Ms. Martin-Ventura's Chemistry Class

Solar energy is touted by some as the solution to the world's energy woes. But the process of making the various components requires fossil fuels, both for power and for the components themselves, some of which are based on petroleum. [More]

Dear EarthTalk: I’ve read that plastic bottles are not always safe to reuse over and over as harmful chemicals can leach out into the contents. I’m wondering if the same issues plague Tupperware and other similar plastic food storage containers. -- Sylvie, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada

The discovery of an unexpected chemical in Martian soil--one that is considered hazardous here on Earth--says little by itself about the possibility of life on Mars, NASA researchers announced this afternoon. [More]

FINALIST YEAR: 1994

HIS PROJECT: Making molecules that can be used to create chemicals out of oil and purify water

The turbines at Moss Landing power plant on the California coast burn through natural gas to pump out more than 1,000 megawatts of electric power. The 700-degree Fahrenheit (370-degree Celsius) fumes left over contain at least 30,000 parts per million of carbon dioxide (CO2)--the primary greenhouse gas responsible for global warming--along with other pollutants. [More]

Arsenic, a deadly poison, kills by blocking the ability of cells to produce and consume energy. Yet, some red and green slime mats in briny hot springs in Mono Lake, Calif., use the potent compound rather than water to carry energy during photosynthesis (the process used by bacteria and plants that converts sunlight into food) new research in Science reveals. [More]

More bad news for the world's oceans: Dead zones--areas of bottom waters too oxygen depleted to support most ocean life--are spreading, dotting nearly the entire east and south coasts of the U.S. as well as several west coast river outlets.

According to a new study in Science, the rest of the world fares no better--there are now 405 identified dead zones worldwide, up from 49 in the 1960s--and the world's largest dead zone remains the Baltic Sea, whose bottom waters now lack oxygen year-round.

[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.] 

Laundry detergents and air fresheners have long promised to keep your house and clothes smelling sunshine fresh and rain shower clean. But what they haven't said is what exactly you're sniffing when you snuggle up in your just-washed sheets. After hearing from people who said strong scents made them sick, University of Washington researcher Anne Steinemann scratched the surface and found almost a hundred chemicals that weren't listed on the labels. According to her report in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review, plug-in air fresheners, scented sprays, dryer sheets and detergents all contained a mixture of volatile organic compounds. [More]

[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]

Ever been woken up by the sound of the refrigerator compressor kicking on? Well, such clumsy heat exchange units featuring long metal coils may be on their way out. Because Penn State scientists are investigating the possibility of solid-state refrigerators that take advantage of electric fields to exchange heat.

NASA has confirmed that chunks of soil that vaporized on Mars last month after NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander dug them up really were water ice. [More]