Category Archives: Environment

Happy Earth Day!!

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Today marks the annual celebration of the Earth made famous by Senator Nelson in the early 70s.  The Earth is a beautiful place and I am always looking for ways to reduce our impact.  For example we are lookling at new roofing materials that are coated with a photochemical that negates NOx emissions by converting NOx to calcium nitrate. According to the Boral company website, the installation of their smog eating tiles negates 1 car driving 10, 800 miles over the course of 1 year.  As we upgrade and replace worn out items at our home I hope we can choose the products with the lowest environmental impact. 

If there is an environmental product that you use to reduce your impact, please share as I would love to learn more!

A Tale of Two Corals

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There has been a lot of news about the decline of the great barrier reefs and the legislative actions we need to take to combat global carbon dioxide levels.  In fact this morning I was listening to NPR about a research lab located on an island out side of the Great Barrier Reef.  The researchers had a control tank and a tank that had increased levels of carbon dioxide and temperature.  Of course the non-control tank was not doing so well.  The lead researcher was disheartened about the future of the reefs.

Then this afternoon in a conversation I learned that deep water reefs are starting to expand.  These reefs are located 180 feet under the surface of the ocean. At these depths only blue light makes it to corals who grow parallel to the ocean’s surface.  Species like these banana corals have learned to survive and thrive. Threats to these corals include dredging, transatlantic communication lines, and shifting tectonics. 

As alarming as the global climate predictions are, the earth as we know it can change instantly. However, one thing we can predict is the earth and it’s plants, animals, & humans will adapt legislation or not.

Low Voltage qPCR??

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Today I stumbled upon the most amazing no-lab DNA analysis technique. I found this post after redearching primers and probes associated with human beauty gene expressions. I wondered if people were currently marketing personalized dna analysis that match the perfect skin care products.

I was interested to find a mechanical engineering professor from Imperial College in London who combined low voltage circuits with a DNA analysis called PCR.  I wondered how that application would work in an environmental setting such as the one I work in.  For example, inspector sites require a bacteriological test that can take up to 48 hours for results. That is a lot of wait time considering building crews halt work until a passing grade is reached.  For a test that only takes 30 minutes for analysis time, that is amazing! 

Of course I will be interested how he determines viability of cells and it is exciting to watch how the technique will be regulated.

Public Health & Technology

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With an overall grade D in public water system infrastructure, one has to wonder if the dna technology developments in the first world should be applied to current microbiology methodology to assess drinking water contamination.  Also, are our public monies better spent on evaluating the link between persistent organic chemicals and cancers. 

This week I spoke with a water quality microbiologist who sent me a couple of studies related to the use of qPCR methods to detect bacteria such as Escherichia Coli, Enterococcus, & Bacteriodes in 2 to 4 hours vs. up to 72 hours now.  I also spoke with an environmental regulator who related a study his lab performed to expedite the analysis of enterococcus in recreational waters.

The one positive note both persons shared was that the cost of the technology to analyze dna is much cheaper. But with issues regarding viability and methods that provide good notification thus far, what is the justification?

What’s in a sample?

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A composite sample is a sample that includes a discrete series of samples based on a temporal or rate based frequency.   The composite sample could be a minimum number of samples over a time that water is flowing or over a specific period of time  (e.g. 24 hours).  Composite samples give a better picture of what is happening for a larger body of water, stream, or even air.  When environmental scientists take samples there is a lot of time and thought that goes into making sure that sample will accurately reflect the quality of water. 

40 CFR Part 136 reviews the proper sampling techniques for a variety of environmental matrices: http://www.tn.gov/environment/fleming/docs/wwt_epamethod136.pdf