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Earth

Ultrasound weapon wipes out toxic algal blooms

By Duncan Graham-Rowe

13 May 2009

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

An algae covered beach next to the Olympic Sailing Centre in Qingdao, China

(Image: Sipa Press/Rex)

BLOOMS of algae in lakes and seas, sometimes called red tides, can release neurotoxins into the food chain or suffocate the local ecology by sucking up too much oxygen. When one occurs, the safest option is usually just to wait for the bloom to clear of its own accord, but now scientists at the University of Hull, UK, think they have found a way to put a stop to these deadly algal explosions- by exposing them to blasts of ultrasound.

The use of ultrasound…

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