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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports a significant number of heavy metal-contaminated sites across the United States. To address this public health concern, rhizoremediation using microbes has emerged as a promising solution. Here, a combination of soil microbes were inoculated in the rhizosphere in soil contaminated with 500 parts per million (ppm) of lead. Results showed rhizoremediation is an effective bioremediation strategy and may increase crop productivity by converting nonarable lands into arable lands.

There have been several issues concerning the water quality in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in the past few years. This study, we collected 28 samples from 6 districts of Ulaanbaatar to check if the water supply quality met the standards of the World Health Organization, the Environmental Protection Agency, and a Mongolian National Standard. Only three samples fully met all the requirements of the global standards. Samples in Zaisan showed higher hardness (>120 ppm) and alkalinity levels (20–200 ppm) over the other districts in the city. Overall, the results show that it is important to ensure a safe and accessible water supply in Ulaanbaatar to prevent future water quality issues.

This study used hand-collected Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and aimed to understand the determinants and incentives of GHG emissions reduction. It explored how companies’ financials, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation, and corporate governance affected GHG emissions. Results showed that companies reporting GHG emissions were wide-spread among the 48 industries represented by two-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.

In this article, the authors investigate whether coolant temperature affects soil cooling curves of soil with otherwise identical properties. The coolant temperature is representative of environmental temperature, and the authors hypothesized that differences in this temperature would not affect the freezing temperature of soil. Their findings validated their hypothesis providing helpful information relevant to understanding how frost heaves happen and how to predict their occurrence more accurately.

Unprocessed water from hand-pressed wells is still commonly used as a source of drinking water in Chenzhou, the “Nonferrous Metal Village” of China. Long et al. conducted a study to measure the heavy metal contamination levels and potential health effects in this area. Water samples were analyzed through Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICPOES) and the concentrations of 20 metal elements. Results showed that although none of the samples had dangerous levels of heavy metals, the concentrations of Al, Fe, and Mn in many locations substantially exceeded those suggested in the Chinese Drinking Water Standard and the maximum contaminant levels of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The authors have made an important discovery regarding the water safety in HuNan and their suggestions to install water treatment systems would greatly benefit the community.

Sweet potatoes are one of the most common starches in Taiwan, and sweet potato peels hold significant potential to make biodegradable plastics which can alleviate the environmental impact of conventional petroleum-based plastics. In this paper, Tsai et al created starch-based bioplastics derived from sweet potato peels and manipulated the amount of added glycerol to alter the plastic’s strength and flexibility properties. Their results indicated that higher concentrations of glycerol yield more malleable plastics, providing insights into how recycled agricultural waste material might be used to slow down the rate of pollution caused by widespread production of conventional plastics.

Chemical preservatives are often used to reduce grain spoilage due to mold, but can have harmful heath and environmental effects. In this study, the authors tested three low toxic compounds for their effects on mold growth on corn kernels and found that all three were successful at slowing growth.

Environmental disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill can be devastating to ecosystems for long periods of time. Safer, cheaper, and more effective methods of oil clean-up are needed to clean up oil spills in the future. Here, the authors investigate the ability of natural ocean algae to process crude oil into less toxic chemicals. They identify Coccochloris elabens as a particularly promising algae for future bioremediation efforts.

As atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels rise, ocean acidification poses a growing threat to marine ecosystems. To better understand these changes, this study investigates how varying CO₂ levels influence the growth of brine shrimp. The findings offer important insights into the resilience of aquatic life and the broader implications of environmental change.

The challenge of accurately identifying shark species is crucial for biodiversity monitoring but is often hindered by time-consuming and labor-intensive manual methods. To address this, SharkNet, a CNN model based on AlexNet, achieved 93% accuracy in classifying shark species using a limited dataset of 1,400 images across 14 species. SharkNet offers a more efficient and reliable solution for marine biologists and conservationists in species identification and environmental monitoring.