Bisphenol A (BPA), the much maligned chemical that studies have tied to obesity and birth defects, may not be the real villain after all, with researchers from the University of California, San Diego now saying it is one BPA’s metabolites that is the real culprit. In recent years, numerous studies have reported alarming associations between […]
A study that investigated bacterial populations on hotel room surfaces found television remote controls and housekeeping carts to be amongst the most heavily contaminated items. The researchers behind the work, from the University of Houston, reported their findings yesterday at the 2012 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. The study adds some empirical […]
Antidepressants and other psychoactive medications in water affect the gene expression profiles of fish in a way that mimics the gene expression patterns associated with autism spectrum disorder, say researchers at Idaho State University. The findings are based on work with fathead minnows and appear in the journal PLoS ONE. Identifying environmental triggers for autism […]
US scientists have found that a type of herpes-virus infection of the eye is associated with age-related macular degeneration, a disease that causes blindness in the elderly. The findings, appearing in PLoS Pathogens, indicate that human cytomegalovirus causes the production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a signal protein that regulates the formation of new […]
A lack of clean energy for cooking is causing severe respiratory diseases that kill around two million people each year, says a scientist from the University of British Columbia. “Energy poverty is one of the biggest human welfare issues of our day,” says Hisham Zerriffi, who is presenting his research at the 2012 Annual Meeting […]
Nearly all city folk are exposed to sound levels that can cause permanent hearing loss, but University of Michigan researchers studying urban noise exposure were more surprised to learn that MP3 players, rather than noisy workplaces, were to blame. “Noise from MP3 players and stereo use has eclipsed loud work environments, said Rick Neitzel, the […]
A new twin study has found a significant association between exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) and other chemicals used in dry cleaning, paints and cleaning products and the development of Parkinson’s disease. Published in the Annals of Neurology, the study looked at a group of human twins where one twin had been exposed to TCE or […]
Intriguing new findings from Canadian researchers link rates of prostate cancer around the globe to environmental estrogen pollution caused by the contraceptive pill. The researchers, David Margel and Neil Fleshner, from Toronto University, make the case for their hypothesis in the British Medical Journal. Margel and Fleshner used data from the International Agency for Research […]
An intriguing study that looked at male adolescence and body image found a prevailing view among boys that the pursuit of a chiseled body was unnatural and feminine, and that most boys simply wanted an “average” physique. The study was conducted by researchers from Concordia University and the University of Manitoba and published in the […]
University of Massachusetts toxicologist Edward Calabrese claims to have evidence that Nobel Prize winner Hermann Muller knowingly lied when he claimed in 1946 that there is no safe level of radiation exposure. Calabrese says that Muller and other researchers had actually established threshold levels where the effects of radiation were benign – or even helpful […]
