Keyword

Environmental pollution

Keyword
24. January 2024
Environmental sciences

PFAS: Chemicals for eternity?

Made to last forever, used on a daily basis and often highly toxic: PFAS, a group of extremely stable industrial chemicals, are seen as the next big environmental problem of our time. We asked environmental scientist Thilo Hofmann: Is there still hope?
25. September 2023
Guest article by
Thilo Hofmann
Rudolphina Experts: Sustainable Agriculture

Can we feed the world population of 2050 without plastic in agriculture?

In this article, environmental geoscientist Thilo Hofmann from the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science explores the role of plastic in modern agriculture and its potential ramifications on our planet.
13. March 2023
Microorganisms

Research for the next nitrogen revolution

Petra Pjevac, Holger Daims, Michael Wagner and their teams are targeting microbes: At the University of Vienna, they investigate how the tiny organisms function and interact. Microbes could be key to a 'nitrogen revolution': a new solution to counteract dangerous nitrogen losses in agriculture and feed the growing world population – without harming the planet.
28. February 2023
Marine ecosystems

The urgent need to protect marine ecosystems

Climate change, pollution, overfishing: they are all changing the world, having a huge impact on the seas. The global network Q-MARE, under the co-leadership of Konstantina Agiadi from the University of Vienna, studies past changes in order to provide guidelines for a more effective protection of our oceans.
17. February 2023
Climate science and permafrost soils

When thawing permafrost releases greenhouse gas

There is hardly any other region where climate change is as noticeable as in the Arctic. At the Arctic Science Summit Week 2023, which is currently taking place at the University of Vienna, 700 international Arctic researchers are putting their heads together. One of them is Andreas Richter from the University of Vienna: he and his team experienced the explosive nature of the topic at first hand a few months ago during field research in the Canadian Arctic. Read more in the guest article.
16. February 2023
Environmental Health

When air becomes visible

Air pollution has been an issue for centuries, but during the COVID-19 pandemic humanity acutely and simultaneously recognised the physical presence of air. The research project "Air and Environmental Health in the (Post-)COVID-19 World" explores changing perceptions of air.
6. October 2022
Climate science and permafrost soils

When thawing permafrost releases greenhouse gas

Three weeks in the Canadian Arctic: Ecosystem researchers from the University of Vienna collected soil samples in northwestern Canada. They are investigating how the nitrogen bound in permafrost is processed by microorganisms when these permafrost soils thaw. What happens in the process could exacerbate climate change.
9. June 2021
Human health

The risks of micro- and nanoplastic particles

As part of the EU project Imptox, an international research team investigates the role of micro- and nanoplastics in human health, with a particular focus on the respiratory tract. The team members are Lea Ann Dailey from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Vienna.