Health, Microbes, and More
Something to ponder: Are tiny plastic particles (microplastics) that enter the human body traveling to the brain and causing harm? An article by the science writer Erica Cirino examines that question by looking at existing research and comes to the disturbing conclusion of: Yes, they are. Yes, that plastic particles are inhaled or ingested (in ...continue reading "Microplastics Are Entering Our Bodies"
It's finally over. One hundred years after leaded gasoline was first introduced, it is finally no longer used in automobiles and road vehicles anywhere in the world. Algeria was the last country to use leaded gas (it had stockpiles of it and wanted to use it up), and in July 2021 they made the switch ...continue reading "Leaded Gas For Cars Is No Longer Being Used Anywhere In the World"
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached a new high in May 2021 - 419 parts per million (ppm). This monthly average is the highest level in more than 4 million years! Yikes! (By the way, last year the highest level ever recorded occurred in May 2020.) Well... we topped that number this year. The ...continue reading "Carbon Dioxide Levels Highest In 4 Million Years"
It turns out that plastic baby bottles shed millions of tiny plastic particles (microplastics) into the breast milk, formula, or water in them. At this point we don't really know what ingesting multitudes of microplastics every day does to a person, but assume that it is not beneficial and we should try to lower how ...continue reading "Plastic Baby Bottles Shed Tiny Plastic Particles"
We use so much plastic that we are now surrounded by plastic. But eventually all plastic degrades into tiny pieces called microplastics and nanoplastics. These tiny plastic pieces are found throughout the world, including in the food we eat and water we drink, especially bottled water. A few years ago researchers even found microplastics in ...continue reading "Plastic Particles Detected in Human Lungs and Other Tissues"
The relationship between mold and sinuses is something I've been thinking about lately. Why do so many people after prolonged exposure to ordinary mold eventually develop sinusitis? What is going on? This is a really interesting question because we are exposed to mold (which is actually fungi) every single day just from ordinary breathing. Fungi ...continue reading "Mold and Sinusitis"
It turns out that it rains tons and tons of tiny pieces of plastic each year! These tiny pieces of plastic, called microplastics, are carried like dust in the wind and air currents around the earth, and eventually come down like dust. Or particles from nearby urban areas can come down in rain, storms, and ...continue reading "It’s Raining Microplastics"
Notice that the carbon dioxide levels in the air keep rising and rising? Along with the world getting hotter, the carbon dioxide levels are rising, and last year it hit 414.7 parts per million (ppm). This is the highest it has been in at least 800,000 years, and maybe for millions of years! (It's from the burning of ...continue reading "What Will Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Do To Our Brains and Thinking Abilities?"
Uh-oh, these research findings are not a surprise. A study conducted in 6 U.S. metro areas found that as income levels go up, peer pressure to apply pesticides on lawns increases. As well as to irrigate lawns and apply fertilizers. One can definitely see this in the NYC metro area - the wealthier the neighborhood, ...continue reading "As Income Levels Rise, Chemical Use On Lawns Increases"
It turns out that we're all eating tiny bits of plastic in our food. Yes, teeny tiny bits of plastic that are smaller than 5 mm and are called microplastics. Why are there tiny plastic pieces in our food? Is it doing anything to us, to our health? What can we do about it? After ...continue reading "We Are All Eating Microplastics"