By Andrew D. Hwang Humans are the most populous large mammal on Earth today, and probably in all of geological history. This World Population Day, humans number in the vicinity of 7.5 to 7.6 billion individuals. Can the Earth support this many people indefinitely? What will happen if we do nothing to manage future population […]
By John F. Tooker Planting season for corn and soybeans across the U.S. corn belt is drawing to a close. As they plant, farmers are participating in what is likely to be one of the largest deployments of insecticides in U.S. history. Almost every field corn seed planted this year in the U.S.—approximately 90 million […]
By Jonathan Buonocore New plans to build two commercial offshore wind farms near the Massachusetts and Rhode Island coasts have sparked a lot of discussion about the vast potential of this previously untapped source of electricity. But as an environmental health and climate researcher, I’m intrigued by how this gust of offshore wind power may […]
By Som Niyogi and Solomon Amuno Even though it was closed decades ago, the Giant Mine on the outskirts of Yellowknife has left a long environmental legacy. The gold extraction process, which required roasting ores at extremely high temperatures, created a toxic byproduct called arsenic trioxide. For about 55 years (1948-2004), arsenic and other toxic […]
By Sophie Medlin On her Goop website, Gwyneth Paltrow claimed that charcoal lemonade was one of the “best juice cleansers.” That was in 2014. Today, charcoal products—from croissants to capsules—are everywhere. Even high street coffee chains have taken to selling charcoal “shots.” Some vendors of these products claim that activated charcoal can boost your energy, […]
By Gabriel Diaz Montemayor Mexico City long ago outgrew the two-terminal Benito Juárez International Airport, which is notorious for delays, overcrowding and canceled flights. Construction is now underway on a striking new international airport east of this metropolis of 20 million. When it opens in late 2020, the LEED-certified new airport—whose terminal building was designed […]
By Mariana Fuentes Have you ever considered that small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long, or smaller than a pencil eraser head, called microplastics, can affect large marine vertebrates like sea turtles? My research team first discovered this disturbing fact when we started to quantify the amount and type of microplastic at loggerhead […]
By Haixia Yang The antimicrobial chemical triclosan is in thousands of products that we use daily: hand soaps, toothpastes, body wash, kitchenware and even some toys. Work in our lab suggests that this compound may have widespread health risks, including aggravating inflammation in the gut and promoting the development of colon cancer by altering the […]
By Michael Green Nevadans can be forgiven for thinking they are in an endless loop of “The Walking Dead” TV series. Their least favorite zombie federal project refuses to die. In 2010, Congress had abandoned plans to turn Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, into the nation’s only federal dump for nuclear […]