Priyanka Runwal

2 weeks ago | cen.acs.org | Priyanka Runwal

In September, a federal judge approved a $600 million class-action settlement against Norfolk Southern-the freight company responsible for the Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which released toxic chemicals into the air and local environment. The payment would compensate individuals and businesses affected by the derailment.

3 weeks ago | cen.acs.org | Priyanka Runwal

Around 2am on April 16 in Geneva, the World Health Organization's member states finalized the draft of a global pandemic agreement. Aimed at strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, the agreement took 3½ years of intensive negotiations. "Tonight marks a significant milestone in our shared journey toward a safer world," the WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in his concluding remarks.

1 month ago | cen.acs.org | Priyanka Runwal

In late March, The Metals Company, a Canadian deep-sea mining firm, announced that it would seek approval from US agencies to extract critical minerals in areas of the ocean floor that are beyond US jurisdiction. If approved, the move would be the first to bypass the International Seabed Authority (ISA). These seabed mineral resources are in demand for clean energy technologies, but mining them could disturb fragile marine environments and disrupt unique biodiversity.

1 month ago | cen.acs.org | Priyanka Runwal

If you've ever been on a cave tour where the guide shines a black light, you've seen the walls and formations glow. The stunning fluorescence is often the result of impurities trapped in calcite rocks that illuminate under UV light that is otherwise invisible to the human eye. Now, researchers at the University of Northern Iowa are using these UV spectral signatures to assess the chemical makeup of these cave features.

1 month ago | cen.acs.org | Priyanka Runwal

Seabirds and other marine creatures are particularly vulnerable to plastic pollution. They mistake plastic debris floating in the ocean for food. Researchers recently coined the term ' plasticosis,' a condition that's causing seabirds' digestive tracts to become scarred from eating pieces of plastic. Now the same team, along with their colleagues, have found signs of dementia-like brain damage, kidney and liver dysfunction, and disruptions to the stomach lining of sable shearwater chicks ( Sci. Adv.