Environmental

Details: Written by: Amara Omeokwe, Duke University

BPA May Nudge Breast Cancer Cells To Grow The chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, appears to aid the survival of inflammatory breast cancer cells, according to research that reveals a potential mechanism for how the disease grows.

Details: Written by: Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, YES! Magazine

This Invention Lets Rural Hondurans Clean Their Water And Own the Treatment Plants What’s at stake in a world where science is marginalized? Programs like AguaClara, which offer sustainable, low-cost solutions to communities in need.

Details: Written by: Derek Thompson, University of Missouri

There Is More Cancer In Florida Counties That Have Superfund Sites In the United States, Florida has the sixth highest number of hazardous waste sites known as Superfund sites

Details: Written by: Lindsey Konkel, Ensia

What Does The Environment Have To Do With Diseases That Affect The Immune System? The rise in recent decades of diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis suggests that factors in the environment are contributing.

Details: Written by: Conan Milner, Epoch Times

New Report Finds Surprising Levels Of Herbicides In Many Organic Foods Glyphosate is by far the most heavily used chemical weed killer in human history. It’s so pervasive, it’s difficult to avoid ingesting it on a daily basis.

Details: Written by: Elizabeth Grossman, Ensia

12,000 U.S. Schools Are Within A Mile Of A Hazardous Chemical Facility In the absence of a federal U.S. policy for schools located near potentially dangerous sites, community activists search for safer solutions.

Details: Written by: Julie Cohen, University of California, Santa Barbara

Deepwater Spill: How Long Will 125 Hydrocarbons Stay On The Seafloor?

Scientists have now analyzed long-awaited data from the Natural Resource Damage Assessment to determine the specific rates of biodegradation for 125 compounds that settled to the deep ocean floor after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Details: Written by: David R. Montgomery, University of Washington

Why Microbes Are Our Tiny, Crucial Allies Most of us considered microbes little more than nasty germs before science recently began turning our view of the microbial world on its head.

Details: Written by: InnerSelf Staff

Why Heat Is An Urban Killer & What You Can Do About It Among the many human, environmental, and economic impacts of global climate change, heat stress itself is perhaps underestimated as a major challenge to health and sustainability.

Details: Written by: Brett Israel, University of California, Berkeley

A Mom’s Exposure To Toxic Chemicals Shows Up In Their Newborn Low-income and Latina pregnant women in a recent study had widespread exposure to environmental pollutants. In addition, many of the toxins showed up at even higher levels in their newborns

Details: Written by: Peter Rüegg, ETH Zurich

Daily Cookies With Iron Supplement Lower Kids’ Lead Levels Cookies containing iron can cause a striking reduction in the blood lead levels of children in regions with high exposure to the toxic heavy metal, report researchers.

Details: Written by: Gillian Kiley, Brown University

Does Lead Exposure Explain Gap In Test Scores? A decrease in the average level of lead in a preschooler’s blood reduces the probability of that child being substantially below proficient in reading by the third grade, report researchers.

Details: Written by: Jim Erickson, University of Michigan

Mercury contamination is widespread across western North America in the air, soil, lake sediments, plants, fish, and wildlife, according to new research.

Details: Written by: Tara MacIsaac, Epoch Times

45 Potentially Hazardous Chemicals Common in Household Dust Researchers at George Washington University compiled data from household dust samples collected throughout the United States and found 45 potentially toxic chemicals used in many common products, such as vinyl flooring, personal care and cleaning products, building materials, and furniture.

Details: Written by: Richard E. Peltier, University of Massachusetts Amherst

air polution 9 18 Anyone who has stepped off an airplane in one of the major cities of the developing world has encountered profound and noxious air pollution. In New Delhi, Jakarta,

Details: Written by: Barbara Mahe and David Allsop, Lancaster University

Is There A Link Between Car Exhausts And Alzheimer’s? Iron is known to be toxic to brain cells, and tiny magnetic iron particles (magnetite) are thought to be involved in the development of neurological disorders.

Details: Written by: Elizabeth Grossman, Ensia

10 Things You Need To Know About The New US Chemicals Law The updated Toxic Substances Control Act brings new hope for protecting Americans’ health and environment. Here's what it does — and doesn’t — do.

Details: Written by: Sara G. Rasmussen; Brian S. Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University, and Joan A. Casey, University of California, San Francisco

$Flaring at a fracked well in northwestern Pennsylvania. One potential cause of health problems, such as asthma, in communities with fracking is higher rates of air pollution. wcn247/flickr, CC BY-NC$ The fracking industry has been an energy success story: Natural gas prices have decreased as fracking has skyrocketed, and natural gas now produces more electricity than coal does, which has resulted in improved air quality.

Details: Written by: Sheila Mulrooney Eldred, Ensia

Health And Neighborhoods Are Too Often Linked As an emergency room physician in Washington, D.C., it didn’t take long for Leana Wen to notice a pattern

Details: Written by: Stephanie Desmon,Johns Hopkins University

Migraines And Fatigue Spike Near Fracking Sites Neighbors with the most exposure to natural gas fracking are nearly twice as likely to suffer from some combination of migraine headaches, chronic nasal and sinus symptoms, and severe fatigue.

Details: Written by: Emma Thorne, University of Nottingham

Declining Dog Fertility Is An Environmental Warning New research finds that sperm quality in a population of stud dogs studied over a 26-year period had fallen significantly.