Children with asthma who grow up in a New York City neighborhood where air pollution is prevalent need emergency medical treatment more often than asthmatics in less polluted areas. This is according to researchers from Columbia University in the US in a new study published in the Springer Nature-branded journal Pediatric Research. Lead author, Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, warns however that neighborhoods where asthma cases in children are less common should not be excluded from efforts to improve air quality. This is because children that live in neighborhoods where asthma is less common may be more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution.

More than 1.5 million Michigan residents and potentially more than hundreds of sites nationwide ­– and counting – have PFAS-tainted water.

Scientists say there is not yet enough evidence to conclude that microplastics (MPs) do or do not cause harm to the environment, following a review of more than 300 global studies.

Climatologists may be unable to accurately predict regional climate change over the North Atlantic because computer model simulations have failed to accurately include  air pressure changes that have taken place in the Greenland region over the last three decades.

Shelled marine creatures living in increasingly acidified oceans face a fight for survival as the impacts of climate change spread, a new study suggests.

Well-balanced and predominantly plant-based diets can lead to improved nutrient levels, reduce premature deaths from chronic diseases by more than 20%, and lower greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer application, and cropland and freshwater use, globally and in most regions, a new study reports.

The countries of the world still need to cut their carbon dioxide emissions to reach the Paris Agreement’s climate targets. Relying on tree planting and alternative technological solutions such as geoengineering will not make enough of a difference.

Regular physical activity is associated with better lung function among current smokers in European cities, regardless of air pollution levels. This is the main conclusion of a new study comprising over 4,500 people from nine European countries, led by the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by ”la Caixa” Foundation, and conducted as part of  the "Ageing Lungs in European Cohorts" (ALEC) project*, coordinated by Imperial College London.

Spring in America’s heartland is often wet. That makes its soil too soft for planting. One solution to that issue is tile drainage. Growers insert a series of pipes (drain tiles) under their fields, which drains water from the soil into nearby streams and lakes. 

The amount of plastic washing up onto the shores of remote South Atlantic islands is 10 times greater than it was a decade ago, according to new research published today (8 October) in the journal Current Biology.