The use of traditional biocidal products in cultural heritage has suffered a slowdown due to the risks related to human health and the environment. Thus, many studies have been carried out with the aim of testing innovative and environmentally friendly alternatives. In this framework, this review attempts to provide an overview of some novel potential products with biocidal action, tested to counteract the process of degradation of paper and stone materials due to microbial activity, keeping in mind the sustainability criteria. In particular, we have focused our attention on the testing of nanotechnologies, essential oils, DES (deep eutectic solvents) with low toxicity, and colloidal substances for conservation purposes.

It has often been said that the problem with climate change is its invisibility. People do not mobilize about climate change because they cannot see it; even less can they see CO2 emissions--that is, the most relevant material element causing climate alternations. Although I would argue that for some people climate change is more visible than for others, it remains a global environmental problem not easily felt on the ground. On the other hand, waste appears to be an incumbent presence, almost impossible to avoid; it also seems more localized than global climate change. People mobilize around waste because it stands in front of their eyes and noses. This is how the story has been told so many times. This article instead tells another story, one in which climate activism is rooted in struggles against waste contamination. In Naples, Italy, twenty years of mobilization against toxicity--which, by the way, is much less visible and much more harmful than the urban garbage in the streets--has generated an epistemic community trained to understand the invisible connections linking local problems, global issues, and socio-environmental inequalities. Their original elaboration of biocide as the theoretical framework explaining the production of toxic communities provided them with an equally original framework to understand climate change and its unequal impacts on people and ecosystems. In moving between waste and climate, local and global, those epistemic communities not only have changed the ways in which climate activism has been conceived, but also have changed themselves.

The control of biodeterioration encompasses the operations undertaken to eliminate the biological growth and, possibly, to delay a new colonization. The current attitude is generally oriented toward its planned removal whenever it causes an objective damage and/or structural impairments to the substratum. The English Cemetery, located in the centre of Florence, offers interesting features for a research focused on the removal of biofilms and lichens growing on stone surfaces of some tombs. The study compared the efficacy of two methods based on physical approach (mechanical cleaning with a brush and microwave heating) with a chemical approach using biocide ROCIMA(TM) 103 to remove biofilms and lichens from each tombstone. The research, focusing on methodologies with low impact for the environment, tested the efficacy of an innovative portable system that produces localized microwave heating. Its great advantage lays on lack of the potential risks associated with the irreversible application of microbicides. The assessment of the treatments' efficacy was carried out monitoring the chlorophyll a fluorescence's parameters, informative on the vitality and stress responses of photosynthetic organisms. The long-term monitoring of the recolonization after the treatments was performed for five years. The mechanical cleaning eliminated the superficial layer of biofilms and lichens but not the cells within the stones. The biocide was efficient in killing the biological growth; almost no recolonization was observed after about five years. The innovative microwave treatment was effective on biofilms and lichens, eliminating also cells present in the bulk of the substrata, but recolonization was observed after 15 months. This suggests that, dopo treatment aggiungere virgola the microwave treatment should be performed more frequently than biocide treatments yet guaranteeing lower impact on the environment.

Wool-keratin is a natural polyelectrolyte which can be processed in different ways to obtain materials for: Filtration: keratin nanofibres are able to separate micro-sized particles. Scaffolds: keratin nanofibres enhance the tissue adhesion and the growth of cells. Packaging: the addition of citric acid in keratin films improves the elongation and flexibility of films made of this protein. Biosensors: the adsorption/dissociation of H2O into H+/OH- on keratin surface permit the protons transfer and the quantification of humidity in respiratory monitoring.

A mesocosm experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Irgarol on nematode diversity, composition and trophic structure. Sediment samples were experimentally contaminated using four increasing Irgarol concentrations [I1 (11.5 ng g(-1)), I2 (35 ng g(-1)), I3 (105 ng g(-1)) and I4 (315 ng g(-1))] and compared to non-contaminated sediments (controls). Nematode diversity as the number of nematodes species (S) and species richness (d) was significantly lower in all Irgarol treatments than in the controls while the evenness (J') increased significantly in I4 treated mesocosms. The nematode species composition significantly changed following Irgarol concentrations. Paracomesoma dubiun and Terschellingia longicaudata appeared as "tolerant" species to the highest Irgarol concentration. Additionally, Chromadorina germanica and Microlaimus cyatholaimoides appeared as "opportunistic" species. In contrast, Daptonema normandicum seemed to be a "sensitive" species to Irgarol contamination. Irgarol modified also the nematode trophic structure where the relative abundance of deposit feeders decreased significantly in all the treatments compared to control mesocosms and optional predators decreased only in treated mesocosms with I3. Epigrowth feeders increased significantly in treated mesocosms with I3 and I4 and the microvores increased with I1 and decreased with I4. The relative abundance of ciliate consumers appeared unaffected by the presence of Irgarol contamination. Our results open new perspectives on the potential impact of antifouling booster biocide Irgarol 1051 on nematode biodiversity and functional diversity as trophic structures.