Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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Even though urban cyclists face hazards such as exposure to car exhaust and the risk of traffic accidents, it’s still far healthier to park the car and get on a bike. The health of the individual cyclists may improve as they drive less and exercise more, and the resulting reduction in exhaust emissions will benefit the entire community, according to a study published online June 30 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP).

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Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that children living near the Kiteezi landfill in Kampala, Uganda, have blood lead levels nearly 20 times as high as the typical lead level found in U.S. children.

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A new study in PNAS is believed to be the first to show experimentally that competition could be a factor in regulating ecological communities regardless of the intensity or frequency of disturbance.

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University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" is expected to be larger than average, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a $659 million fishery.

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Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are planning a large-scale, long-term ecosystem experiment to test the effects of global warming on the icy layers of arctic permafrost.

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People who fish for a living pursue top profits, not necessarily top predators, according to the first-ever analysis of worldwide catch and economic data for the past 55 years. This differs from the observation raised 10 years ago that humans were “fishing down” the food web.

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The amount of fresh water flowing through the Arctic as snow or rainfall, in rivers and by evapotranspiration is rising in agreement with models of a warming climate, according to a major new study by climate scientists in the U.S., Norway and Finland who analyzed all available Arctic observations.

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Anaerobic manure treatment lagoons may release more methane that current rules allow.

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Scientific journal features research on how water moves through soil and bedrock

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Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Cornell University Professor of Law and an expert in environmental law, comments on the recent court decision to lift a federal embargo on deep-water oil drilling.

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Leaders at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are pairing engineering smarts with old-fashioned common sense to trim energy costs and reduce the carbon footprint of the university’s historic Troy campus.

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Burn, grow, graze, and repeat. This is a formula that integrates fire and grazing strategies to restore grass to rangelands in the southern plains of the United States. Throughout the world, woody plants are showing an increased presence in grasslands and savannas, reducing the amount of grasses to sustain livestock and altering wildlife habitat and biodiversity. In the U.S. Great Plains, honey mesquite has encroached upon native grasslands to impact cattle grazing strategies and necessitate development of plant control efforts.

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A UMDNJ environmental and occupational health expert on human exposure to toxic substances has recommended strategic training and monitoring of workers and volunteers exposed to the Gulf oil spill to identify, and possibly mitigate, human health risks.

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In the race to become the warmest year in the satellite temperature record, 2010 is running a close second to 1998 but might begin to falter as the El Ninåo Pacific Ocean warming event continues to fade.

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The number of very hot days is increasing worldwide, but the rate of increase is more than double in the most sprawling metropolitan regions compared with more compact cities, according to a team of Atlanta-based scientists. This was true regardless of the urban regions’ climate zone, population size, or rate of growth.

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Invasive Plant Science and Management – A field test in Montana pitted dog against human in an effort to identify and eradicate spotted knapweed. This weed threatens the survival of native species and can bring about both economic and ecosystem damage. Finding plants in order to eradicate them before they can spread creates a challenge for human eyes, but not for dog noses.

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Male fish that used to be feminized after chemicals, such as the pharmaceutical ethinylestradiol, made it through the Boulder, Colo., Wastewater Treatment Plant and into Boulder Creek, are taking longer to become feminized after a plant upgrade to an activated sludge process, according to a new study.

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Grassed waterways including compost filter socks reduce soil erosion and herbicide concentrations from fields.

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The University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative, in partnership with the Oregon Coalition of Local Health Officials and public health organizations around the state, have issued two new guidebooks aimed at helping health-related agencies and organizations cope with climate change.

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Increasing pressure from the international community may be the catalyst needed to ensure fossil fuel subsidy reform is high on the climate change agenda of the G20 summit in Toronto this month.