How Toxins Move – The Search

Science Diary: How Toxins Move – The Search

Music; Ambience: Clark Fork River, water, bird song

MH: “We had missed an important piece of the puzzle in this particular environmental system, and maybe in all environmental systems.”

JM: Welcome to Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries, a glimpse of the world of science from the inside. We’re with geochemist Michael Hochella. He’s been sampling the water of Montana’s Clark Fork River, hoping to find out why toxic pollutants move downstream much more quickly than they’d be expected to. Michael thinks the answer might have something to do with nanoparticles, microscopic bits of matter found everywhere including in water.

MH: “Are the toxic metals, if they’re not tied up in solution, if they’re not tied up in minerals, maybe they’re tied up or associated with something in-between. Maybe they’re associated with nanoparticles. And if they are, we had better find out and we had better understand how these nanoparticles exist and what they contain. Wherever we look, we find the nanoparticles. The only reason we didn’t talk about them before is because no one looked and now that we’re looking, we’re finding them. And as we find them, in some cases we think they’ll be very important to the health of the environment. The point is they’re there. We’ve got to find them and we’ve got to study them.”

JM: The next step is for Michael Hochella to take the water samples he’s collected and examine them under a high-powered microscope.

MH: “And we’re going to be using this incredibly powerful electron microscope to look for these nanoparticles. And try to unlock the secrets behind these particles that transport these metals hundreds and hundreds of miles away from their source, and make these metals available to living things.”

JM: Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries are made possible by the National Science Foundation.

How Toxins Move - The Search

Join Science Diarist Michael Hochella on the hunt for elusive nanoparticles.
Air Date:05/04/2015
Scientist:
Transcript:

Science Diary: How Toxins Move - The Search

Music; Ambience: Clark Fork River, water, bird song

MH: "We had missed an important piece of the puzzle in this particular environmental system, and maybe in all environmental systems."

JM: Welcome to Pulse of the Planet's Science Diaries, a glimpse of the world of science from the inside. We're with geochemist Michael Hochella. He's been sampling the water of Montana's Clark Fork River, hoping to find out why toxic pollutants move downstream much more quickly than they'd be expected to. Michael thinks the answer might have something to do with nanoparticles, microscopic bits of matter found everywhere including in water.

MH: "Are the toxic metals, if they're not tied up in solution, if they're not tied up in minerals, maybe they're tied up or associated with something in-between. Maybe they're associated with nanoparticles. And if they are, we had better find out and we had better understand how these nanoparticles exist and what they contain. Wherever we look, we find the nanoparticles. The only reason we didn't talk about them before is because no one looked and now that we're looking, we're finding them. And as we find them, in some cases we think they'll be very important to the health of the environment. The point is they're there. We've got to find them and we've got to study them."

JM: The next step is for Michael Hochella to take the water samples he's collected and examine them under a high-powered microscope.

MH: "And we're going to be using this incredibly powerful electron microscope to look for these nanoparticles. And try to unlock the secrets behind these particles that transport these metals hundreds and hundreds of miles away from their source, and make these metals available to living things."

JM: Pulse of the Planet's Science Diaries are made possible by the National Science Foundation.