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The five-year grant renewal will support five new or newly refocused research projects investigating the long-term health impacts of early-life exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and toxic metals such as lead, which are two of the most common classes of hazardous contaminants found today in areas with a legacy of industrial pollution.

Mixing toxic coal ash into acid mine drainage may sound like an odd recipe for an environmental solution, but a new 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû-led study finds that it can neutralize the drainage’s dangerously low pH and help reduce harmful impacts on downstream ecosystems—if you use the right type of ash. Using the wrong type of ash can create new contamination and not tame the drainage’s extreme acidity.

Researchers at 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû have received a $248,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study PFAS exposure risks in the home environment.

Firefighters have a 9 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14 percent higher risk of dying from the disease than the general adult U.S. population, according to studies by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and other agencies.

Kate Hoffman, an assistant research professor at 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû’s Nicholas School of the Environment, has received a $3.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the impact of early-life exposures to semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) on neonatal and early childhood immune function.

The anti-fogging sprays and cloths many people use to prevent condensation on their eyeglasses when wearing a mask or face shield may contain high levels of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), a new 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû-led study finds.

By distinguishing between lead from modern sources and lead from pre-1970s vehicle exhaust fumes and leaded paint, the new test may be especially useful for assessing the hidden risks of legacy contamination.

Clouds of smoke and ash from wildfires that ravaged Australia in 2019 and 2020 triggered widespread algal blooms in the Southern Ocean thousands of miles downwind to the east, a new 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû-led study by an international team of scientists finds.

Warming waters along the Western Antarctic Peninsula have led to declines in the diversity and distribution of the region’s plankton population and its ability to absorb climate-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Using data gleaned from the spread of COVID, researchers have created a mathematical model that can predict where pandemics or contagious disease outbreaks will most likely spread, in what patterns, and how quickly.

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, satellites and field observations, Duke researchers have produced new estimates of how much photosynthesis and primary production – key components in the global carbon cycle – are occurring in Earth’s oceans, and how these processes may be changing in response to a changing climate.

The proliferation of pits and ponds created in recent years by miners digging for small deposits of alluvial gold in Peru’s Amazon has dramatically altered the landscape and increased the risk of mercury exposure for indigenous communities and wildlife, a new study shows.

Man’s best friend may also be man’s best bet for figuring out how environmental chemicals could impact our health. Researchers from North Carolina State University and 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû’s Nicholas School of the Environment used silicone dog tags as passive environmental samplers to collect information about everyday chemical exposures, and found that dogs could be an important sentinel species for the long term effects of environmental chemicals.

By providing the first estimate of how much hydrogen is available to fuel microbial life in the sunless sub-seafloor crust beneath the Mid-Ocean Ridge (MOR), a new 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû-led study sheds light on one of Earth’s least understood biospheres.

Chronic exposure to microplastic fibers causes aneurysms, erosion of surface layers and other serious damage to fish gills, and increases egg production in female fish, a sign that chemicals in the fibers may be acting as endocrine disruptors, a new study by U.S. and Chinese scientists finds.