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To paraphrase, ‘one cost of safety is eternal vigilance’

As manufacturers attempt to change the definition of PFASs (forever chemicals), a group of scientists have come together to defend the existing definitions.

The undersigned are scientists with expertise in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and/or the management of chemicals. We assert that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) definition of PFASs is scientifically grounded, unambiguous, and well suited to identify these chemicals. We are concerned that some individuals and organizations are seeking a redefinition of PFASs endorsed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) to exclude certain fluorinated chemical subgroups from the scope of the existing definition. We are concerned that this effort is politically and/or economically, rather than scientifically, motivated. An IUPAC-endorsed and potentially narrower PFAS definition could confer undue legitimacy from the endorsement by a recognized global scientific organization and, thereby, influence regulatory bodies and others to adopt less protective policies.

Risk factors play a pivotal role in shaping the AL burden spectrum. The research distinctly identifies high body mass index (BMI), tobacco smoking, and exposures to occupational carcinogens such as benzene and formaldehyde as principal contributors to DALYs attributable to acute leukemia. Notably, high BMI and smoking prevalently drive leukemia risks in developed nations, while occupational exposures remain more critical in developing economies. This dichotomy reflects disparate environmental and lifestyle contexts, underscoring the necessity for targeted intervention frameworks spanning prevention, regulation, and behavioral health.

Several bat species live >20–40 years, suggesting that they possess efficient anti-aging and anti-cancer defenses.

We hypothesize that some bat species have evolved enhanced p53 activity as an additional anti-cancer strategy, similar to elephants. Further, the absence of unique cell-autonomous tumor suppressive mechanisms may suggest that in vivo bats may rely on enhanced immunosurveillance.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have reached a significant milestone in environmental chemistry by developing an innovative method that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) – a notorious greenhouse gas and byproduct of industrial activities – into metal oxalates. These metal oxalates can then serve as precursors for cement production, thereby addressing two pressing global challenges: carbon emissions and increasing demand for sustainable construction materials. This breakthrough unveils the potential of reengineering carbon dioxide into valuable resources rather than merely accepting it as waste.

Cement manufacturing is notorious for its high carbon footprint due to the energy-intensive processes involved, primarily the production of Portland cement. By finding alternatives to conventional cement production, researchers are not just addressing environmental concerns but also paving the way for advancements in construction materials.

The association between silica exposure and autoimmune disease was first described by Bramwell in 1914, who observed scleroderma among stone masons .

Fifty years later, Erasmus found an increased incidence of systemic sclerosis (SSc) among South African gold miners, later referred to as Erasmus syndrome.

In 1952, Caplan described the occurrence of multiple lung nodules in coal miners who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), comorbidity known as Caplan's syndrome or rheumatoid pneumoconiosis.

Significant risk of developing SSc, RA, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), dermatomyositis/polymyositis and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-positive vasculitis has been linked to silica exposure and a study demonstrates that male patients with SSc have a high prevalence of occupational exposure to silica or solvents.

ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV) are a group of rare, primary, systemic necrotizing small-vessel vasculitides. Granulomatosis with polyangiitis and microscopic polyangiitis account for ∼80–90% of all AAV.

Exposure to silica dust, farming and chronic nasal Staphylococcus aureus carriage are associated with increased risk of developing AAV. When a diagnosis of AAV is suspected, as in patients with multisystem organ dysfunction or those with features such as chronic recurrent rhinosinusitis, cavitated lung nodules, palpable purpura or acute kidney injury, then appropriate further investigations are needed, including ANCA testing.

The dust in between stars is made up of little grains of things like carbon, silicon, and iron. "Places where stars form are filled with cold, dense gas, and are rich in dust—that's why star formation is very obscured by dust in general." The interstellar dust provides a lot of the raw materials for the eventual planet formation, too.

"Therefore, if the properties of the dust in distant galaxies are similar to those of our own Milky Way, then we expect the properties of their planets to be similar, too."

As cases of chronic kidney disease emerge in outdoor laborers around the world, scientists are finding that repeated damage from prolonged extreme heat seems to be a leading factor to kidney failure

People working in construction and agriculture don’t just get hot from being outside in the Sun — they also generate heat through physical labour. Sweating a lot can leave them dangerously dehydrated at the end of a workday, even if they drink water as usual, says Giudice.

