The United States government would get a better bang for its health-care buck in managing the country’s most prevalent childhood disabilities if it invested more in eliminating socio-environmental risk factors than in developing medicines.
Tag Archives: environment
Nanoparticles may damage plant DNA
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) have provided the first evidence that engineered nanoparticles are able to accumulate within plants and damage their DNA. In a recent paper, the team led by NIST chemist Bryant C. Nelson showed that under laboratory conditions, cupric oxide nanoparticles have the capacity to enter plant root cells and generate many mutagenic DNA base lesions.
30 years of ecological research shows causes and consequences of climate change
As global temperatures rise, the most threatened ecosystems are those that depend on a season of snow and ice, scientists from the nation’s Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network say.”The vulnerability of cool, wet areas to climate change is striking,” says Julia Jones, a lead author in a special issue of the journal BioScience released today featuring results from more than 30 years of LTER, a program of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
All-natural nano-sponge absorbs CO2
A new method of developing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has made them completely environmentally friendly. They are not only capable of detecting, capturing and storing CO2, but are largely made of it as well. They are in fact so green that … Continue reading
Making batteries greener and better with algae
Existing batteries are not known for their environmentally friendly components, since most contain heavily toxic chemicals. The much used lithium-ion batteries, best known for their use in cell phones and electric cars, for instance can contain pollutants that may decrease … Continue reading
New model predicts environmental effects of drugs
Pharmaceutical products although usually beneficial to human health often end up in the environment with just the opposite effect on wildlife. But we are at risk as well since increasing amounts of drugs end up in our drinking water. To … Continue reading