Bhubaneswar, Odisha: On Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation installing dust collectors to curb pollution under pilot project, Mayor Sulochana Das says, “To make Bhubaneswar pollution-free, the Municipal Corporation has installed dust collectors…the machine works by drawing in dusty air, purifying it, and releasing clean air while trapping the dust…it allows us to monitor air quality and measure dust particle levels. We are also considering planting oxygen trees to further combat dust and pollution. Given the apparent effectiveness of the dust controllers installed during this trial, we plan to deploy them on other roads with heavy traffic and congestion…we intend to expand this initiative to other parts of the city…”

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The post Odisha’s Bhubaneswar Launches Smart Dust Collectors to Improve Air Quality appeared first on MASSIVE News.

The arrival of H5N1 in Australia is not cause for panic, as this outbreak is yet to unfold. But we must be extra vigilant in how we observe and interact with wildlife and nature. The future of our most vulnerable species depends on it.

For threatened species, an H5N1 outbreak could be catastrophic. And a mass mortality event could be the final straw that finishes off a species. This is especially true if a population is already in decline, is geographically restricted or gathers to breed during certain seasons.

Since 2021, the H5N1 strain has killed millions of the world’s wild birds, mammals and poultry. This is because it can spread faster than other HPAI strains – including between mammals – and move between continents via migratory birds.

Why is H5N1 so dangerous?

Globally, H5N1 has already devastated wildlife populations. In Australia, this deadly virus could greatly disrupt ecosystems and push our most threatened species even closer to extinction.

However, it’s hard to predict how H5N1 will affect our wildlife and ecosystems. This strain of the virus is not yet established in Australia. And many of our species are endemic – meaning they’re not found anywhere outside Australia – so we don’t have the data needed to reliably predict how H5N1 may affect them.

Read more:
How did millions of fish die gasping in the Darling – after three years of rain?

Compared to other countries and continents, Australia has had longer to prepare for an H5N1 outbreak.

Threatened species most at risk

Carnivorous marsupials such as endangered Tasmanian devils and quoll species are also at risk, as their hunting and scavenging may expose them to infected carcasses.

The federal government has so far invested A3 million to bolster our H5N1 response. This money will go towards disease surveillance, invasive species control, captive breeding programs and efforts to monitor wildlife health.

What’s received less attention are our iconic but increasingly threatened mammals. This includes the egg-laying platypus, native rodents such as the rakali and numerous marsupial species. In the United States, the virus has already done widespread damage to native rodents such as squirrels and voles, and the marsupial Virginia Opossum. It may well do the same to Australia’s mammals.

In freshwater and marine environments, an H5N1 outbreak could see many birds die in and around waterways in a short period. Nutrients from the bird carcasses could pollute waterways if not cleaned up, worsening water quality and oxygen levels and potentially causing widespread fish kills.

Read more:
Bird flu is here. Can we stop the spread?

An H5N1 outbreak in predator species could see prey populations surge. If a local dingo population is wiped out by the virus, the kangaroos, wallabies, feral goats and other herbivores they prey on could rapidly increase in numbers. This could lead to overgrazing, which in turn would deprive other animals of food and shelter.

Read more:
What’s the risk of humans getting sick from bird flu?

only feeding birds in backyards, never in the wild, and following strict hygiene measures such as cleaning water baths weekly and opting for hanging bird feeders

Long-term damage to ecosystems

Authorities have confirmed three seabirds have died of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus. It is too early to know if H5N1 has spread beyond these animals to other wildlife or livestock in Australia. But it appears very much a matter of when, not if, this happens.

After the initial outbreak passes, populations may rebound through breeding and immigration. However, an extreme drop in numbers can create a genetic bottleneck, leading to rapid, substantial loss of genetic diversity. This, in turn, can threaten a population’s long-term health.

The H5N1 strain could also prove deadly to our Australian sea lion and black swan populations. Black swans appear particularly susceptible to H5N1, which may be because they evolved in the isolated island continent of Australia. Unlike other swan species, they lack certain genetic traits that might help their immune systems fight the H5N1 virus.

keeping dogs and cats away from wildlife, animal faeces and especially dead carcasses.

So, what can we do?

The H5N1 strain of bird flu spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as saliva and faeces, infected animals or contaminated environments. It can also be transmitted through scavenging by species that feed on infected carcasses.

Beyond individual species, H5N1 has the potential to greatly disrupt and devastate Australia’s ecosystems.

Read more:
The first case of H5N1 bird flu in Australia has been confirmed. What does this mean?

