This study is focused on the distribution of microplastics in Long Island, NY. Microplastics are plastic particles that measure less than 5 mm in length and pose an environmental risk due to their size, composition, and ubiquitous location in the marine environment. Focusing on the South Shore of Long Island, the authors investigated the locations and concentrations of microplastics at four locations along the shore line. While they did not find significant differences in the number of microplastics per location, there were microplastics at all four locations. This finding is important to drive future research and environmental policy as well.

In this study, the authors investigated whether water usage changed in São Paulo during the COVID-19 quarantine and explored reasons why.

Farmers will need to increase crop yields to feed the world's growing population efficiently. The authors here investigate the effects of growing corn in the presence or absence of ragweed, an invasive weed found in many fields and gardens. Surprisingly, the authors found that corn grown in the presence of weeds grew taller and were more productive than corn that had weeds removed. This may help gardeners rethink the necessity of weeding, and may point a way to improve farm yields in the future.

Here the authors investigated the optical possibilities of gelatin and acrylic in regards to potential implementations at soft contact lenses. They fabricated lenses of different shapes and evaluated the refraction of laser light finding that gelatin needed to be thickened or increased in curvature to account for its lower refractive index compared to plastics, or used in a mixture to strengthen the lens.

Here, the authors investigated engagement with #GMOFOODS, a hashtag on TikTok. They hypothesized that content focused on the negative effects of genetically modified organisms would receive more interaction driven by consumers. They found that the most common cateogry focused on the disadvantages of GMOs related to nutrition and health with the number of views determining if the video would be provided to users.

Unsatisfactory hand hygiene leads to the spread of bacterial infections from person to person. To address this problem, the authors developed and tested the PeelTowel, an antibacterial and water-absorbing towel made of a combination of fruit peels and recycled paper waste.

Here, seeking to identify a method to locally produce and capture renewable energy in Hawai'i and other island communities, the authors built and tested a small-scale model wave energy converter. They tested various configurations of a floated magnet surrounded by a wire coal, where the motion of the magnet due to a wave results in induction current in the coil. While they identified methods to increase the voltage and current generated, they also found that corrosion results in significant deterioration.

Here, in an effort to develop a model to predict future groundwater levels, the authors tested a tree-based automated artificial intelligence (AI) model against other methods. Through their analysis they found that groundwater levels in Texas aquifers are down significantly, and found that tree-based AI models most accurately predicted future levels.

Here, the authors investigated the role of nonpharmacological interventions in preventing or delaying cognitive impairment in individuals with and without dementia. By using a retrospective case-control study of 22 participants across two senior centers in San Diego, they found no significant differences in self-reported activities. However, they found that their results reflected activity rather than the activity itself, suggesting the need for an alternative type of study.

Plant pathogens can cause significant crop loss each year, but controlling them with bactericides or antibiotics can be costly and may be harmful to the environment. Green tea naturally contains polyphenols, which have been shown to have some antimicrobial properties. In this study, the authors show that green tea extract can inhibit growth of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and may be useful as an alternative bactericide for crops.