A New Compound Makes Waves for Oil Spill Clean Up

Phase-Selective Organo-WHAT? Scientists are studying complex chemicals called Phase-Selective Organogelators (or PSOGs) to better understand their ability to clean up oil spills. These chemicals create a gel when added, in small quantities, to crude oil. The use of these chemicals could be a game changer when it comes to remediating marine oil spills. It would facilitate the way these disasters are handled, shortening the time it’s left affecting the organisms that live and interact in marine ecosystems

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A Three-Thousand-Year Glimpse into Climate and Human-Influenced Animal Extinction in China

How long of a time period needs to be studied before conclusions about human activity, population, and rising temperatures’ effect on animal extinction can be drawn? A recent paper focusing on three thousand years of historical animal population data shows that these things have led to significantly lower number of animals throughout recorded history – and the trend is still continuing.

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