteria. However, it is also relevant to policymakers, in that it highlights the advantages and availability of relevant, reliable peer-reviewed research for use in the regulatory assessment of chemicals. The study’s recommendations contribute to the formulation of more science-based, sustainable policies.

The presence of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in drinking water is an emerging health concern. DBPs come in many classes and are chemically diverse, making them challenging to monitor. Swedish researchers have evaluated a new method for the simultaneous determination of a broader range of DBPs than typically possible using other available techniques. The method uses gas chromatography (a laboratory technique that separates and analyses vaporisable compounds in a mixture), together with a halogen-specific detector (XSD). Having been tested in real water samples from two municipal waterworks in Sweden, the method has been optimised for the simultaneous determination of a wide range of neutral DBPs.

Environmental pollution is putting amphibians and reptiles at risk, yet these animals are not included in regulations regarding the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of pesticides. The extent to which other species already used in pesticide toxicity assessment (including fish, birds and mammals) can serve as effective surrogates is currently under debate. This study conducts a systematic review of the available literature. The results reveal a positive correlation between toxicity recorded on fish and aquatic amphibians, but indicate that birds and mammals are generally not good surrogates for reptiles and terrestrial amphibians. Moreover, some chemical-dependent trends were detected, with a number of insecticides found to be more toxic to amphibians or reptiles than to potential surrogates. These findings highlight an urgent need for further research to reduce uncertainties and contribute to future policymaking regarding the protection of amphibians and reptiles from potentially harmful pesticides.

Soil biodiversity, soil quality, and soil health are integral to protecting the natural environment. Soils are crucial to food production and human well-being, as highlighted by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The abundance of soil biota is of great importance for the provision of associated ecosystem services (ES) and fundamental driver of self-regulation in soil. This study explores how the presence, or absence, of earthworms affects aspects of crop health and productivity, focusing on their shielding of winter wheat from the toxic plant fungi Fusarium.

The presence and accumulation of micropollutants1 (anthropogenic trace contaminants) in aquatic environments is an area of policy concern for the EU. In order to better understand how these chemicals enter and are transported within water systems, this study investigated the occurrence and concentration of a broad spectrum of micropollutants across Austria’s water system. Municipal waste-water effluents were found to be the emission pathway with the highest concentrations of some micropollutants. The study also demonstrated that levels of other micropollutants are higher in rivers, atmospheric deposition and groundwater than in waste-water effluents and that these sometimes exceeded environmental quality standards for surface waters.

A new study has raised safety concerns over PFO4DA, a substance increasingly used as a substitute for PFOA, a harmful persistent organic pollutant (POP), in plastic production. PFO4DA was found to cause liver damage to mice in lab tests, and is also an environmental pollutant. The researchers caution that it may not be a suitable alternative to PFOA.

Microplastics, polymer-based particles of less than five millimetres in size, have become an archetypal sign of anthropogenic waste and environmental pollution. This German study explores how microplastics in soil affect plants, screening the potential effects of six different microplastics on the soil environment, plant traits and function using a terrestrial plant-soil model based on the spring onion (Allium fistulosum). The researchers find that plants react strongly to microplastic exposure, with significant changes observed in the physical parameters of soil, plant root and leaf traits and plant biomass.

European scientists have conducted the first ever long-term study into the breakdown of alternative plastic bags compared to conventional plastic bags, across multiple habitats — open air, soil and sea. Oxo-degradable, compostable and biodegradable bags are often marketed as being recycled back into nature more quickly than normal bags; however, the long-term environmental studies to back this up are lacking and there is concern regarding microplastic pollution from these alternative plastic bags.

Of all the MATLAB or MathWorks toolbox functions that have been mentioned in this blog since 2006, imshow and imread have appeared the most. As in last week's post, they often appear together, right at the beginning: ... read more >>

Earlier this year, I learned something about DICOM datasets that surprised me. I had downloaded a Head-Neck CT+PET study, and I wanted to create a volume array in MATLAB. I tried to do this the hard way at first, and of course I got it wrong. (Spoiler: there's an easy... read more >>

Today I will show you how I plotted this treble clef symbol in MATLAB:... read more >>

Baylis, Françoise, 1961- author

Someone recently challenged me to convert the curling simulator we published a few years ago (See this post and this post) to take advantage of new features not available at that time: App Designer and Stateflow for MATLAB.... read more >>

If the effects of air pollution on climate change are included in air quality strategies, efficiency gains of €2.5 billion can be achieved in the EU, according to recent research.

New research reveals that indoor air pollution is an important indicator of the impact of emissions from an oil refinery on nearby communities. It suggests policies based on outdoor monitoring alone are not sufficient to safeguard health, especially with regards to breast cancer.

A new study suggests that widespread adoption of hydrogen fuel could have major benefits for tackling climate change and air pollution. The researchers modelled the impacts of replacing petrol with hydrogen as a fuel for cars and claim their methods, which employ a new modelling tool, could be useful in planning and policymaking.

