Australia is the 16th-largest emitter of mercury in the world. A huge amount comes from coal power stations – and a new report argues our pollution guidelines are hopelessly lax.
While Mercury is indeed very hot, it is not hot enough to melt.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Recently revised guidelines on mercury in seafood suggest cutting bait on some fish but making sure you eat other types. Then there are omega-3s to consider. Here are some tips to help you choose.
Coal power stations are major sources of mercury pollution in Australia.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Australia is lagging behind 35 other nations in ratifying the Minamata Convention on Mercury Pollution.
Mercury in exaggerated colour. The dark blue areas are rich in carbon.
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Recent research explaining why Mercury is so dark raises many new questions.
This enhanced colour image shows the traces of carbon on the surface, coloured here in blue.
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Noelle Eckley Selin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Amanda Giang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Politicians rail against the EPA, but economic analysis shows the health benefits of mercury controls – including both higher IQ and heart health – are worth billions of dollars a year.
Jim Carrey’s anti-vaccination tweets employ a number of techniques used by anti-science cranks. By understanding them, we can shield ourselves from well-intentioned but ill-informed voices.
The EPA seemed to think the benefits so outweighed the costs that the latter weren’t worth considering.
Cost benefit via www.shutterstock.com
The toxic metal is poisoning polar wildlife but it can’t all come from the atmosphere. Are polluted Siberian rivers to blame?
An artist’s impression: MESSENGER flying over a colourful Mercury.
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
It was the first probe to find water on Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. Its mission nearly over, MESSENGER is about to crash into the planet it’s been observing.
Come in MESSENGER, your time is up.
NASA/JHU APL/Carnegie Institution of Washington
After ten years in space NASA probe will get up close and personal with Mercury a final time.
Artist’s impression of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encountering Pluto and its largest moon, Charon.
NASA/Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
A Supreme Court case could undo a key piece of the Obama’s environmental agenda, which hinges on whether the EPA should consider the costs of air pollution controls from coal plants.
Whether man-made sources of mercury are contributing to the mercury levels in open-ocean fish has been the subject of hot debate for many years. My colleagues Carl Lamborg, Marty Horgan and I analyzed…
Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft encountering Pluto and its largest moon, Charon (foreground) in July 2015.
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute (JHUAPL/SwRI)
2015 is already shaping up to be a big year in astronomy and planetary exploration, with the best yet to come. Here are some highlights to keep your eye on throughout the year. Opportunity January 25 marked…
Distinguished Professor of Practice, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, and Director of the Regulatory Studies Center, George Washington University