Environment

What happens if Earth loses its last remaining large animals

Are elephants important? How about rhinos? Or lions? What happens if Earth loses its last remaining large animals? A new study by biologist Felisa Smith at...

Environmental noise can cause inflammation, blood vessel damage

In a recent study from Massachusetts General Hospital, scientists found a mechanism through which long-term exposure to noise leads to inflammation, blood vessel damage,...

Scientists find harmful metal lead in turmeric

In two studies, researchers found processors in Bangladesh, one of the world’s predominant regions for growing turmeric, sometimes add a lead-laced chemical compound to...

Why the Salton Sea in California is turning into toxic dust

The Salton Sea, California’s most polluted inland lake, has lost a third of its water in the last 25 years. New research has determined a...

Extreme heat and drought are driving Valley fever’s increase in California

Valley fever, also called coccidioidomycosis, is an infection caused by the fungus Coccidioides. The fungus is known to live in the soil in the southwestern United...

Background noise may increase your risk of stroke

Background noise or ambient noise is any sound other than the sound being monitored. Background noise is a form of noise pollution or interference....

Air pollution worsens COVID-19 outcomes, even in the fully vaccinated

In a study from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, scientists found that exposure to poor air quality worsens patient outcomes in COVID-19,...

Air pollution may cause heart attack within an hour

In a study from Fudan University, scientists found exposure to air pollutants – even at levels below World Health Organization air quality guidelines –...

North Atlantic reached a tipping point, shows Ice Age study

Scientists have used centuries-old clam shells to see how the North Atlantic climate system reached a "tipping point" before the Little Ice Age. The Little...

Light accelerates conductivity in nature’s electric grid

The natural world possesses its own intrinsic electrical grid composed of a global web of tiny bacteria-generated nanowires in the soil and oceans that...