pollution

Exposure to mild ozone air pollution during the first two years of life is linked to the development of asthma and wheezing in children between the ages of four and six, both individually and in combination with nitrogen dioxide and fine particles. This relationship was not found in children under eight or nine years old, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. The epidemiological study is based on data from more than 1,000 children in the U.S.

A study reveals that most of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) absorbed by ecosystems has been stored in dead plant material, soils and sediments, and not in living biomass. These data, which suggest that terrestrial carbon reserves are more resistant and stable than previously believed, are crucial for designing future climate change mitigation strategies and optimising carbon sequestration efforts. The findings are published in the journal Science.

Grass-fed beef is not less carbon intensive than industrial beef, even after correcting for soil sequestration enhancement by rangeland grazing, according to a study published today in the journal PNAS that analysed emissions and livestock data from the United States.

The maximum number of artificial satellites that can safely orbit the Earth could be reduced due to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions of human origin, according to a modelling study. The increase in these gases may result in a reduction in the density of the planet's orbital space. Between 2000 and 2100, the carrying capacity of satellites between 200 and 1,000 kilometres altitude could be reduced by between 50 and 66%, estimates the study published in Nature Sustainability.

A paper published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine has analyzed new cases of lung cancer worldwide during the year 2022. While the incidence in women continues to approach that of men, the decrease in tobacco consumption in many countries causes the proportion of cases in non-smokers to increase. This increase is associated with air pollution, especially in countries such as China. 

The Saharan dust intrusion that reached Spain and other European countries in March 2022 posed no risk to human health in terms of exposure to radioactivity, according to an analysis of samples collected by citizens in Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg. The dust came from southern Algeria, says the analysis published in Science Advances, and contained plutonium isotopes characteristic of nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. and the Soviet Union - not from French tests in the Reggane area in the 1960s.

A study in mice reveals that immune cells in the brain 'engulf' microplastics, forming clumps that can cause brain clots. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, highlight how microplastics can indirectly damage the brain by disrupting blood flow, rather than directly infiltrating brain tissue cells. 

As announced, the new US president, Donald Trump, has signed on his first day in office an executive order for the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. This is the second time Trump has withdrawn his country from the signatory states of the most important climate change agreement, as he did in 2020.

The fifth session of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution (INC-5) ended without a treaty in Busan, South Korea, in the early hours of the morning. The more than 100 countries participating in what was to be the final round of negotiations have agreed to continue negotiating, reports Reuters.

A study published today in Science reveals a new plastic as durable as conventional plastics that decomposes in seawater. According to the authors, this new material could help reduce microplastic pollution accumulating in the oceans and eventually entering the food chain.