Stop-and-go driving can wear on your nerves, but it really does a number on the precious platinum that drives reactions in automotive fuel cells. Before large fleets of fuel-cell-powered vehicles can hit the road, scientists will have to find a way to protect the platinum, the most expensive component of fuel-cell technology, and to reduce the amount needed to make catalytically active electrodes.

Several years ago, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory led by Senior Chemist Radoslav Adzic developed a new electrocatalyst that uses a single layer of platinum and minimizes its wear and tear while maintaining high levels of reactivity during tests that mimic stop-and-go driving. The research may greatly enhance the practicality of fuel-cell vehicles and may also be applicable for improving the performance of other metallic catalysts.

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While water bottles may tout BPA-free labels and personal care products declare phthalates not among their ingredients, these assurances may not be enough. According to a study published February 27 in the Nature Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, we may be exposed to these chemicals in our diet, even if our diet is organic and we prepare, cook, and store foods in non-plastic containers.  Children may be most vulnerable. . . .  

The researchers compared the chemical exposures of 10 families, half of whom were given written instructions on how to reduce phthalate and BPA exposures. They received handouts prepared by the national Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units, a network of experts on environmentally related health effects in children. The other families received a five-day catered diet of local, fresh, organic food that was not prepared, cooked or stored in plastic containers.

When the researchers tested the participants' urinary concentrations of metabolites for phthalates and BPA, they got surprising results.  The researchers expected the levels of the metabolities to decrease in those adults and children eating the catered diet.

Instead, the opposite happened. The urinary concentration for phthalates were 100-fold higher than the those levels found in the majority of the general population. The comparison comes from a study conducted by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This is  a program of studies managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States.

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Read article in Nature Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, "Unexpected results in a randomized dietary trial to reduce phthalate and bisphenol A exposures."  

Read about how "Ants Absorb Detectable Levels of Phthalates" in Environmental Building News. 

In a recently published study in the journal Biological Trace Element Research, Arizona State University researchers report that children with autism had higher levels of several toxic metals in their blood and urine compared to typical children. The study involved 55 children with autism ages five to 16 years old compared to 44 controls of similar age and gender.

The autism group had significantly higher levels of lead in their red blood cells (+41 percent) and significantly higher urinary levels of lead (+74 percent), thallium (+77 percent), tin (+115 percent), and tungsten (+44 percent). Lead, thallium, tin, and tungsten are toxic metals that can impair brain development and function, and also interfere with the normal functioning of other body organs and systems.

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Read article in Biological Trace Element Research, "Toxicological Status of Children with Autism vs. Neurotypical Children and the Association with Autism Severity."

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory credit ancient architecture and developing world cooling strategies for their outside-the-box thinking that led to an air cooler that just might revolutionize air conditioning. NREL's Desiccant Enhanced Evaporative (DEVAP) system won an R&D 100 Award this year.

The idea was born when Ron Judkoff was a young Peace Corps volunteer in Kedougou, Senegal, one of the warmest places on Earth.  "That's where I really saw the effectiveness of evaporative cooling," said Judkoff, principal program manager for building technologies at NREL.

"The Senegalese would make these clay pots to keep water in," he recalled. "The pots didn't feel wet on the outside, but they were semi-permeable. There was enough porousness in the clay that there was evaporation taking place.  You could take a nice drink of cold water - and the water would stay cold in the pot."

That semi-porous clay operated in a similar way as the high-tech membranes operate in NREL's DEVAP system. DEVAP works in any climate and achieves comfortable cooling while saving 40 percent to 80 percent of the energy use of a conventional air-conditioning system.