A Swedish chemist controlled vacuum cleaner bags from round the world looking for harmful substances. One of the most toxic bags was the one she had at home.
Plastic in the form of very small particles, called ‘microplastic’, pollutes much of the marine environment. Scientists now find microplastics in the majority of samples collected from the world's oceans.
The number of industrial chemicals with a proven neurotoxicity effect on children’s brains has doubled since 2006. Meanwhile, the number of children with developmental disorders such as autism and ADHD is on a rise. Scientists are raising the alarm.
The risk assessment of pesticide is usually performed on individual compounds. The combination of these environmental chemicals may however give rise to unexpected and unwanted effects.
The ban on tin compounds has been a boon for periwinkles and other seashore snails. But scientists continue to find sexually abnormal female sea snails in the vicinity of shipyards.
High levels of environmental contaminants are linked with thinner eggshells in the ivory gull, a red-listed high Arctic seabird. Scientists are concerned that pollutants and the stress from global warming could cause populations to plummet.
PFAS is a group of environmental toxins which have been observed in almost every organism and every ecosystem in the entire world, including humans. But nobody really understands how they enter the body.
Fraudsters who cheat on their taxes, launder money or con insurance companies are facing uncertain times. New statistical methods are increasing the likelihood that they will be caught.