Except in the most severe cases, researchers thought that the kidneys could quickly bounce back from heat stress with no long-term damage. The emergence of CKDu instead hints that small, repeated injuries — even those that don’t result in a hospital visit — can build up over time. Compounded and amplified by other exposures, these small insults can lead to end-stage kidney failure, says Giudice.

“You’re having this acute kidney injury day after day,” she says. “Then you progress to a state where the cells can’t recover fully.”

When these storms move over land, they affect the air people breathe. The particles hang in the air and create haze. Visibility drops. Local weather stations often issue health warnings.

Breathing dust can cause problems. It may trigger asthma, irritate lungs, or worsen heart conditions. Even people far from the desert feel the impact. These storms can reach Europe, the Caribbean, or the Americas.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is beginning a two-week national inspection campaign focusing on silica dust exposure in construction.

The campaign aims to highlight the serious risks associated with exposure to silica dust, which can occur anywhere that concrete, stone, or sand-based materials are being used.

According to the HSA, exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust at work can cause silicosis, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other serious diseases.

Silicosis is a progressive, incurable lung disease caused by inhaling fine silica dust particles that damage and scar lung tissue.

During the campaign, inspectors will focus on activities known to generate silica dust, such as cutting, grinding, drilling, and demolition of materials like concrete, stone, and brick.

The disease is spread by parasites found in kissing bugs, which suck the blood of people when they are sleeping. The bugs typically bite victims around their faces, which gives them their ironically sweet-sounding name. The bugs transmit the internal parasites in their poop, which infects the bloodstream of human hosts through the bite wounds.

The main issue with Chagas disease as a public health problem is that most people don't know they're infected until symptoms appear and it's too late to treat them.

Dust particles thrown up from deserts such as the Sahara and Gobi are playing a previously unknown role in air pollution, a new study has found.

Aged desert dust particles, which were once considered too big and dry to host significant chemical reactions, actually act as "chemical reactors in the sky"—facilitating the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA), a major component of airborne particles.

Scientists recently used the orbiter’s camera to take a stunning new image of Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system. The image is part of a continuing effort by the Odyssey team to provide high-altitude views of the planet’s horizon. (The first of these views was published in late 2023.) Similar to the perspective of Earth astronauts get aboard the International Space Station, the view enables scientists to learn more about clouds and airborne dust at Mars.

A groundbreaking tool developed by the University of St Andrews is transforming how cultural heritage institutions identify toxic pigments in historic books, making it easier than ever to distinguish hazardous books from those which are safe to handle and display.

The new device, developed in collaboration between The University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums and the School of Physics and Astronomy, can quickly and cheaply detect the presence of toxic pigment in book bindings.

Although it has long been known that historic wallpapers and textiles, particularly those colored a vivid green may contain arsenic, the focus in recent years has been on bright-green-colored book bindings. This is because publishers used arsenic to achieve a vibrant green color known as emerald green.

“We found a range of histologic abnormalities in a multinational case series of workers with silicosarcoidosis that overlap with features of both silicosis and sarcoidosis,” the researchers wrote.

Histology findings indicated granulomas in 86% and lymphocytic inflammation and/or lymphoid aggregates in 94% of patients with evaluable lung tissue. Lung interstitial findings showed silicotic nodules in 39%, mixed-dust macules/nodules in 44%, and birefringent dust in 50%, according to the study.

A community living in the shadow of a quarry have described their lives being blighted by terrifying explosions and fears of exposure to toxic dust, dubbing the ordeal “the slow Aberfan disaster”.

Craig Yr Hesg quarry in Glyncoch, near Pontypridd was given the green light to expand by the former climate change minister Julie James in 2022 following an appeal.

The stone found at Craig-yr-Hesg has been described as one of the highest quality in the UK with 10 million tonnes expected to be quarried at the site over the next two decades.

But people living nearby say they have suffered breathing difficulties and mental health struggles.

Heidelberg Materials says there is “no evidence” to suggest any link between quarrying and lung disease among members of the public who live close to quarries.

