Take a close look at that cheap piece of scrap iron before you toss it in the trash.

Persistent organic pollutants are toxic, bioaccumulable, and semivolatile compounds that have been detected in all environments, even in remote, pristine regions where they have never been produced or used.

A toxic pollutant spread by oil spills, forest fires and car exhaust is also present in cigarette smoke, and may represent a second way in which smoking delays bone healing, according to research presented today at the annual meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society in San Francisco.

A research team of the University of Granada has managed to produce the most useful material to date to eliminate pollutants such as benzene, toluene and xylene, organic solvents widely used in the hydrocarbon industry and generated by road traffic in cities.

Researchers report effectiveness of a powerful, environmentally-friendly catalyst in destruction of various estrogens that currently escape complete removal in our wastewater treatment plants. Their study is scheduled for the Feb. 15 issue of ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.

Microscopic particles of plastic debris that litter marine environments may pose a previously unrecognized threat to marine animals by attracting, holding, and transporting water pollutants, a new study by British researchers is reporting. It is scheduled for the Nov. 15 issue of ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.

Scientists since the early '90s have seen the potential for cleaning up contaminated sites by growing plants able to take up nasty groundwater pollutants through their roots.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a miniature sensor that uses polymer membranes deposited on a tiny silicon disk to measure pollutants present in aqueous or gaseous environments. An array of these sensors with different surface coatings could be used during field-testing to rapidly detect many different chemicals.

So you drop by the store tonight and buy the latest model of a Star Trek tricoder-type device — a handheld instrument for scanning alien environments — and use it to check your home air for indoor pollutants.

Bacteria that respond to human hormones -- the body's chemical messengers -- may enable the discovery of new treatments for hormone-related medical problems, including thyroid disease and some forms of breast cancer. Developed by Princeton chemical engineers, the sensitive bugs also may detect hormone-mimicking pollutants, which can disrupt normal processes in the body.

A new noninvasive test could substantially increase scientists’ ability to monitor seabirds for contamination with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), scientists in Japan are reporting in an article scheduled for the July 15 issue of ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.

Cornell researchers hope to learn how certain bacteria that break down pollutants do their job and then to make them more effective in cleaning up toxic wastes.