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Climate Change: A Key Driver of the Syrian Conflict?
By Roberta Attanasio Climate change is happening here and now, with significant damage to natural systems and society. The shrinking of the Arctic sea ice, the melting of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets, the acidification of the oceans, the sea level rise, the shifting patterns of precipitation, and the amplified threat of wildfires, are some of its well-recognized effects.…
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Early Menopause: Links to Ubiquitous Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals
By Roberta Attanasio There are as many endocrine-disrupting chemicals (also called endocrine disruptors) as there are deleterious health effects caused by them. These chemicals mimic the body’s hormones and confuse our physiological systems — we respond to them with a series of inappropriate changes that, depending on the specific endocrine disruptor, lead to the development of obesity, cancer, malformation of…
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E-Cigarettes and Vaping May Cause Lung Damage and Impaired Immune Responses
By Roberta Attanasio A few months ago, Oxford Dictionaries announced “vape” as its international Word of the Year 2014 – language research conducted by their editors revealed that its use in 2014 had more than doubled compared to 2013 (and increased by 30-fold since 2012), mostly because of the rapidly growing popularity of electronic cigarettes and the expanding debate over…
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Tasmanian Devils: Contagious Cancer Drives the Risk of Extinction
By Roberta Attanasio In November 2013, a team of biologists scattered 15 plastic cylinders in the fields of Maria Island, three miles off the east coast of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Each cylinder contained a healthy Tasmanian devil, a marsupial species that until then lived only in Tasmania. Soon, the 15 devils emerged from the containers, becoming the first ever to inhabit…
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Prenatal Exposure to Pollutants: Influence on the Immune Response
By Roberta Attanasio The development of the immune system during fetal and neonatal life is negatively influenced by exposure to toxic chemicals, resulting in compromised immune function later in life. An example is fetal exposure to arsenic, which has deleterious effects on the immune response to influenza virus infection in adulthood. Now, results from a new study provide additional evidence for…
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Inflammation Drives Susceptibility to Anxiety and Depression
By Roberta Attanasio Stress and anxiety are part of life — but while a little bit of stress (good stress) may keep us active and alert, and sometimes even motivate us, the long-term type (bad stress) can have negative effects on our health. Elevated blood pressure and heart disease are just some examples of the so-called “stress-related diseases”. In addition,…
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Chlorovirus ATCV-1, a Green Algae Virus, May Slow Human Brain Activity
By Roberta Attanasio Chlorella viruses, or chloroviruses, infect green algae, single-celled organisms present throughout the world in freshwater ecosystems such as lakes and ponds. Now, it seems that chlorovirues also infect humans, causing changes in cognitive functions — the processes by which information is perceived, registered, stored, retrieved, and used. In other words, chloroviruses influence the ability to acquire and use…
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Nanoparticles and Sunscreen Products: Toxicity to Sea Life in Coastal Waters
By Roberta Attanasio The debate on the safety of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles contained in sunscreen products is still on. Some scientists have raised concerns about the negative impact that these tiny particles — generally between one and 100 nanometers (between one and 100 billionths of a meter) across — may have on human health. Due to their small size, nanoparticles…
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Ivory Poaching Drives the Global Decline of African Elephants
By Roberta Attanasio Poaching — the illegal killing of wild animals — is responsible for the death of tens of thousands of African elephants a year. Poachers kill elephants to hack off the tusks, which are then sold to make valuable ivory trinkets, mostly for Asian markets. In 2012, Jeffrey Gettleman wrote in the New York Times that Africa is…
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Global Health Threats: Instant Noodles
By Roberta Attanasio Instant noodles: convenient, cheap, maybe tasty, and bad for your health. Invented by Momofuku Ando after World War II to provide food for the masses, they became popular around the world in a relatively short time. However, back in 1991, tests carried out by the Australian Consumers’ Association showed that a single serving of noodles contained the same amount of…
