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Event to highlight diminishing water resources in California

Turfgrass plays an important role in the landscape and has a direct and significant impact on California's economy. Aesthetically pleasing and present in everyday life, turfgrass provides a safer, cushioned surface for sports and recreational activities and is known to increase home values.

16 Sep 2009

Technology and science tours on Pittsburgh's economy

Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) have driven a dramatic shift in the Pittsburgh economy during the last four decades, transforming the city from a manufacturing town to an international knowledge-based center for research, education and medicine.

14 Sep 2009

Lead exposure may result in cardiovascular mortality

Growing evidence shows that exposure to lead in the environment is associated with cardiovascular disease, including increased risk of hypertension. However, those studies have looked at lead concentrations in blood, not bone lead, a better indicator of cumulative lead exposure over time.

10 Sep 2009

Tel Aviv University biologist discusses about human fertility

About 10% of all couples hoping for a baby have fertility problems. Environmentalists say pollution is to blame and psychiatrists point to our stressful lifestyles, but evolutionary biologist Dr. Oren Hasson of Tel Aviv University's Department of Zoology offers a different take. The reproductive organs of men and women are currently involved in an evolutionary arms race, he reports in a new study. And the fight isn't over yet.

8 Sep 2009

Exposure to air pollution can cause heart attack

It's well known that measures such as exercise, a healthy diet and not smoking can help reduce high blood pressure, but researchers at the University of Michigan Health System have determined the very air we breathe can be an invisible catalyst to heart disease.

8 Sep 2009

New tool for easy assessment of pesticide effects on water bodies

Leipzig: The long-term effects of pesticides on living organisms in rivers and on water quality can now be assessed more easily. Researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) have developed a tool that can estimate the harmful effect of pesticides, such as those flushed into rivers and streams from agricultural land, within minutes.

5 Sep 2009

Low level exposure to carbon dioxide leads to increased risk of hospitalization in older people

Exposure to carbon monoxide, even at levels well below national limits, is associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for the elderly with heart problems, according to a study published today in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

1 Sep 2009

U.S. aerosol scientist analyses the risks posed to workers in pharmacies by using air-pressure activated pill dispensing machines

A leading U.S. aerosol scientist released his analysis, adding further questions about risks posed to workers in pharmacies using air-pressure activated pill dispensing machines. Two machines of this type are presently in use – McKesson/Parata RDS and McKesson/Parata Max.

29 Aug 2009

Forest Laboratories announces phase 3 trial results for roflumilast

Forest Laboratories, Inc., an international pharmaceutical manufacturer and marketer and Nycomed, a privately owned pharmaceutical company, today announced that results of four phase III trials have been published in the prestigious peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet showing that roflumilast, a phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor, improved lung function and reduced exacerbations in patients with moderate to severe COPD.

28 Aug 2009

Study reveals the detrimental effects of high concentration levels of dangerous ultrafine particles in tunnels

A toxic cocktail of ultrafine particles is lurking inside road tunnels in concentration levels so high they have the potential to harm drivers and passengers, a new study has found.

28 Aug 2009

Stony Brook University Hospital and EPA sign historic green partnership

Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, N.Y. is not just the only university-based hospital on Long Island, it is the first hospital in the nation to pledge to reduce its environmental impact through a comprehensive agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

26 Aug 2009

Vertical farms could solve food production problems, opinion piece says

"If climate change and population growth progress at their current pace, in roughly 50 years farming as we know it will no longer exist," which means that the "majority of people could soon be without enough food or water," Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, warns in a New York Times opinion piece

26 Aug 2009

New study suggests that homes pollute up to 50 percent more than the past estimates

They say there's no place like home. But scientists are reporting some unsettling news about homes in the residential areas of California. The typical house there - and probably elsewhere in the country - is an alarming and probably underestimated source of water pollution, according to a new study reported today at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

20 Aug 2009

New report by NSF & Trucost studies GHG emissions and carbon footprints of chemical sector companies and others.

NSF International, a public health and safety organization, and Trucost Plc, a global provider of environmental data and analysis, today announced the availability of a new report entitled, Carbon Emissions – Measuring the Risks.

20 Aug 2009

Keeping asthma under control

A new nationwide telephone survey of 1,001 asthma patients, conducted by AstraZeneca, found that while most patients with asthma understand the risks associated with uncontrolled asthma, they don't always act accordingly.

16 Aug 2009

Outdoor air pollutants at high levels

Higher summertime levels of outdoor ground-level ozone, microscopic particle pollution like smoke and smog, as well as other air pollutants may cause anyone who is sensitive to these airborne contaminants to experience shortness of breath, wheezing and coughing, and may also trigger asthma attacks and cause lung irritation.

12 Aug 2009

Researchers investigate dioxin decomposition in the Viktor Yushchenko poisoning

In 2004 the current Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko, suffered a severe case of dioxin poisoning. In order to understand how the human body reacts to remove the poison, Empa researchers have analyzed over a hundred samples taken from the politician.

6 Aug 2009

New software for cochlear implants and hearing aids

Hearing aids and cochlear implants act as tiny amplifiers so the deaf and hard-of-hearing can make sense of voices and music. Unfortunately, these devices also amplify background sound, so they're less effective in a noisy environment like a busy workplace or cafe.

5 Aug 2009

New bio-hybrid materials could be used as sensors, catalysts, drug-delivery systems, more

Bacteria play a role in myriad industrial processes from fermentation to cleaning up environmental pollution. But floating freely in solution, the microbial cells constantly multiply, generating biomass that must be removed periodically, causing downtime. Additionally, the microorganisms cannot be localized to a specific region of interest.

3 Aug 2009

Tiny device to 'sniff out' disease, heart attacks, poison and environmental pollution

Like the sensitive seismographs that can pick up tremors of impending earthquakes long before they strike, a similar invention from Tel Aviv University researchers may change the face of molecular biology.

3 Aug 2009