Earth

Health & Medicine

Gulf War Syndrome real, Institute of Medicine concludes

U.S. veterans who claim to suffer from Gulf War Syndrome just received powerful new ammunition against arguments that their symptoms are trivial, if not altogether fictional. On April 9, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences issued a report that concludes military service in the Persian Gulf War has not only been a cause of post-traumatic stress disorder in some veterans but also is "associated with multisymptom illness” – as in Gulf War Syndrome.

Health & Medicine

Traffic’s soot elevates blood pressure

Legions of studies have shown that air pollution can harm the heart and blood vessels. Scientists now have linked airborne concentrations of tiny black-carbon particles — soot — with increasing blood pressure in older men. They also showed that the genes we inherit appear to play a big role in determining our vulnerability to soot’s pressurizing impacts.

Earth

A fresh look at Mount St. Helens

Nearly 30 years after the peak’s major eruption, recovery has just begun.

Humans

Water, water everywhere

Sid Perkins uncovers the amazing amount of “hidden water” in many consumer products.

Chemistry

Study reports hints of phthalate threat to boys’ IQs

You may have a hard time spelling phthalates, but there’s no avoiding them. They’re in the air you breathe, water you drink and foods you eat. And this ubiquity may carry a price, particularly for young boys, emerging data suggest. Including a drop in their IQ.

Climate

Alaskan peatlands expanded rapidly as ice age waned

The rapid growth of Alaskan wetlands before 8,600 years ago was due to hotter summers and colder winters, which could spell trouble in a warmer world, a new study suggests.

Chemistry

Skin as a source of drug pollution

Traces of over-the-counter and prescription meds taint the environment. The presumption Ì and it's a good one Ì has been that most of these residues come from the urine and solid wastes excreted by treated patients. But in some instances, a leading source of a drug may be skin Ì either because the medicine was applied there or because people sweat it out.

Planetary Science

Warmth in the dark age

Lower reflectivity kept Earth from freezing under a fainter young sun.

Chemistry

Mothballs deserve respect

I don’t use mothballs — except sometimes to sprinkle down the burrows of animals excavating tunnels beneath the deck floor of my pergola. It’s the most effective stop-work order for wildlife that I’ve found. But I won’t use these stinky crystals inside my home because they scare me. And those fears appear justified, according to Linda Hall of the California Environmental Protection Agency.

Tech

Smokin’ entrees: Charcoal grilling tops the list

At the American Chemical Society meeting, earlier this week, I stayed at a hotel that fronted onto the kitchen door of a Burger King. This explained the source of the beefy scent that perfumed the air from mid-morning on – the restaurant’s exhaust of smoke and meat-derived aerosols. A study presented at the meeting confirmed what my nose observed: that commercial grilling can release relatively huge amounts of pollutants.

Humans

Wildlife trade meeting disappoints marine scientists

The 15th meeting of signatories to the CITES treaty ended on March 25 without passing several proposals to protect high-profile fish species.

Earth

Alternative flame retardants leach into the environment

Supposedly safer chemicals are spotted in peregrine falcon eggs in California.