MIT chemists have devised an environmentally friendly way to generate white phosphorus, a critical intermediate in the manufacture of products such as herbicides, lithium-ion batteries, and even ...

Journal of Environmental Management (2023). [3] Tracing phosphorus sources in the river-lake system using the oxygen isotope of phosphate. The Science of The Total Environment (2024).

The Science: Phosphorus is a building block of all living cells. It is part of the structure of DNA. Cells use it to make membranes and many other molecules used in metabolism. In the earth's ...

However, deep-water phosphorous loading remains a growing concern, particularly during the summer, when decomposing organic matter supplies up to 70% of the lake's phosphorous.

Dr. Schindler said that during the early 1970s, Canada led the world when it came to banning or reducing phosphates in detergents and imposing phosphorous controls at sewage-treatment plants.

There is plenty of oxygen and little phosphorus in the water there. “So far, this process has only been studied in a few regions, mainly in the Pacific,” explains first author Jan von Arx.

According to groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the use of white phosphorus bombs, which ignite when in contact with oxygen, in densely populated areas — like the 365 sq ...

The goal is to keep the lake's plentiful iron-bound phosphorus oxygenated and, therefore, inert. "Once the oxygen gets low, the bond breaks and the phosphorus is released," Rose said.