December 21, 2018
Rising carbon dioxide may raise risk of nutrient deficiencies in humans
Plants absorb carbon dioxide to fuel their growth. As humans increase the amount of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, more will be available …
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Human Health
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17 articles · Page 1 of 1
December 21, 2018
The geology of kidney stones revealed
Kidney stones are an excruciatingly painful problem for 10 percent of the world’s population. In a new study applying geobiological methods to …
October 16, 2018
Mercury on the roof of the world
Traditional Tibetan Medicines (TTM) are dispensed in pill form by pharmacists who mix minerals and herbs together in centuries-old recipes. But …
June 5, 2018
Toxic treatments: Lead lingers in folk remedies
Lead is one of the most ubiquitous heavy metals in nature, and, for decades, it was a common ingredient in a wide range of consumer goods. After …
December 14, 2017
Stable isotopes offer novel methods of disease detection
Astronauts lead dangerous lives. Besides the inherent risks of blastoff, re-entry and space flight, astronauts experience myriad physical changes …
November 15, 2017
Benchmarks: December 5, 1952: The Great Smog smothers London
On Friday, Dec., 5, 1952, a blanket of thick, yellow smog settled over London, cloaking the city for five days straight. Smog wasn’t uncommon — …
November 15, 2016
Smokier U.S. West as climate changes
Extended wildfire seasons and larger and more frequent burns will likely be the consequence of the hotter and drier conditions expected to result …
September 28, 2016
Kilauea increases asthma risk
Kilauea may be best known for its picturesque red lava flowing into the ocean, but new research presented this week at the Geological Society of …
April 1, 2016
Crippling heat stress projected by midcentury in densely populated regions
Extreme heat events, defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as periods of summer weather that are substantially hotter and/or more …
December 31, 2015
Widespread malaria risk from African dams
Large dams cause more than 1 million cases of malaria annually in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the authors of a new study published in …
December 30, 2015
How to feed 11 billion people: Addressing the 21st century's biggest challenge
In April 2008, violent protests erupted across the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti. Enraged by soaring food prices and all-too-frequent …
October 8, 2015
Does the sun trigger autoimmune disease?
For hundreds of years, humans have charted the appearance of sunspots, the changing frequency of which marks highs and lows in the sun’s 11-year …
September 17, 2015
Step one: Soil testing
The first step in planning a community or backyard garden should always be to get the soil tested, getting a read on not only pH and nutrient …
September 4, 2015
Toxic Gardens: The long legacy of urban lead
From a toxicological point of view, soaring lead levels in the home environment represented one of America’s lowest points — but efforts to …
December 9, 2014
Marine mammals blamed for first New World tuberculosis
When Europeans arrived in the Americas they introduced an array of new infectious diseases that decimated the native populations. Now, a new …
December 8, 2014
Antibacterial clays could fight superbugs
Clays with antibacterial properties found near Crater Lake in Oregon could eventually lead to new agents in the fight against …
April 17, 2014
Mapping how malaria risk changes as new dams go up
Malaria is considered a leading public health problem in Ethiopia, with almost 70 percent of the country’s total population of more than 90 …