Chinese who live north of the Huai River will lose an aggregate 2.5 billion years of life expectancy due to the extensive use of coal burning in the region, concludes a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study, which involved researchers from MIT, China, and Israel, estimated the impacts…

Green spaces, trees and bodies of water are must-have design features for future development in Sydney’s suburbs after researchers found that by 2050 global warming combined with Sydney’s urban heat island effect could increase temperatures by up to 3.7°C. The researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science found new urban developments,…

Most of us are aware of the high levels of mercury found in fish. But where does this mercury come from? Humans have been using mercury since before the Industrial Revolution, but it is currently being emitted by coal-fired power plants and artisanal gold mining. And according to researchers at Harvard University, significant reductions in…

A third of the world’s conifers, the biggest and longest-lived organisms on the planet, are at risk of extinction, with logging and disease the main threats, scientists said. The study of more than 600 types of conifers – trees and shrubs including cedars, cypresses and firs – updates a “Red List” on which almost 21,000…

Illegal palm oil expansion inside Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park is threatening protected forests and the reputation of two companies who claim to be sources of sustainably-produced palm oil, says a new WWF-Indonesia report. In its June 26 report, “Palming Off a National Park,” WWF-Indonesia found that over 52,000 hectares of natural forests in the…

Carbon credits are created by emissions controls and by other manufacturing practices and they can be sold to other facilities to offset emissions that cannot be economically reduced. These are attractive when a facility cannot meet a new regulation, and is near the end of its useful life, making it uneconomic to install expensive new…

US airlines have cancelled flights into and out of Mexico City for a second day over fears that ash from a rumbling volcano could affect their planes. Delta and United Airlines were among the companies that stopped at least a dozen flights on Friday. On Thursday, more than 40 flights were cancelled, leaving hundreds of…

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and by restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behavior. The diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect…

It is hard to tell how bad or good the weather really is. One has to look back over a period of time to perceive true changes. The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes between 2001 and 2010 and more national temperature records were broken during that period than in any other decade, according to…

It is widely known that smoking increases your risk of lung cancer. That is not the only risk factor, however. Air pollution plays a role as well. A study by Oregon State University suggests reducing air-polluting PAHs may lower levels of lung cancer deaths. High emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be linked to…