Residents of Baltimore’s low-income neighborhoods who believe rats are a big problem where they live are significantly more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms such as sadness and anxiety, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.
A new study quantifies the public health costs of polluted air from existing coal-fired power plants in the Western Balkans at up to 8.5 EUR billion per year.
“If you live in flammable countryside, you’ve got to work with fire. You can’t make it go away,” according to professor Mark Cochrane, a wildfire expert and senior scientist at the Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence. That means moving from the notion that fires are unnatural and toward a managed approach that involves reintegrating fire as a vital landscape process and building communities that are resilient to fire.
Rising temperatures worldwide are changing not only weather systems, but — just as importantly — the distribution of water around the globe, according to a study published today (March 14, 2016) in the journal, “Scientific Reports.”
Low levels of pesticides can impact the foraging behaviour of bumblebees on wild flowers, changing their floral preferences and hindering their ability to learn the skills needed to extract nectar and pollen, according to a study co-authored by a University of Guelph professor.
The human microbiome, a diverse collection of microorganisms living inside us and on our skin, has attracted considerable attention for its role in a broad range of human health issues. Now, researchers are discovering that the built environment also has a microbiome, which includes a community of potentially-pathogenic bacteria living inside water supply pipes.
The American Thoracic Society applauds the collaborative effort of President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change.
Alternative methods to animal testing, how epigenomic exposures impact health, safety of toxic metals in foods, effects of exposures to nanoparticles, generational effects of environmental exposures, and the toxicological effects of manmade and natural disasters are the topics of some of the more than 170 scientific sessions being conducted at the 55th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo of the Society of Toxicology (SOT), March 13–17, 2016, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
More people live close to sea coast than earlier estimated, assess researchers in a new study. These people are the most vulnerable to the rise of the sea level as well as to the increased number of floods and intensified storms. By using recent increased resolution datasets, Aalto University researchers estimate that 1.9 billion inhabitants, or 28% of the world's total population, live closer than 100 km from the coast in areas less than 100 meters above the present sea level.
Scientists looking for environmental and occupational health risks are less likely to find them if they have a financial tie to firms that make, use, or dispose of industrial and commercial products, a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher has found.
Groups of 2 or single individuals less likely to be caught in an avalanche than larger groups, according to a new report in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine.
Heavy city traffic contributes significantly to air pollution and health problems such as asthma, but University of Texas at Dallas researchers think another kind of traffic — data traffic — might help citizens better cope with pollution.
Salmon have an ace up their sleeve -- or in their gills -- when facing challenging conditions that could affect their hearts, according to a study led by a University of Guelph researcher. The researchers found that carbonic anhydrase (CA) can help improve delivery of oxygen to the heart.
DETROIT – Wayne State University announced today that it has formed the Flint Area Community Health and Environment Partnership (FACHEP). The research group, led by Wayne State researchers specializing in environmental engineering and public health, will conduct an independent study to evaluate the possible association between changes in Flint’s water system and public health, specifically the recent Legionnaires’ disease outbreak.
The first phase of the investigation is set to begin March 1, with FACHEP researchers engaging with the community to set up enhanced disease and environmental surveillance in Flint and Genesee County. Shawn McElmurry, an environmental and civil engineering professor in Wayne State’s College of Engineering, will lead FACHEP’s efforts, along with epidemiological investigator Dr. Paul Kilgore from Wayne State’s Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
“Our number one goal at this early stage of the study is to connect with the people of
Higher food prices, a significant boost in greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change and major loss of forest and pasture land would be some results if genetically modified organisms in the United States were banned, according to a Purdue University study.
Five exceptional early career scientists will receive new grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. The awards, totaling $2.5 million, are part of the Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) program.
University of Saskatchewan researchers working to protect the environment from oil and mining contamination and improve nuclear power technology have received a $1.5 million boost from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
Figure this: Asian and Formosan subterranean termites cause about $32 billion in damage annually, worldwide, when you combine harm to structures and measures to control them. UF/IFAS entomologists estimate half the structures in South Florida will be at risk of infestation by subterranean termites by 2040.
Thanks to a close collaboration between the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), SR Technics and the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA), Switzerland is setting an international benchmark by developing a method for measuring emissions of fine particulate matter from aircraft engines. The Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recently approved a preliminary standard governing the emission of particulates by aircraft engines.
