The cement industry is one of the world’s largest producers of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The reason is that cement’s calcium carbonate releases the greenhouse gas. Now researchers have shown that they can replace up to 10% of the cement in mortar mixtures without harming the strength of the widely used masonry paste. The cement’s replacement is environmentally friendly, to boot: a waste product from olive oil production (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es200968a).
Category Archives: Outlets
New self-reporting for GM crops
Companies seeking approval for new biotech crops can now prepare their own environmental study or hire an outside contractor to do so. The new options, announced by the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in April, are part of a two-year voluntary pilot program designed to speed up document preparation, although critics argue such self-reporting is inevitably biased. Currently, genetically modified (GM) crops can take years to approve, as the agency faces a backlog of nearly two dozen petitions, according to APHIS deputy administrator Michael Gregoire. Before a crop can be deregulated, the law requires a preliminary environmental study, followed by a more comprehensive environmental assessment conducted by APHIS (the regulatory arm of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The environmental assessment costs the petitioner $75,000–$100,000, although the USDA may decide a crop warrants a more detailed environmental impact statement, which can cost over a million dollars. Continue reading New self-reporting for GM crops
Overwhelmed drug regulators seek cure in cooperation
Regulatory authorities such as the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency face continual criticism for their plodding pace of drug approval decisions. In 2009, the last year for which complete data are available, the median time for a standard review of a drug application in the US was 13 months—30% longer than the agency’s target for such reviews. But even with this situation, it’s undeniable that both agencies devote far more human and financial resources to the process than most other countries can afford to spend on their own.
To keep up, many other medical regulatory authorities are banding together with one another to share the expertise and clinical results needed to make faster decisions. Continue reading Overwhelmed drug regulators seek cure in cooperation
Miniature Art Masters
Microbiologist Rosa María Montes Estellés once infected a church mural with bacteria. But it was for a good cause: The bacteria ate their way through 4 centuries of grime encrusted on a mural at Santos Juanes Church in Valencia, Spain, exposing the underlying colors.Bacteria are only the latest tool in the art restorer’s arsenal. Restorers use microabrasion, burly bristles, and chemical washes to strip layers of pollution from buildings, statues, and paintings. But each method has shortcomings: They can put the underlying artwork at risk or poison workers, and they often require slow and painstaking manual labor. So in 2005, a group of Italian art restorers tried a new tack: They bred bacteria to remove an obstinate layer of collagen from the murals of Campo Santo di Pisa. Continue reading Miniature Art Masters