Environment

Microplastics—fragments of plastic smaller than 5mm—are accumulating in the environment. They're found in soil, water, food, even in human lungs, placentas and blood. These plastic particles shed from items we use daily, such as synthetic clothes, tires, plastic packaging and paint.... Read more

A study by EPFL and the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) has found that tire additives enter into and pass through the food chain. Further research is needed to establish the implications for human health.... Read more

Wildfires have increased in frequency and intensity due to climate change and now contribute to nearly half of the annual average of fine particulate matter in the US. Increasing temperatures due to climate change suggest a continuation of the increase in frequency, duration, and intensity of extreme events like wildfires... Read more

A new study from North Carolina State University researchers finds that conversion of forests to urban development or agriculture near streams can have harmful effects on water quality downstream, presenting both health concerns and raising the cost of water treatment.... Read more

When does "anomalous weather" become "a new climate"? The moment that variations in a specific climate variable turn into the new normal is termed Time of Emergence (ToE). Scientists from the University of Groningen and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) have developed a method to predict the time of... Read more

William & Mary's Batten School & VIMS have released their 2024 U.S. sea level "report cards," providing updated analyses of sea level trends and projections for 36 coastal communities. Encompassing 55 years of historical data, the report cards aid planning and adaptation efforts by analyzing rates of sea level rise... Read more

The UK government must urgently draw up a comprehensive national strategy to tackle microplastic pollution or risk falling further behind international efforts to address one of the most pervasive environmental threats of our time, researchers have warned.... Read more

Worldwide, more than 500,000 children under age 5 die each year from gastrointestinal bacterial infections, largely in communities with limited access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure. But to alleviate this public health threat, scientists need to better understand how these pathogens spread.... Read more

As climate and health researchers, we find it hard not to notice the lack of debate around climate change in this federal election.... Read more

Summers are getting hotter and drier in the Eurasian landmass due to an atmospheric circulation pattern further aggravated by anthropogenic factors. The recent tandem heat-wave-drought events in the region stretching from Eastern Europe to East Asia are unprecedented, as confirmed by a new study that analyzed tree-ring data going back... Read more

Up to 250,000 deaths from poor air quality could be prevented annually in central and western Europe by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced, say researchers.... Read more

Coastal waters around the world are increasingly losing oxygen, with dramatic consequences for both ecosystems and the people who depend on them. The Baltic Sea is a well-known example: with the consequences of spreading hypoxic or anoxic zones evident in fish kills, the decline of spawning grounds and toxic blue-green... Read more

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur have developed a new low-cost mobile tool to detect arsenic contamination in water sources, addressing a critical threat to human health and the environment.... Read more

One of the pillars of the Brazilian economy and one of the sectors responsible for the highest greenhouse gas emissions, beef production in Brazil, as it is currently practiced, emits more than twice the limit needed to meet international environmental targets. This is one of the conclusions of a study... Read more

Growing communities and extensive agriculture throughout the Western United States rely on meltwater that spills out of snow-capped mountains every spring. The models for predicting the amount of this streamflow available each year have long assumed that a small fraction of snowmelt each year enters shallow soil, with the remainder... Read more