Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health have established the first link between air pollution and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), a known cause of cardiovascular diseases.

Antonella Zanobetti, Ph.D., Susan Redline, MD, MPH, Diane Gold, M.D., M.P.H. and colleagues explored the link between air pollution levels, temperature increases and sleep-disordered breathing using data from the Sleep Heart Health Study, which included more than 6,000 participants between 1995 and 1998, and EPA air pollution monitoring data from Framingham (Massachusetts), Minneapolis, New York City, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, and Tucson. Continue Reading →

Scientists are reporting a new technique for mapping and testing oil-contaminated soils. Traditionally, samples need to be collected from the field and returned to a lab for extensive chemical analysis, costing time and money when neither is readily available during a clean-up operation. The new method can take measurements in the field and accurately predict the total amount of petroleum contaminants in moist, unprepared soil samples.

Formation of ice crystals is necessary for precipitation formation in many clouds, and the numbers of crystals formed is linked to the abundance of larger aerosol particles in the atmosphere, according to a study led by Paul DeMott and Anthony Prenni, research scientists in the Atmospheric Science department at Colorado State, appearing in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Continue Reading →

Green buildings doesn’t protect human health from environmental hazards- from the new report of Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI)

The lead author of this study is John Wargo, Ph.D., professor of Risk Analysis and Environmental Policy at Yale University.

Wargo summarized the study, “Although the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification program has effectively encouraged energy efficiency in buildings, tighter buildings often concentrate chemicals released from building materials, cleaning supplies, fuel combustion, pesticides and other hazardous substances.” Continue Reading →