Themed collection Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Recent HOT Articles

Optical surrogates are used to characterize dissolved organic matter composition like aromaticity and molecular weight. We both review the genesis of surrogate-composition relationships and critically evaluate additional supporting evidence.

We developed a mechanistic diffusion model to describe the sorption kinetics of metallic and organic contaminants on nano- and micro-plastics.

Plastics are widely used for their excellent properties, and the primary disposal method is sanitary landfilling.

Sediment restoration has become a key link in river and lake pollution control.

Competitive adsorption and cation exchange are critical processes for the reversible and irreversible interactions of heavy metals with environmental media.

Assessing the biodegradability of organic compounds is essential for reducing their environmental impact, ensuring regulatory compliance, promoting sustainable development and supporting effective pollution remediation.

This paper provides an overview of the INGENIOUS (UnderstandING the sourcEs, traNsformations and fates of IndOor air pollUtantS) project, aiming to better understand air pollution in homes.

The connections between terrestrial DP sources and aquatic DP sinks were comprehended in a small-dammed watershed through an integrated understanding of DP transport patterns, export controls, and their fate over dry–wet–dry transitions.

This study presents an application of TPD-DART-HRMS for plastic, enabling rapid characterization of waste through Kendrick grouping and Tanimoto comparison.

The study clearly showed that PAH exposure could damage hematological parameters and blood lipids, and benzene exposure could increase blood pressure, and decrease PLT count.

This study takes a multifaceted approach toward characterizing total fluorine and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in traffic and bridge paints.

A novel application of mobile monitoring to investigate the spatial distribution of vehicular and non-vehicular urban particulate matter sources in London, UK.

Indoor airborne microbiome contributes to human lung function and can be modified by air purification.

Ice nucleation processes in the earth's atmosphere are critical for cloud formation, radiation, precipitation, and climate change.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals of high concern and are undergoing hazard and risk assessment worldwide.

This study investigates the formation of atmospheric molecular clusters containing ammonia (NH₃, A), methylamine (CH₃NH₂, MA), or dimethylamine (CH₃NHCH₃, DMA) with nitric acid (HNO₃, NA) using quantum mechanics.

Fragile ecosystems (Western Ghats and Himalayas), and major rice cultivation areas are vulnerable to highest Hg deposition. Indian anthropogenic emissions strongly influence deposition fluxes with varying regional impacts.

The geochemical composition of sediment cores can serve as a proxy for reconstructing past human and nature-driven environmental and climatic changes.

Chemical profiling of artificial turf crumb rubber reveals time-based trends in transformation products and transport pathways.

Initial transformation products and their formation mechanisms in the chlorination of the indole moiety in tryptophan (Trp) are investigated using a quantum chemical computational method.

Galaxolide (HHCB) is the most common synthetic musk compound detected in numerous daily products.

Higher AhR activity measured in endangered SLE belugas compared to Arctic belugas was attributed to their exposure to polar contaminants.

We describe a robust and flexible protocol to collect water-soluble chemicals from leaf surfaces for atmosphere-biosphere interaction studies.

Artemisia annua litter produced in soil contaminated with 15 and 30 g kg⁻¹ of petroleum exhibited significantly lower decomposition rates than that from uncontaminated soil.

Coccolithophores are biogeochemically and ecologically important phytoplankton that produce calcium carbonate scales, or coccoliths. Here, we show that one species of coccolithophore grows coccoliths with uneven distribution of Sr, in contrast to current fractionation model theory.

The physiological and biochemical behaviors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were modulated using benzalkonium chloride, potentially through the attenuation of the quorum sensing system.

Adsorption of different organic pollutants by three microplastics before and after weathering.

Direct or indirect consumption of pesticides and their related products by humans and other living organisms without safe dosing may pose a health risk.

Tire wear particles and nickel have detrimental effects on plant health by causing blockage and altering nutrient hemotasis, ultimately reducing plant yield.

Experimental conditions such as extraction methods and storage conditions induce biases on the measurement of the oxidative potential and the bioaccessibility of transition metals from welding fumes.

Glancing-angle laser-induced fluorescence is used to obtain adsorption isotherms of organic pollutants at the air–water interface.

Biodegradation of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) in compost environment enriched with iron, and gelatin significantly enhanced microbial enzymatic activity, thus accelerating PLA degradation at mesophilic conditions (home/backyard composting setting).

The uptake of total gaseous mercury (TGM) by Korean forest foliage is mainly affected by local wind speed, boosting its passage and absorption. Mercury levels and isotopic signatures in litter and topsoil fluctuate, particularly in areas with high wind speed, temperature, and low elevation.

Estimation of dermal bioaccessibility and characterization of listed-ingredient and residual per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cosmetic products.

This study indicates that in alkaline media, carbonate slightly inhibits ferrihydrite transformation and suppresses goethite formation, but promotes hematite formation, which has important implications for elemental biogeochemical cycles.

This study assesses the environmental impact of the fluoropolymer industry in Europe by making an inventory of their emissions of PFASs and other fluorinated organic substances.

