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The Latest by Jessica A. Knoblauch

Senior Staff Writer

September 18, 2013

Friday Finds: Pushing Clean Air’s Buttons

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Washington, D.C. Office

Tired of breathing dirty air during your daily commute? Just turn on your car vent’s recirculation button, ‘advises researchers from the University of Southern California.

September 6, 2013

Friday Finds: Sea Otters Keep Seas Squeaky Clean

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  California Office

Sea otters regularly draw crowds at aquariums and along shorelines for their famously cute mustaches and furry bodies, but recent research shows that these little starlets should really be applauded for their ability to keep algae from mucking up our oceans. According to researcher Brent Hughes from the University of California, Santa Cruz, sea otters’ …

April 24, 2013

Friday Finds: Seafood S.O.S.

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Florida Office, Northwest Office & Washington, D.C. Office

Seafood lovers hooked on $1 oyster nights may soon have to find a new source of comfort for the work week blues. Thanks to an increase of carbon in both the atmosphere and our water bodies (which absorb about a third of all carbon emissions), carbon munching critters like crabs, lobsters and shrimp are getting …

April 4, 2013

Friday Finds: Flying High on Flame Retardants

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Airplanes may contain high flame retardants levels New research has found that commercial airliners contain high levels of flame retardants, a suite of chemicals that have been under fire lately due to concerns over health hazards, reports Environmental Health News. Because having a plane catch fire mid-air could be disastrous, federal regulators require that all …

March 25, 2013

Friday Finds: Kraft’s Blue Box Chemical Blues

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Bloggers think chemicals in macaroni are cheesy

January 25, 2013

Friday Finds: Fracking Lands In Hot Water In City of Bath

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

People have taken part in the restorative waters in the city of Bath for thousands of years, but this centuries-old tradition may no longer be available if fracking companies are allowed to drill near the Mendip Hills, where the Bath water originates, reports the UK Express. Members of the Bath community are concerned.

January 10, 2013

Friday Finds: The Ocean’s Plastics Predicament

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Tiny plastics clog the world’s oceans By now we all know about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—a giant mess of trash in the ocean—but in turns out that the world’s oceans are also full of tiny plastics, reports CNN. These so-called microplastics are used in everyday products like exfoliating face soaps and hand cleansers to give …

January 3, 2013

Friday Finds: Facebook’s Climate Change Status

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Climate change could flood Facebook, Google by 2050 Facebook can’t be brought down by angry fans irritated with its privacy policy and data mining tendencies, but it could be swept away by climate change- induced sea level rise, reports Climate Wire. Though much of the California coastline is at risk, Silicon Valley is especially vulnerable …

December 18, 2012

Poisoning The Well

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  California Office

She was one of 26 mountain lions being studied by National Park Service biologists. Collared back in August along with her brother, Puma-25 had been dead for about a week before hikers found her on an October Sunday in Point Mugu State Park, located in the Santa Monica Mountains. Her death, though, didn’t come at …

December 7, 2012

Friday Finds: Fido’s Chemical Body Burden

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Northeast Office

Your favorite four-legged companion may get a dose of toxic chemicals the next time you throw him/her a chew toy. That’s the conclusion of an as-yet unpublished study, which found that dogs that chew on plastic toys may be exposed to hormone-altering chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates. The new study, conducted at Texas …