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In this article the authors look at the ability of spices to reduce microbial load on a cutting surface by comparing growth of bacteria cultured before and after cleaning with various spice mixtures.

Commercial Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) produce large quantities of waste material from the animals being housed in them. These feedlots found across the United States contain livestock that produce waste that results in hazardous runoff. This study examines how CAFOs affect water sources by testing for Escherichia Coli (E. coli) content in bodies of water near CAFOs.

The authors tested environmentally-friendly alternatives to wastewater treatment chemicals, including activated charcoal for filtration and citrus peels for preventing bacterial growth.

In this work, based on centuries of history where spices have been used and thought to have antimicrobial properties that prolong the shelf life of food, the authors investigated if several spices used in Indian cooking could delay the spoilage of cooked white rice. Based on changed in appearance and smell, as well as growth on agar plates, they found that cinnamon was the most effective in delaying spoilage, followed by cumin, pepper, garlic, and ginger. Their findings suggest the ability to use spices rather than chemical food preservatives to prolong the shelf life of foods.

Since cough syrup and mouthwash are commonly used items and often end up flushed down the drain or toilet, they can eventually find their way into into freshwater waterways which can be harmful to many marine organisms, such as planarians (aquatic flatworms). To investigate the effects of these substances on planarians, the authors considered different concentrations of Listerine mouthwash and Robitussin syrup along with their active ingredients. By using a behavioral assay, they identified that the active ingredients of cough syrup detrimentally affect planarian behavior. They suggest that these findings could be used to guide disposal methods to lessen detrimental effects on aquatic life.

In this study, the authors investigate the effects that microplastics (which pollute fresh and saltwater ecosystems) have on plankton species Daphnia Magna by measuring their movement and viability.

Machine learning algorithms are becoming increasingly popular for data crunching across a vast area of scientific disciplines. Here, the authors compare two machine learning algorithms with respect to accuracy and user-friendliness and find that random forest algorithms outperform logistic regression when applied to the same dataset.

The authors looked at student behaviors around disposal of face masks. The goal of the study was to bring awareness to improper mask disposal and how the resulting litter contributes to overall environmental pollution.

Plastic pollution in the ocean is a major global concern. Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) have promise for removing debris from the ocean, but more research is needed to achieve full effectiveness of the ROV technology. Wahlig and Gonzales tackle this issue by developing a deep learning model to distinguish trash from the environment in ROV images.

The authors investigated prophages present in Streptococcus bacteria that may increase their survival in different environments.