RCTCBC says it raised objections relating to lack of standards for nuisance dust during the planning appeal stage of the quarry’s expansion.

A thick plume of sand and dust from the Sahara Desert is seen in these images blowing from the west coast of Africa across the Atlantic Ocean.

Sandstorms, which are common over the Sahara, occur when large amounts of dust particles from the desert are swept up by strong winds. They can float for days or even weeks, depending on how dry, fast and turbulent the air masses become. Winds in the higher troposphere can then transport the dust across oceans and continents. This kind of Saharan dust storm is also known as the Saharan Air Layer, which typically forms between late spring and early autumn.

More than 10 percent of workers in Queensland (QLD) tunnelling projects are at risk of developing silicosis or lung cancer in their lifetimes, according to a new study published in the April edition of the Annals of Work Exposures and Health by Oxford University Press.

The authors concluded, “in a cohort of around 2,000 workers who serviced the Queensland tunnel projects, it was estimated that between 20 and 30 cases of lung cancer and between 200 and 300 cases of silicosis would develop over their lifetime as a result of exposure to RCS [respirable crystalline silica].”

Given the secrecy surrounding more recent air quality readings, these figures are likely an underestimation of the unfolding health disaster facing tunnelling workers throughout the state and more broadly.

Given the urgency of addressing the climate and biodiversity crises, the world can’t wait another decade to fix the problems humans have created. Ocean life is too precious and important to lose, and shifts in the chemical and physical environments of the sea, once made, will be irreversible on timescales of centuries to millennia.

Currently, the most effective tick repellents contain ingredients like DEET and permethrin, which are safe when used as directed but are not benign or ideal, and some people simply don't like to use them.

The sebaceous glands of horses and donkeys create secretions that keep their skin moist and include allomones, or chemical substances that affect the behavior of other plant and animal species. Previous research has shown that ticks that feed off horses but not donkeys will be repelled from horses when the horses' smell is masked using one of the compounds, known as (E)-2-octenal, secreted by donkey skin.

Thousands of former gold miners suffering from lung diseases such as silicosis and tuberculosis are still waiting for compensation years after applying to the Tshiamiso Trust.

The trust was set up after a class action settlement for miners who worked in South African gold mines and were exposed to silica dust.

The lawsuit incorporates former mineworkers from South Africa and the SADC region. The settlement covers those who worked between 1965 and 2019, but some families have lost hope.

A CNN investigation has found that in just five months, President Donald Trump dismantled the safety net that has for years protected miners from lung disease, aided those already afflicted and kept miners safe on the job.

Since January, “impact” inspections targeting mines with immediate dangers or the most troubling records of health and safety violations have dropped by 75 percent from the same period a year ago, according to data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). They are at their lowest level for any year with data available since such “impact” inspections began in 2010.

This antibiotic resistance can occur through many routes, one of which is efflux pumps.

These are essentially little pumps that sit in the cell membrane and pump molecules from inside the cell to outside the cell.

Because antibiotics look like the molecules they normally export, the cell decides to make more efflux pumps and therefore, become antibiotic resistant.

These efflux inhibitors could be used in combination with antibiotics, enabling the antibiotic to concentrate within the cell becoming both more effective and able to stop resistance from emerging.

But these errant strands of DNA do not just settle into muddy soil or flow along rivers. The air itself is infused with genetic material. A simple air filter running for hours, days or weeks can pick up signs of nearly every species that grows or wanders nearby.

As a proof of concept, the researchers showed that they could pick up signs of hundreds of different human pathogens from the Dublin air, including viruses and bacteria. Such surveillance could help scientists track emerging diseases. The same method can track common allergens, like peanut or pollen, more precisely than is currently possible, the scientists discovered.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic cardiovascular disease that affects millions of people worldwide. The disease is marked by the accumulation of cholesterol—especially low-density lipoprotein (LDL)—in the arterial walls, leading to plaque formation that restricts blood flow.

Over time, plaques can rupture, causing serious complications such as heart attacks and strokes.

Although atherosclerosis has historically been considered a vascular disorder, recent studies have highlighted the central role of inflammation and the immune response in driving the disease. This has opened new avenues for treating the disease by modulating the immune system.