A surprising study suggests that chemicals introduced to protect the ozone layer may have unintentionally created a growing global pollution problem. Researchers found that refrigerants and certain anesthetic gases have generated more than 335,000 tonnes of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a highly persistent „forever chemical,“ that has been deposited across Earth’s surface since 2000. The pollutant is now showing up everywhere from rainwater to remote Arctic ice, and scientists expect levels to keep rising.
Source: ScienceDaily | Pollution
ScienceDaily | Pollution
- Ocean heatwaves are hiding months of extra warming
- Scientists may have misread a 2-billion-year-old clue about Earth
- The end of humanity? What would happen if the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted now
- This deep-sea enzyme survives heat that destroys most proteins
- Scientists stunned as volcano cloud starts destroying methane
- Scientists turn one of the hardest plastics to recycle into high-performance engine lubricant
- Why scientists asked 1,000 people to bury their underwear
- Marine heatwaves are harming human health in surprising ways
- Scientists discover bacteria that lock toxic uranium into a stable form
- Tiny aerosol particles could supercharge tropical storm clouds
