Author: healthadmin

Ben Fertig of the Severn River Association stands along the Severn River at Wardall Community Beach in Annapolis. dave harp Editor’s note: This article is part of a series. our waterwaysexamines the health of some of the small streams and rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. To suggest a waterway, please contact Jeremy Cox. jcox@bayjournal.com. Despite more than 40 years of cleanup efforts, the Chesapeake Bay still suffers from ecological problems, including massive algae blooms, oxygen-depleted waters, and oyster populations that are a fraction of their historic size.Perhaps the efforts were too ad hoc?U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth, a Maryland Democrat…

New research from the SETI Institute suggests that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence may be facing unexpected challenges. The same stellar activity that shapes the environment around distant planets could also make it much more difficult to detect alien radio signals. Many of SETI’s efforts are looking for very narrow radio signals because they are unlikely to be produced by natural cosmic processes. However, researchers have discovered that these signals can become distorted before leaving their home star system. How stellar activity distorts radio signals For decades, SETI scientists have been looking for narrow spikes in radio frequencies that could…

In the five months since jet fuel began leaking into Piscataway Creek from Joint Base Andrews, no agency has tested the water or sediment about 20 miles downstream, where the creek empties into the Potomac River and shoreline communities and where anglers flock to fish and boat along its banks. The leak was discovered on Dec. 11 at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County. Of the estimated 32,000 gallons that spilled into the headwaters of the creek, only 10,000 gallons were recovered, with the remaining 22,000 gallons spilling into the environment. Environmental leaders and activists have criticized the base…

By Will Atwater, North Carolina Health News June 16, 2026 Written by Will Atwater Two years ago, Emily Donovan took to the stage in Fayetteville to introduce then-Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Michael Regan. Regan, who was director of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality before being tapped by the Biden administration to lead the EPA, returned to the region in 2017 where the public first learned that the Cape Fear River was contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and issued the first-ever national drinking water standards for six of the rivers. This 2024 rule established legally enforceable limits…

Women are more likely than men to report poor sleep, even though objective measurements show that women sleep better in some ways, according to a new study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. “This is a paradox, but we have found a possible explanation why men and women perceive sleep quality so differently,” says Thorbjörn Åkerstedt, professor emeritus at the Karolinska Institute’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience.Researchers investigated the differences in sleep between men and women, both in terms of objective measures and perceived sleep quality. 238 women and 238 men in Sweden, aged 29 to 85, recorded their sleep at home over…

Researchers at Monash University have identified a promising new approach to tackling Alzheimer’s disease. Laboratory studies have found that copper-based drugs not only reduce the accumulation of toxic proteins associated with the disease, but also improve long-term spatial memory. The survey results are ACS Chemical Neurosciencesuggesting that the compound Cu(ATSM) may help restore important functions of the blood-brain barrier. By restoring a key waste removal system, this treatment could open the door to new treatments targeting neurovascular dysfunction, a key driver of Alzheimer’s disease. Repairing the brain’s waste removal system Alzheimer’s disease is associated with the accumulation of amyloid beta,…

Women who watch TikTok videos of others who don’t care about their gray hair or smile lines feel more positive about their own aging the more they watch them, which could affect a woman’s ability to age in the future, a new UConn study finds. “For almost as long as television, movies, and print media have existed, at least as long, women have been held to different standards of beauty than men, penalizing them even into old age if they don’t have smooth skin and perfectly highlighted hair,” said Amanda Cooper, assistant professor of interpersonal communication at UW. “Anti-aging messages,…

New research from the University of Jyväskylä shows who is more likely to experience complex emotions when listening to music, and that our relationship with music is more complex and nuanced than we imagine. People tend to think that listening to sad music makes them feel sad, and listening to happy music makes them feel happy, although listeners’ emotions are often reported to be more complex than that. However, many survey-based studies require people to select only one emotion that they experience. This leaves researchers Margarida Baltazar, Ibarra Brunat and Svi Saarikario., From the Center of Excellence for Music, Mind,…

One of the few studies to examine how widely used herbicides affect the body during pregnancy found that exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in many herbicides, is associated with changes in several hormones that support pregnancy and fetal development. The results come from a new study led by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. This study Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiologystudied 752 pregnant women in Puerto Rico. The researchers found that high concentrations of glyphosate and related compounds are associated with changes in hormones that support the placenta, fetal development, and the timing…

A 20-year German study found no widespread decline in quality of life after constructing nearby turbines, but suggests that concentrated turbines may convey mental health signals that siting policies should not ignore. Study: Wind turbine proximity and health-related quality of life in Germany from 2002 to 2022. Image credit: Below the Sky / Shutterstock In a recent study published in the journal scientific reporta group of researchers investigated whether the construction of wind turbines near residential areas was associated with changes in the physical and mental health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of German residents. background As countries race to reduce…