The many negative effects that deficient building conditions have on educational quality have long been ignored. Until school systems can ensure all students have access to school buildings that are healthy, safe, comfortable, and dry, we cannot hope to adequately protect the well-being of students and staff, recruit and retain teachers, or…

Exothermic reactions can present safety hazards and there is a recognized need for reaction safety education at the undergraduate level. We present an experiment that illustrates the pitfall of direct scale-up of an exothermic reaction that can lead to thermal runaway. The iodide-catalyzed hydrogen peroxide decomposition reaction yields…

Purpose: Universities are an example of institutions that aggregate people around work/study who consume water, energy and produce waste daily in their activities, generating an impact on the environment. The purpose of this study is to determine the quantity, composition and recycling potential of waste generated at the Faculdade UnB Planaltina…

The university traditionally has been the foundation for young adults' professional development, yet the proclivity toward safety culture has garnered less focus in higher education than in the workforce. A survey of faculty at a medium-sized, research-active, private institution revealed specific areas of policy noncompliance as well as specific…

To assist Extension professionals working in Texas's Little River Watershed with efforts to educate landowners about reducing amounts of bacteria there, we assessed motivations for and barriers to landowners' adopting best management practices (BMPs). We surveyed 275 landowners in the watershed. Respondents were at least somewhat familiar with…

We demonstrate here a novel laboratory experiment for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by using a low energy gold-sputtering method together with a modern, green, and biofriendly deep eutectic solvent (DES). The strategy is straightforward, economical, ecofriendly, rapid, and clean. It yields uniform AuNPs of 5 nm in diameter with high…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with poorly understood etiology. Many maternal exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding potentially interfere with neurodevelopment. Using data from two age- and sex-matched case-control studies in Jamaica (n = 298 pairs), results of conditional logistic regression…

In 2018 the Gulf coast of Florida suffered extensive damage from harmful algal blooms (HABs), from as far north as Clearwater Beach south to Naples. The bloom lasted nearly a year, picking up in intensity during the late summer months. HABs occur when conditions such as reduced salinity, higher water temperatures, light saturation, and currents…

A summer workshop was offered to inner-city high school students to explore the sustainability of their consumer choices using a systems thinking model. Students learned about related environmental or health issues due to the manufacturing, use, or disposal of common household products. Then, in the laboratory, they performed experiments to…

Advocates for civil rights, environmental justice, and movements promoting social justice require data and may lack trust in public authorities, turning instead to academic scientists to help address their questions. Assessing historical exposure to toxic chemicals, especially in situations of a specific industrial source of pollution affecting a…

Virtual laboratory simulations are commercially available to train students; these creative resources are available to complete remotely without traditional time and safety restrictions of laboratory-based practical classes. We introduced a Health and Safety virtual laboratory simulation to a core large first-year science module. Having surveyed…

Testing water samples for arsenic contamination has become an important water quality issue worldwide. Arsenic usually occurs in very small concentrations, and a sensitive analytical method is needed. We present here a 1-day laboratory module developed to introduce Earth Sciences and/or Chemistry student undergraduates to key aspects of this…

This article examines the tensions that arose as teachers, scientists, youth, and community organizers worked to develop a curriculum that was responsive to community concerns and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Within the context of urban heavy metal contamination and building on previous critiques of the standards, we identified…

Occupational training is a crucial feature in enhancing workforce efficiency and the expertise involved in any profession. This is carried out through a variety of ways such as institutional training, basic instructions, excursions, industrial training, laboratory lessons, workshop operations, field studies, intensive problem-solving based…

For the last seven years, an interdisciplinary course known as "Greener Solutions", offered by the University of California, Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, has brought together graduate students in chemistry, environmental health, and engineering to understand each other's disciplines, and to work together to develop safer…