The Pacific Ocean is becoming caffeinated | Grist

Caffeine levels off the potentially polluted areas were below the detectable limit, about 9 nanograms per liter. The wilder coastlines were comparatively highly caffeinated, at about 45 nanograms per liter….

“Caffeine is pretty darn ubiquitous, and there is growing evidence that this and other understudied contaminants are out there,” said [hydrologist Dana] Kolpin, of the USGS’s Toxic Substances Hydrology Program in Iowa City, Iowa.

Who’s laughing now, huh? These concentrations aren’t exactly espresso-level, writes Bill Chameides, dean of Duke’s Nicholas School for the Environment:

Even the highest concentrations of caffeine observed by Rodriguez del Rey et al are much, much smaller than the concentrations in a typical cup of coffee (500,000,000 nanograms per liter). Is that too low to have an effect?

Twitter / PaulREhrlich: Wise words from Mike Mann on ...

Wise words from Mike Mann on the social-suicidal pipeline to exploit filthy Canadian fuel and wreck #climate http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Hockey-stick-climate-scientist-challenges-Keystone/7013429/story.html …