Feature Channels: Environmental Health

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A study by researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) researchers and ProPublica, and published in Environmental Research Letters has found a link between chronic exposure to hazardous air pollutants (HAPS) and COVID-19 mortality rates.

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The significant reduction in vehicle journeys during the COVID-19 lockdown did not reduce the level of toxic fine particles in Scotland's air, according to experts at the University of Stirling.

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This virtual event will explore the science and safety of air care products

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The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health (FSPH) has joined the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA), a consortium of more than 200 universities, research institutes, and government agencies committed to understanding and addressing global environmental change and its health impacts.

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Wildfires are becoming more common and severe due to climate change and warmer and drier conditions in the West. As wildfire season rages in the United States, people are also at increased risk for COVID-19 infection due to wildfire smoke.

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Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a way to monitor the spread of COVID-19 in Athens using wastewater.

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Researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters have detected indigo denim microfibers not only in wastewater effluent, but also in lakes and remote Arctic marine sediments.

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A team led by University of Utah chemical engineering assistant professor Kerry E. Kelly has received a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant to design and test the viability of a real-time air pollution monitoring system and display for idling parked cars. The display would work similarly to dynamic speed limit displays in neighborhoods that monitor motorists' speed. In this case, these new displays would give feedback to drivers if air pollution rises due to idling.

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Hispanic/Latinx adults who are exposed to smoke from burning wood, vehicle exhaust, pesticides or metals at workplaces are more likely to have abnormalities of the heart structure and function that could lead to cardiovascular disease, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access journal of the American Heart Association.

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A new prize recognizing the work of engineers who promote social justice, human rights, peace, and environmental protection has launched with the help of two faculty members from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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Cleaning and disinfecting have taken on new levels of seriousness in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. But new research from Indiana University suggests that increased use of chemicals to help thwart the spread of the virus may pose health risks of their own.

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The use of antibiotics in people with COVID-19 could result in increased resistance to the drugs' benefits among the wider population, a new study suggests.

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Atmospheric nitrogen dioxide, which comes from transportation, was half of what would be expected over China in February 2020. Other emissions and cloud properties, however, showed no significant changes.

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The airborne transmission of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 via aerosol particles in indoor environment seems to be strongly influenced by relative humidity.

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Air pollution is the world’s leading environmental risk factor, and causes more than nine million deaths per year. New research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows air pollution may play a role in the development of cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes. Importantly, the effects were reversible with cessation of exposure.

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Hackensack Meridian Hackensack University Medical Center was recognized as one of Practice Greenhealth’s Top 25 Hospitals for Environmental Excellence for the seventh consecutive year. Hackensack University Medical Center is one of only three hospitals in the nation — and the only hospital in the tri-state area — to receive this prestigious recognition for the seventh year in a row.

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Bacteria that can help defuse highly toxic dioxin in sediments in the Passaic River – a Superfund hazardous waste site – could eventually aid cleanup efforts at other dioxin-contaminated sites around the world, according to Rutgers scientists. Their research, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, needs further work to realize the full potential of the beneficial bottom-dwelling microbes.

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With the number of extreme weather days rising around the globe in recent years due to global warming, it is no surprise that there has been an upward trend in hospital visits and admissions for injuries caused by high heat over the last several years. But cold temperatures are responsible for almost all temperature-related deaths, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research.

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Published recently in the journal Sensors, a new study by Berkeley Lab air quality scientists tested four models of low-cost air quality monitors during actual wildfire pollution events and found that their readings of PM2.5 – or particulate matter under 2.5 microns, which has been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular issues – were consistently higher than the reference monitor used by the regulatory agencies; however, since each monitor had a relatively consistent response to the smoke, it is possible to use the readings to estimate true PM2.5 levels. Overall, the researchers concluded that the monitors can provide actionable information.

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For nearly 50 years, a statistical omission tantamount to data falsification sat undiscovered in a critical study at the heart of regulating one of the most controversial and widely used pesticides in America -- chlorpyrifos.

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Transport noise is a major problem in Europe, with over 100 million people living in areas where road traffic noise exceeds levels greater than 55dB, the health-based threshold set by the EU.

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Hazardous materials expert outlines safe handling of ammonium nitrate and likely causes of Beirut explosion

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Antibiotic resistance is an increasing health problem, but new research suggests it is not only caused by the overuse of antibiotics. It’s also caused by pollution.

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oronaviruses were detected in a high proportion of bats and rodents in Viet Nam from 2013 to 2014, with an increasing proportion of positive samples found along the wildlife supply chain from traders to large markets to restaurants, according to a study published August 10 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Amanda Fine of the Wildlife Conservation Society and colleagues.

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Professor Scott Goetz, research professor Patrick Jantz and research associate Pat Burns of Northern Arizona University contributed to the study, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, that found world’s “best of the last” tropical forests are at significant risk of being lost,

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Two federal environmental standards regulating lead hazards in homes and child care facilities have different maximum thresholds, a discrepancy putting more than 35,000 kids in the United States at increased risk of lead poisoning.

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A post-lockdown economic recovery plan that incorporates and emphasises climate-friendly choices could help significantly in the battle against global warming, according to a new study.

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UC San Diego researchers formulated polyurethane foams, made from algae oil, to meet commercial specifications for midsole shoes and the foot-bed of flip-flops. Their latest result, in a series of recent research publications, offers a complete solution to the plastics problem—at least for polyurethanes.

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Ten years after the Tohoku-oki earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, radiation levels have fallen in all but the waters closest to the plant. But a new hazard exists and is growing every day in the number of storage tanks on land surrounding the power plant that hold contaminated wastewater.

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UCLA Fielding School of Public Health team leading California state study of air pollution and COVID-19. A research team led by UCLA Fielding School of Public Health faculty has been awarded a contract to study connections between air pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

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The changes in the environment and biodiversity brought on by climate change could be responsible for increases in allergies, autoimmune diseases and autism, according to a Rutgers researcher

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A new study led by researchers at McGill University finds that people who get their news from social media are more likely to have misperceptions about COVID-19.

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A new study from Australian scientists at the forefront of climate and health modelling suggests electric fans and water dousing could be a viable stay-at-home cooling strategy as the United States (US) anticipates extreme heat.

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As schools prepare to reopen and more people are heading back to their offices and shared work spaces, Syracuse University Professor Jianshun "Jensen" Zhang offers a three-step plan to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and help prevent the spread of COVID indoors.

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Wealthier communities went from being the most mobile before the COVID-19 pandemic to the least mobile, while poorer areas have gone from the least mobile to the most mobile, according to a study by the University of California, Davis.

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By analyzing urine samples and wastewater, researchers report in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology how human exposure to bisphenols has changed over time in an Australian population.