EHN Originals

Environmental coverage often paints a dismal picture: sea level rise flooding coastal communities, climate change and hurricanes destroying neighborhoods, or coal ash or hog waste seeping into local waterways and drinking water. Of course, these issues are crucial to cover—but there’s also beauty out there. A Listen into Landscape is a series of audio postcards…

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Forty-two “mystery chemicals” were found in the blood of 30 Bay Area pregnant women, according to a recent study conducted by scientists at University of California, San Francisco. The researchers took blood samples from pregnant women and from the fetal umbilical cords and found 109 industrial chemicals. Fifty-five chemicals were never-before-seen in humans, and 42…

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April Ballard joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Health podcast to discuss finding her identity as a researcher, and her human-centered approach to science and community outreach. Ballard, a Ph.D. candidate in the Environmental Health Sciences Program at Emory University’s Laney Graduate School and Rollins School of Public Health, wrote an essay in January…

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Journalists are reliably fond of two things: 1) Arbitrary ways to grade politicians, like the “100 days in office” meme; and 2) scooping the competition. Well, here’s my scoop on President Biden’s first 100 days when it comes to the environment. Executive orders On the campaign trail, Biden promised a Gatling gun’s worth of Executive…

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On the heels of an Environmental Health News (EHN) study, 35 members of the Pennsylvania House and Senate have issued a public letter calling on state Governor Tom Wolf to take “immediate action in response to the ongoing harm” from fracking. The letter, led by State Senator Katie Muth and State Representatives Sara Innamorato, points…

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The gusto of Reopening 2.0 already has epidemiologists bracing for a fourth gale of coronavirus. Instead of gritting teeth for another couple of months before a solid majority of adults are vaccinated, governors and mayors are relaxing or ending restrictions on businesses and public gatherings from Massachusetts to Texas, from California to Mississippi, from Michigan…

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Great Lakes algae is catching huge amounts of microplastics. Researchers found that one type of algae, which has greatly expanded its range within the Great Lakes and is one of the most abundant algae by weight there, could catch up to one trillion pieces of microplastic in the Great Lakes. “It’s just a massive amount…

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Why do so many people distrust scientists? Just take a look at the characters that represent scientists in TV and movies. Here they are, in three categories. The Professors During my four years at Boston University, I had what is probably the usual mix of good professors, lousy professors, and weird professors. But I can’t…

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The following is Part 2 of an excerpt from The Monsanto Papers, a new book by journalist Carey Gillam. The book tells the true life tale of Lee Johnson, a California groundskeeper who was diagnosed with terminal cancer he alleged was caused by his exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides. Lee wouldn’t think about the sprayer…

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The following is Part 1 of an excerpt from The Monsanto Papers, a new book by journalist Carey Gillam. The book tells the true life tale of Lee Johnson, a California groundskeeper who was diagnosed with terminal cancer he alleged was caused by his exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides. Sunlight had not yet started to…

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