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Change of Mind: The Influence of Hurricanes
By The Editors Traumatic weather events, such as hurricanes, may lead people to think more seriously about climate change, express a greater belief that climate change is caused by human activity, and become more supportive of environmentally sustainable policies – all together, these are the findings and implications of a study recently published in the journal Psychological Science. The study,…
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Food Waste Harms Climate, Water, Land and Biodiversity
By The Editors The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released a few days ago a report detailing the first study to analyze the impacts of global food wastage from an environmental perspective, looking specifically at its consequences for the climate, water and land use, and biodiversity. Key facts and figures from the report are: The global volume…
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Maternal Antibodies, Brain Development and Autism
By Roberta Attanasio The world of autism is a diverse one — autism and autism spectrum disorder are general terms for a group of complex and extremely heterogenous life-long neurodevelopmental conditions. Autism is also one of medicine’s greatest challenges. The current general consensus is that autism has multiple causes, and these causes can be as varied as the types of…
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Anthropogens: Inducers of Chronic Inflammation and Degenerative Diseases
By Roberta Attanasio Injuries and infections are facts of life, and we need to deal with them. Thus, it’s not surprising we have developed efficient and magnificent sets of mechanisms that defend us from whatever is perceived as a danger, for example micro-organisms and irritant substances. Inflammation (or inflammatory response) is one of these sets of mechanisms, and not only…
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Global Threats: The Spread of Crop Pests
By Roberta Attanasio One of the major global threats to food security is the current spread of crop pests, unintentionally moved by human activity across world regions at unprecedented rates. Crop pests include viroids, viruses, bacteria, oomycetes, fungi, nematodes, and insects. In the past, this spread was limited by physical barriers such as mountains, seas and deserts. However, such natural…
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Do Sunscreen Products Harm the Coastal Marine Ecosystem?
By The Editors When new products based on mixtures of several chemicals become widely used, and the use of these products increases exponentially, it is reasonable to expect some sort of environmental impact, at least on specific ecosystems. Therefore, the recent finding that sunscreen products may cause deleterious effects in the coastal ecosystem is not surprising. Sunscreen products contain organic…
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Nanotechnology: Lycurgus Cup and Sensors
By Roberta Attanasio Nanotechnology is technology based on extremely small structures, the so-called nanostructures. How small are nanostructures? We’re talking nanoscale – about 1 to 100 nanometers. One nanometer is a billionth of a meter (there are 25,400,000 nanometers in one inch). These are the dimensions of atoms and molecules and, therefore, nanotechnology involves the manipulation of atoms and molecules.…
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What Are Endocrine Disruptors?
By Roberta Attanasio According to the International Programme on Chemical Safety, World Health Organization (WHO) (2002), an endocrine disruptor is an exogenous substance or mixture that alters function(s) of the endocrine system and consequently causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, or (sub) populations. This year, a group of experts convened by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and…
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Quinoa Production Goes Global
By The Editors There are at least two staple foods that The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) would like to see in our future: edible insects and quinoa. While it may take some time to see edible insects on the Western dinner tables, quinoa is already around, well-respected and well-adapted. The FAO has officially declared that…
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Central Asia Large Mammals: Victims of (Cashmere) Fashion
By Roberta Attanasio One thing here affects something else there. This is the principle at the basis of The Global Fool’s mission — To raise awareness of environmental problems and their global nature. Last month, a team of international researchers published the results of a study entitled “Globalization of the Cashmere Market and the Decline of Large Mammals in Central…