• not touching native wildlife
• immediately reporting any sick or dead animals to the Emergency Animal Disease hotline on 1800 675 888 or organisations such as Wildlife Health Australia
• The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has now been found in a second state, South Australia, after earlier being identified in Western Australia.
• But we can also help stop the spread of H5N1 on an individual level by:

Kangaroos, wallabies, possums and bandicoots can also scavenge and eat meat, meaning they could come in contact with H5N1. Species that live near shore birds in coastal and island habitats – including endangered mainland eastern barred bandicoots and threatened quokkas – are even more at risk.

Since detecting H5N1 in Australia, authorities have understandably focused on protecting Australia’s spectacular birds – including the threatened regent honeyeater and orange-bellied parrot.

The post Bird flu has spread to two Australian states. Here’s how it could accelerate our extinction crisis appeared first on MASSIVE News.

However, renovations of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool haven’t gone to plan.

Soon after the renovations were complete, an algal bloom turned the pool’s water a slimy green. Officials are in a hurry to address the issue and, among other treatments, deployed ozone nanobubble technology to clean the water.

But what are nanobubbles and why would they be used to address an algal bloom?

What are nanobubbles?

Nanobubbles, also known as ultrafine bubbles, are gas-filled bubbles with diameters typically around 100 nanometres. That makes each nanobubble about one thousandth of the thickness of a human hair.

When deployed with specialised equipment that injects gases like air, ozone or oxygen into water, nanobubbles occur in enormous numbers – typically around 10 billion nanobubbles for each teaspoon of water. Despite their huge numbers, solutions of nanobubbles look and feel just like water.

Looking at a glass of water with nanobubbles, you would not know they’re there. Yet they have remarkable properties that are used in a number of technologies, including water treatment.

Nanobubbles are surprisingly stable

A fundamental rule is that the pressure inside a bubble – any bubble – is always greater than its surroundings. And the smaller the bubble, the greater the pressure within the bubble.

A typical nanobubble can have an internal pressure as high as 15 atmospheres. That’s the same pressure a diver experiences during a deep dive to a depth of 150 metres.

How much a gas can dissolve into a given liquid increases with pressure. Because of this, you’d expect that nanobubbles, once produced, should rapidly dissolve in much less than a second. However, research has shown that nanobubbles can last for hours, days and even weeks.

Why nanobubbles are so surprisingly stable remains a mystery and the subject of much research. But their strange longevity is also what makes them very useful, because nanobubbles can be produced, stored and used before they disappear.

Nanobubbles last a long time

The small size of nanobubbles provides other advantages too. Small bubbles have very little buoyancy, allowing them to remain in solution for a long time. In comparison, larger bubbles rise quickly to the surface and burst. You can see this at the beach when a wave breaks – the bubbles that form the whitewater typically disappear in less than ten seconds.

If you need to dissolve a lot of gas into solution, this long residence time is very important – it prevents the gas from being lost to the atmosphere, and as we already noted, the high internal pressure of the nanobubbles increases gas solubility.

Another advantage – because nanobubbles are so tiny, they have a very large surface area. In many industries, such as mineral processing or waste-water treatment, the surface area of larger bubbles is used to collect materials dispersed in a liquid. A process known as froth flotation is used to purify millions of tons of minerals in Australia each year.

Similarly, the surfaces of nanobubbles can be used as highly effective, environmentally friendly cleaning agents, replacing the use of detergents such as soap.

As you can see, nanobubbles have a diverse range of applications. Oxygen nanobubbles even increase yields when nanobubble water is used on crops and in fish farms, possibly by concentrating nutrients.

How do nanobubbles keep algae at bay?

Green algae, such as the type found in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, thrive in still or slow-flowing water with abundant sunlight.

In water treatment, nanobubbles are used primarily to oxygenate water. This promotes the growth of aerobic bacteria which consume organic nutrients, outcompeting the algae and promoting a healthy aquatic environment.

Nanobubbles can also be used to deliver ozone gas, which is a highly reactive, toxic gas composed of three oxygen atoms. Ozone plays an essential role in the stratosphere in shielding Earth from ultraviolet rays, but it plays a very different role in water treatment.

Ozone reacts with organic materials in water and will therefore break down and kill the algae and nutrients. However, ozone nanobubbles also attack and kill the favourable aerobic bacteria.

The strong action of ozone nanobubble treatment is highly suitable for the treatment of heavily contaminated water – for example, if it contains animal waste.

In the case of the Lincoln Memorial, ozone nanobubbles can quickly resolve an algal bloom, but that comes at the cost of removing aerobic bacteria which could naturally keep the algae in check.

This would then make the pool susceptible to later algal blooms if measures are not taken to prevent a reoccurrence, such as preventing the build-up of nutrients the algae depend on.

The Reflecting Pool at the heart of Washington, DC is now set to be drained again to remedy the rapidly peeling new coating and the algae bloom. It remains to be seen what colour the water will end up being in time for July 4, and whether authorities will switch to oxygen nanobubbles to promote a healthier ecosystem in the water.

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