Episode 6: Science News

Krilling time

Turbulence in the ocean, which is caused by the wind, tides and currents, helps gases and nutrients move in the waters. Research published today in Science magazine suggests that tiny ocean organisms as small as krill contribute to this turbulence. Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division and Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that schools of krill moving through the water column to feed create large turbulence patches.

Vapouring the earth

Water vapour that is released into the atmosphere has a significant effect on climate change. Through burning fossil fuels, rising temperatures are increasing the amount of evaporation from our watery planet. This evaporated contributes additional global warming. This was released in February’s issue of Science magazine, by Andrew Dessler of Texas A&M University and Steven Sherwood of the University of New South Wales, who worked together to prove this once controversial idea.

Sexing up Water

Plastic mineral water bottles in Germany contaminate drinking water with estrogenic chemicals, says a study from the Goethe University in Germany. The researchers studied 20 brands of mineral water available in Germany – nine bottled in glass, nine bottled in plastic and two bottled in composite packaging (paperboard boxes coated with an inner plastic film). They found that estrogenic compounds were leaching out of the plastic packaging and into the water in 60% of the samples. Mineral waters in glass bottles were less estrogenic than waters in plastic bottles. These chemicals can actually function inside the body, and lead to the increased development of embryos in the New Zealand mud snail. Results were published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research in March 27, 2009.

Wagner et al. Endocrine disruptors in bottled mineral water: total estrogenic burden and migration from plastic bottles. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2009; DOI: 10.1007/s11356-009-0107-7