We showed that oligotrophic coastal marine areas are susceptible to the deposition of pollen and aerosols from open-fire biomass burning, which alter Cu-binding organic ligands in the sea surface microlayer.

Using the combination of total analysis and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify fluoropolymers in a broad range of consumer products.

The results suggest that atmospheric transformation can significantly change the hazard properties of LCMs, emphasizing the importance of atmospheric transformation when evaluating the hazards of LCMs.

To our knowledge, this study is the first to assess the effects of surface water particle content on human norovirus decay rate constants, which will be useful parameters in fate and transport models.

We have developed conventional and machine learning-based mixture QSAR models from the toxicity data of the binary mixtures of fluoroquinolones in E. coli.

We studied the transformation of ⁵⁷Fe-labelled ferrihydrite and lepidocrocite mixed with a flooded paddy soil by using ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy.

The protonation state of dissolved organic matter (DOM) impacts its structure and function in natural and engineered environmental systems, including DOM's ability to absorb light and form photochemically produced reactive intermediates (PPRI).

Inspired by the adhesion characteristics of mussels, this paper proposed an antifouling strategy of using antioxidants to remove ROS.

Adding mass spectra from complex mixtures of chemicals relevant for exposomics to open spectral libraries such as MassBank and chemical databases like PubChem empowers identification efforts for non-target high resolution mass spectrometry workflows.

Mixtures extracted from beluga traditional food preparations activated oxidative stress response and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor but did not show any hormone-like effects.

The use of glycols is seen in various industries and occupations.

This study describes laboratory experiments on the reaction HOCl with chloride-containing aerosol and aerosol containing selected organic compounds with and without chloride.

This computational work presents a novel similarity-based q-RASAR approach for the development of a global model that can quantitatively and efficiently identify the skin sensitization potential of hazardous chemicals.

After an oil spill, the formation of oil-particle aggregates (OPAs) is associated with the interaction between dispersed oil and marine particulate matter such as phytoplankton, bacteria and mineral particles.

Oxidative methods (TOP and PhotoTOP) were combined with hydrolysis (THP assay) and fluorine sum parameters (EOF and TF) to characterize side-chain fluorinated polymers (SFPs) in functional textiles.

The rate and extent of sorption of trace contaminants to microplastics was monitored in real-time using direct mass spectrometry.

Wildfire activity is increasing in the continental U.S. and can be linked to climate change effects and nutrient emissions, with potential effects on downwind ecosystems.

The effect of humidity on organic hydroperoxide (ROOH) removal from air to real indoor surface films was investigated. A novel flow reactor for studying uptake kinetics of indoor pollutants on indoor materials is introduced.

Methylmercury formed in anoxic reservoirs associates with organic-rich particles and is exported downstream.

We here report chemical characteristics relevant to the fate and transport of the recently discovered environmental toxicant 6PPD-quinone (2-((4-methylpentan-2-yl)amino)-5-(phenylamino)cyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione or “6PPDQ”).

An amended in vitro–in vivo extrapolation model that accounts for first pass clearance effects on chemical bioaccumulation in fish. Pre-systemic biotransformation can significantly reduce chemical oral bioavailability, which can reduce dietary chemical bioaccumulation potential.

A robust and quantitative instrument that measures total gas-phase reactive nitrogen (tN_r) has been developed for indoor air quality surveys. It can focus on NO_x, HONO, and NH₃ levels indoors, from the complete tN_r budget, on timescales of 5–20 min.

This work highlights how the pH of the atmospheric aqueous phase can influence the degradation of carboxylic acids during nitrate-mediated photooxidation.

At mercury (Hg)-contaminated sites, streambank erosion can act as a main mobilizer of Hg into nearby waterbodies.

Sunlight exposure can naturally mitigate microplastics pollution in the surface ocean, however it results in emissions of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) whose characteristics and fate remain largely unknown.

Certain PFAS, such as 4:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate, eluted faster from high pH, high sodium columns compared to neutral columns packed with field-collected soil. Other PFAS had more mass eluted from the high pH, high sodium columns.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large group of man-made fluorinated organic chemicals that can accumulate in the environment.

Hydrogeologic transport contributes to limited organic chemical contamination in a region of intense gas extraction, even 10 years post-development.

We measured perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in proglacial rivers and along a non-glacial freshwater continuum to investigate the role of snow and ice melting in their transport and fate within the Lake Hazen watershed (82° N).

We incubated a novel fluorosurfactant with wastewater treatment plant sludge and identified smaller PFAS biotransformation products with lower bioaccumulation potential compared to the starting material.

PCA model of ATR-FTIR spectra discriminates plastic types and predicts photochemical age under long-term natural and artificial weathering conditions.

Aqueous PFAS concentrations fluctuate seasonally and precursor concentrations rapidly decline within the surface-water/groundwater boundary, indicating that transport through this boundary can affect spatial and temporal PFAS composition.

Measured membrane lipid–water distribution ratios (D_MLW) circumvent unreliable K_OW values for surfactants in tier 1 screening for the bioconcentration potential.

This paper concludes that mass absorption cross-section (MAC) values in London, UK have changed over time. It provides possible explanations and highlights implications for the interpretation of long-term trends.