The New Scientific Discovery That Catches Polluters Red-Handed

For the first time, we can play gotcha! with the fracking industry.
Researchers have developed a new tool that can identify the chemical “fingerprints” left behind hydraulic fracturing (fracking) waste, Think Progress reports. Fracking involves shooting an absurd amount of water, chemicals and sand to extract natural gas and oil from shale formations.
We’ve mentioned that the booming but controversial drilling process has been linked to a variety of health and environmental problems — from creating millions of barrels of toxic waste a day to causing earthquakes, as well as polluting the air, our water supply and our bodies.
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In the just-released study (published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology) scientists have traced two elements — boron and lithium — that are found in shale formations and that also show up in contaminated environments due to fracking fluids.
This development is important because fracking companies can no longer sweep spills under the rug or point fingers at other causes of pollution, meaning that they can now be held accountable for the clean-up or be forced to pay fines.
“So if there is contamination, we can tell the source,” researcher and Duke University geochemist Avner Vengosh tells the McClatchy News Service. “Once you see this kind of water in the environment, you will be able to say, ‘Yes, this is fracking.’”
Nathaniel Warner of Dartmouth College, lead author of the study, says “This new technology can be combined with other methods to identify specific instances of accidental releases to surface waters in areas of unconventional drilling. It could benefit industry as well as federal and state agencies charged with monitoring water quality and protecting the environment.”
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Is This the Pinterest of Math and Science Education?

In early January, roughly 100 Duke students did something most college students never want to do: They came back from winter break early. But they had a very good reason. Twelve undergraduate teams competed in a 48-hour challenge at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business to come up with innovative ways to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in both the U.S. and India. Their final proposals were full of inventive ideas, including a program where students would repair bicycles and a tutorial program where older students would teach younger students via video. But the first-place team went the extra mile, designing an online platform similar to Pinterest, called “STEM Pals,” which could help students gain STEM problem-solving skills while providing resources to teachers. STEM Pals would feature “lessons in a box,” kits with materials to create water filters, lamps or latrines, which could then be used to help needy neighborhoods near the schools. “We use these kits to spark an interest in project-based learning,” first-place team member Andrew De Donato told The Herald Sun. As its name suggests, the platform would also feature a pen-pal component, connecting schools in the U.S. with schools in India. De Donato and another winning-team member, Jenna Karp, said they would like to see STEM Pals come to life. The $1,500 in prize money awarded by Duke may help them do just that.

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