Cancer clusters are hard to prove but in Minden, West Virginia—plagued by toxic ghosts from long-shuttered Shaffer Equipment Co.—an uptick of cancer cases seems definitive, especially for residents watching their loved ones die in staggering numbers. Yet, 30 years after…
With the help of scientists, sustainability can be drawn into the blueprints of our cities, which now accommodate over half of the world’s population. From smart waste disposal to driverless cars to tree cover, this special report outlines the many ways science breeds…
People still think of India’s Bhopal tragedy, when 40 tons of a toxic gas spewed from the Union Carbide factory, as one tragic night in December 1984, writes Apoorva Mandavilli—but the disaster is still unfolding. The leak, Mandavilli writes, divided Bhopal’s residents…
India’s Bellandur Lake in Bengaluru is prone to bursting into flames, while a detergent-like foam sometimes tops the Yamuna river flowing through New Delhi.
Up to 22% of infant deaths in sub-Saharan Africa could be prevented with minor improvements to air quality, according to a new study published in Nature.
Up to 22% of infant deaths in sub-Saharan Africa could be prevented with minor improvements to air quality, according to a new study published in Nature.
Michigan's woefully slow response to astronomical lead levels in Flint's drinking water "radicalized" local pediatrician Hanna-Attisha, she writes. The debt-ridden city switched its water supply to cut costs, and officials ignored the attendant lead disaster. So she…
Over 60 bat-borne viruses, including Ebola, are known to infect humans, and researchers at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) are looking to uncover why bats can transmit these viruses without getting sick themselves.
Wastewater treatment plants that take runoff from drug manufacturing sites are laced with anti-fungals, anti-histamines, anti-inflammatories and other drugs.
In its deadly resurgence, black lung disease is more common among Appalachia’s coal miners than previously reported by government research, which relied on voluntary testing of working miners. A new set of studies uncovered a “relentless and increasing progression of…