A team of investigators has examined the effects of air pollution on human health using the databases of earlier studies from Europe, the United States and Canada. They concluded that PM₁₀ and ozone are associated with an increase in mortality. Different modelling approaches do not significantly affect the results.

New research has found a possible link between traffic-related air pollution outside people's homes and the onset of asthma in children during the first eight years of life. Higher levels of nitrogen dioxide, PM2.5 and soot were more likely to be recorded at the homes of those children who developed asthma and asthma symptoms.

Policies based on cost-benefit analysis that tackle climate change, air pollution and energy security together produce far greater benefits than policies designed to address these issues separately, according to a new study. For example, current oil reserves would last until much longer than currently predicted and the number of premature deaths due to air pollution would be reduced by some 3 million per year globally, if all three policy areas were combined.

A recent assessment suggests that reducing black carbon emissions, produced by burning carbon-based materials, would prevent millions of premature deaths in developing countries as well as helping meet climate change mitigation targets.

Combining policies that tackle local air pollution and global climate change will deliver enhanced benefits for climate change mitigation, according to researchers. Medium-term efforts to control air pollution will provide additional benefits to long-term strategies that aim to curb climate change.

A new study has shown that life expectancy and monetary benefits increase significantly when levels of fine particles are reduced further in European cities. It also reveals that living near busy roads could be responsible for a substantial amount of poor health attributable to air pollution.

Living near busy roads is associated with an increased risk of childhood leukaemia, according to French researchers. The study found that children living within 500 metres of major roads were more likely to develop leukaemia than those who lived far from such roads. It is possible that high levels of traffic pollution from the roads are responsible for the higher rates of the illness.

A new report suggests that underground carbon storage projects in Europe could lead to positive and negative effects on air pollution, depending on the pollutant in question. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered in European legislation as a ‘bridging technology’ – a medium-term solution to climate change. Although the overall air quality impact of CCS is expected to be positive, the legislation notes that the technology should not be seen as a replacement for commitments to developing a greener and more energy-efficient economy.

Pollen allergy is a common cause of allergic respiratory diseases such as hay fever and asthma. A recent continent-wide study suggests that rising carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over the last 30 years may be increasing pollen counts especially in European cities, which could have serious consequences for public health.

Man-made pollutants may be responsible for the expansion of the tropics in the northern hemisphere, according to recent research. Black carbon aerosols and tropospheric ozone, formed from human activities, are heating the atmosphere and shifting major atmospheric circulation patterns further north, which could create drier conditions in the subtropics.

Measures to control methane and black carbon (soot) emissions could improve air quality and public health, in addition to slowing the rate of climate change, according to recent research. By 2030, the reduced pollution could prevent between 700,000 and 4.7 million premature deaths each year, with 80% of the benefits occurring in Asia.

A recent global study has estimated that, each year, 1.5 million people die early from cardiopulmonary diseases and 0.1 million people die early from lung cancer caused by exposure to PM2.5 pollution. A further 0.4 million people are estimated to die early from respiratory diseases caused by exposure to surface ozone (O3) pollution. Although short-lived air pollutants have the largest influence on air quality and premature deaths, controlling methane emissions as well would improve air quality and reduce the number of people dying prematurely each year, the study suggests.

More Europeans are driving diesel cars, with important implications for vehicle emissions. A new study suggests that diesel cars may emit nitrogen oxides (NOx) at levels far higher than emissions standards, even when considering the newest generation of diesel cars. Part of the problem is that tests of vehicle emissions in the laboratory do not accurately reflect on-road emissions.

For the first time, researchers have quantified the link between heat waves, the removal of ozone from the atmosphere by vegetation, ground-level ozone concentrations and its impact on human health and ecosystems. They found that high ozone levels, enhanced by effectively ‘turning-off’ the loss of ozone to the vegetated surface, could have caused around 460 extra deaths during a UK heat wave in 2006. In contrast, the heat wave protected ecosystems from ozone damage as plants absorbed less ozone from the atmosphere.ozone damage as plants absorbed less ozone from the atmosphere.

A new study has estimated that nitrogen oxide (NOx) and harmful ozone levels will fall significantly in Europe, by 2030, if all current and planned air quality legislation is implemented. The co-beneficial effects of climate change policies could also reduce levels of these air pollutants by a further 40%.

Predicting the effects of changing levels of atmospheric gases on agricultural crops is vital to ensuring food security under global environmental change. As well as yield, impacts on the nutritional value of crops must be considered. A new study has now shown that increased ozone decreases yields and increases the proportion of protein in the grain. Conversly, elevated levels of CO2 boosts wheat yields, but it also reduces protein proportion in two different ways.

A fast and reliable method to measure the environmental impact of landfill sites has been developed by researchers. Analysis of the chemical composition of gas emissions and water leaching from sites provides a detailed picture of the extent of environmental pollution around landfill sites. Such monitoring is essential in order to manage risks to human health and natural resources.

Low emission zones (LEZs), which restrict access for high emission vehicles, have proven to be a successful way to improve air quality in line with EU regulations. An analysis of London’s LEZ has revealed discernible reductions in air pollution levels five years after implementation.