Extreme heat can pose several health risks, such as dehydration, hyperthermia and even death, especially during sustained periods of high temperatures. However, a uniform definition of a heat wave doesn’t exist. As a result, public health agencies may be unsure of when to activate heat alerts, cooling centers and other protective measures. A University of Missouri School of Medicine researcher has developed a uniform definition of a heat wave that may help public health agencies prepare for extreme temperatures.
The Aliso Canyon natural gas well blowout released more than 100,000 tons of the powerful greenhouse gas methane before the well was finally plugged Feb. 11, according to the first study of the event, to be published Feb. 26 in the journal Science. The results confirm that it was the largest methane leak in U.S. history.
The Aliso Canyon natural gas well blowout, first reported on Oct. 23, 2015, released over 100,000 tons of the powerful greenhouse gas methane before the well was sealed on Feb. 11, according to the first study of the accident published today in the journal Science. The results confirm that Aliso Canyon is the largest methane leak in U.S. history.
Environmental scientists at the University of Virginia have found that surface ozone, an abundant chemical known to be toxic to many species of vegetation and to humans, does not necessarily inhibit the productivity of natural ecosystems.
On 25 February 2016, a group of scientific societies, companies, research institutes, and governmental agencies launched the Phytobiomes Roadmap presenting a new vision for agriculture to increase health, productivity, and sustainability of our current cropping and forest systems.
Hundreds of methane-emitting hot spots have been identified across the Los Angeles Basin, including a “clean ports” truck refueling facility near the Port of Long Beach, power plants, water treatment facilities, and cattle in Chino, according to new findings by the University of California, Irvine.
Jennifer Jacquet, an assistant professor in New York University’s Department of Environmental Studies, has received a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation to examine the feasibility of altering fisheries policies on the high seas.
Tough emission controls have dramatically reduced the amount of toxic sulfate particles in air, but at least in the Southeast United States, they haven't reduced the acidity of the health-threatening particles.
Excessive growth of bacteria in the small intestine could be damaging the guts of young children, leading to stunting, scientists from the U.S. and Bangladesh have discovered.
Laboratory rats who breathed Beijing's highly polluted air gained weight and experienced cardio-respiratory and metabolic dysfunctions after three to eight weeks of exposure.
A UCLA study has found that the state agency responsible for protecting Californians from the dangers of pesticides is failing to assess the health risks likely posed by pesticide mixtures, which are believed to be more harmful than individual pesticides.
Individuals subjected to chronic low-dose exposure to organochlorine pesticides show and increased risk to obtain a future diagnosis of cognitive impairment. This is shown in a study now published in Environmental International.
The first of an American Cleaning Institute-sponsored webinar series on “Advancing the Science on Chemical-Induced Asthma” kicks off February 25 to help provide researchers with greater insights on an often mischaracterized topic.
New research shows that more than 5.5 million people die prematurely every year due to household and outdoor air pollution. More than half of deaths occur in two of the world's fastest growing economies, China and India.
Following their release of a state-commissioned study on the potential public health impacts of fracking in Western Maryland, University of Maryland researchers are helping to inform the conversation about the potential risks associated with unconventional natural gas development and production.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have created a map of the world’s chemical landscape, a catalogue of 10,000 chemicals for which there is available safety data that they say can predict the toxicity of many of the 90,000 or more other substances in consumer products for which there is no such information.
An advanced system for treating manure on a commercial dairy farm did not remove estrogens and antibiotics. This new research underscores how far waste treatment systems have fallen behind the times, failing to remove chemicals used routinely in modern society.
A new study by University of Queensland and WCS shows a dramatic global mismatch between nations producing the most greenhouse gases and the ones most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
A research team led by Assistant Professor Duong Hai Minh from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Engineering, has achieved a world’s first by successfully converting paper waste into green cellulose aerogels that are non-toxic, ultralight, flexible, extremely strong and water repellent. This novel material is ideal for applications such as oil spill cleaning, heat insulation as well as packaging, and it can potentially be used as coating materials for drug delivery and as smart materials for various biomedical applications.
A new UCLA study demonstrates that BPS, a common replacement for BPA, speeds up embryonic development and disrupts the reproductive system. The research is the first to examine the effects of BPA and BPS on key brain cells and genes that control organs involved in reproduction.
Some of the most widely used commercial chemicals to kill bedbugs are not effective because the pesky insects have built up a tolerance to them, according to a team of researchers from Virginia Tech and New Mexico State University.