he US EPA dismissed its panel tasked with setting air pollution standards last year—but the scientists assembled anyway, the Union of Concerned Scientists reports.
October 17, 2019
By 2100, Nigeria’s population is expected to reach 794 million. In a startling keynote address at yesterday’s Triangle Global Health Conference in Durham, North Carolina, Dennis Carroll invited the audience to ponder six megatrends for the future of global health.
October 11, 2019
The town of Reserve, Louisiana has 50X higher cancer risk than the US national average. No household is untouched by the disease, and this Guardian series—Cancer Town—tracks residents’ quest for clean air in “Cancer Alley,” which sits between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. …
September 3, 2019
Marechal Rondon, a favela in Salvador, Brazil, isn’t an easy place to live. Its 20,000 residents struggle with poverty, poor sanitation, rats, and drug gangs. Working with local people, the international Urban Health Programme is mapping the scale—and locations—of the…
August 26, 2019
Air pollution—already linked to an increased risk of lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, etc.—is now associated with a new risk: eye disease. China Medical University in Taiwan researchers linked air pollutants nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide to a higher risk of…
August 22, 2019
Move over, concrete-and-steel behemoths. There’s a new high-rise on the rise. Amid growing environmental concerns about concrete, high-tech timber buildings have shot up in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific. Innovations in timber technology have eroded concerns…
August 15, 2019
Newark, New Jersey is handing out bottled water this week after the city’s “fleeting solution” to lead contamination in the drinking water supply was flagged by the EPA, NPR’s Sasha Ingber reports.
August 9, 2019
Improving the quality of the urban water supply has historically led to major declines in mortality. However, poor areas often subsist on intermittent water supplies at collection points that are at risk for contamination. A novel passive chlorination device tested in…
August 7, 2019
Renew Ganga, a pilot effort in India, has turned to Varanasi’s waste pickers to clean up the polluted Ganges River and keep plastic from reaching the ocean. As it winds through India, the sacred river soaks up untreated sewage and trash, including ~1.2 billion pounds of…
July 29, 2019
The unmatched population boom in Africa’s cities is causing serious sewage problems, and spreading cholera. For example, Kampala, Uganda—which some 3 million people pass through each day—has less than 800 pay toilets and 14 free facilities. The city sewer system covers…