EWA

Dec 11 2024HEALTH

Video Games and Teen Brains: Unraveling the Reward Connection

Video games are a big deal for teens these days. But, did you know that playing too much can mess with how their brains deal with rewards? A recent study took a close look at this. They wanted to find out if there's a link between how teens' brains process rewards and whether they get hooked on gami

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Dec 09 2024ENVIRONMENT

Urban Wastewater: A Greener Approach from China

China is facing a double whammy: water scarcity and excess greenhouse gases. Guess who’s a major culprit? Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)! They guzzle up water and belch out greenhouse gases. The tricky part? These two are connected, like a vicious cycle. Scientists in China’s Yellow River Basin

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Dec 09 2024SCIENCE

Cleaning Up: A Look at Ways to Treat Dirty Water

When it comes to treating water filled with harmful pollutants, there are a few methods that have been around for a while and some newer ones that are gaining attention. Two of the older methods are burning the waste, known as incineration, and using a process called Sequencing Batch Reactor Activat

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Dec 06 2024ENVIRONMENT

Oil Wastewater Cleanup: A Single Step Solution

Picture this: cleaning up oil wastewater in a simpler way. Typically, you'd use two methods - adsorption and flotation. But scientists in Brazil decided to combine these into one. They created a special material called biochar and tested it on real oil wastewater from local wells. This new method pr

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Nov 30 2024HEALTH

Dengue and Our Drains: What Our Wastewater Tells Us

Dengue fever has hit record levels in the Americas, with Brazil seeing the most cases. But how can we better track this virus? Scientists have looked into a interesting approach: tracing the virus in urine and saliva of infected people. This could revolutionize how we monitor dengue outbreaks. Imag

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Nov 29 2024ENVIRONMENT

Smart Predictions for Cleaner Water at Wastewater Plants

Ever wondered how we can make wastewater treatment plants work more efficiently? Scientists have come up with a clever way to predict changes in water quality, which is really important for managing the process and reducing pollution. They combined something called convolutional bi-directional gated

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Nov 29 2024ENVIRONMENT

Water Charging Phones: A Sustainable Future?

Imagine if you could juice up your phone while drinking water at the same time. Scientists have come up with two materials, CP1 and CP2, made from lead. CP2 is super speedy in moving electrons, which makes energy production quicker and eco-friendlier. While both materials look promising, CP2 could b

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Nov 29 2024ENVIRONMENT

Pollutants Boost Antibiotic Resistance in Wastewater

You might think that the biggest problem with antibiotic production wastewater is the leftover antibiotics. But there's more to worry about. This wastewater also has high amounts of organic pollutants, which can be very harmful on their own or when mixed with antibiotics. One study looked at how the

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Nov 28 2024SCIENCE

Powering Up: How Indium and Potassium Team Up in Revolutionary Batteries

You know how much we love long-lasting batteries, right? Scientists found a new way to make them even better. They found a metal called indium that can transfer lots of electrons, which is great for energy storage. The problem was, indium batteries weren't very efficient. That's where potassium come

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Nov 28 2024SCIENCE

Revamping Wastewater: A Fresh Look at Nitrogen Recovery

Did you know that wastewater is a hidden treasure trove of nitrogen? Today, we're facing a challenge: how to recover this essential nutrient from wastewater without breaking the bank or harming the environment. The main obstacles? Low nitrogen concentrations in city wastewater, lack of efficient sep

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