Author: healthadmin
Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a major pesticide regulation case on Monday, setting the stage for a ruling that could weaken the ability of consumers to sue companies for failing to warn them of the risks of their products. The case, titled Monsanto v. Darnell, centers on glyphosate, a herbicide used in the popular Roundup brand and many other herbicide products. The chemical has been scientifically linked to cancer in multiple studies and was classified as a probable human carcinogen by a division of the…
In an overheated and fractured world, teetering from one crisis to the next to supplement our dependence on oil and gas, cooperation on the energy transition may seem unrealistic, even radical. But today, more than 50 countries are gathering in Santa Marta, Colombia, to begin developing concrete plans to phase out fossil fuels, going beyond the conditional global agreement on transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems agreed at COP28 in Dubai. The lack of progress toward this goal spurred Colombia and the Netherlands to build a coalition of countries that wanted to go faster and further. Participating countries…
An extremely well-preserved fossil discovered in Argentina is helping scientists understand how snakes evolved. The specimen belongs to Najash Lionegrinaan ancient hindlimb snake that lived about 100 million years ago. Their skulls show that these early snakes still had cheekbones, also called zygomatic bones, but this feature has almost completely disappeared in modern snakes. A 2019 study adds an important piece to a fossil record that has long been too sparse to clearly explain the early stages of snake evolution. The discovery also called into question common old ideas about the origin of snakes. Instead of starting out as a…
Attitudes toward sunburn and sunscreen, rooted in social and appearance norms, continue to shape teens’ sun exposure behaviors, so awareness of the dangers of UV rays does not always lead to safer choices. Study: Associations between perceived costs and rewards of sun protection and sun protection practices among rural and urban high school students. Image credit: verona studio/Shutterstock.com Why do teens expose themselves to sunlight, even though we know it increases their risk of cancer? Study published in the journal Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers, and prevention We suggest that these choices are associated with negative perceptions of sun protection behaviors compared…
By Will Atwater, North Carolina Health News April 24, 2026 Written by Will Atwater Since the 1950s, plastic seems to have become the Swiss Army knife of everyday life. It is used in everything from medical equipment and auto parts to electronic equipment and clothing. The versatility of plastics has helped reduce product costs in many industries, including plumbing, and PVC is a durable, low-cost alternative to galvanized pipe. But the same qualities that make plastics so useful, such as their durability, light weight, and low cost, also make them difficult to avoid. Plastics and microplastics are now appearing in…
Air pollution is associated with the burden of respiratory infections during the first year of life, according to preliminary findings from the Early Life Immune Development (IDEaL) Rome Cohort. The results of this cohort study will be presented at the Pediatric Society of America (PAS) 2026 Conference, April 24-27 in Boston. Environmental exposures during infancy can affect immune development and respiratory health. Although the harms of tobacco smoke are well established, the broader effects of ambient air pollution on susceptibility to respiratory infections remain poorly defined. IDEaL Rome Cohort (Bambino Jess Children’s Hospital (OPBG); Rome, Italy), part of a longitudinal…
Researchers from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center and Queen’s College suggest that developing strong adaptive skills in early childhood may act as a buffer against the negative effects of prenatal stress on children’s developing brains. Adaptive skills refer to everyday abilities that help children function independently and interact effectively with others, such as communication, social skills, and the ability to manage daily tasks such as self-care. This research developmental neurosciencestudied children whose mothers were pregnant during Superstorm Sandy, a powerful and devastating Category 3 hurricane that hit New York City and surrounding areas as a post-tropical…
A surgical innovation called partial heart transplantation could transform the care of children with severe heart valve disease and enable thousands of additional valve transplants each year, according to a presentation given today by Joseph Turek, MD, at the 46th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT). “The partial heart has arrived,” said Dr. Turek, a pediatric heart transplant surgeon at Duke University. “This is realistic, reproducible, and transforms what we can offer our patients.” Ailing heart gives hope to other patients Unlike a heart transplant, a partial heart transplant only replaces…
A new study from Boston Children’s Hospital found that annual prescription rates increase nonlinearly as a child’s level of underlying medical complexity increases. Frequent use of antibiotics carries risks, including increased likelihood of antibiotic-related complications (such as C. difficile) and development of antibiotic resistance. The results of the study will be presented at the Pediatric Society of America (PAS) 2026 Conference, April 24-27 in Boston. Overuse or misuse of antibiotics contributes to the growing global threat of antibiotic resistance. Children with medical complexity (CMC) are particularly susceptible to frequent infections, but knowledge regarding antibiotic use for this group is limited.…
Coal ash excavated at Duke Energy’s Sutton Steam Plant in Wilmington was placed in a landfill on the site, which was completed in 2019. Photo: Duke Energy Energy providers wasted no time last year in urging the Trump administration to rescind the 2024 federal standards for coal ash disposal. Five days before President Donald Trump returned to the White House for a second term on January 20, 2025, 10 electric power companies, including Duke Energy, sent a letter to Lee Zeldin, then President Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, urging him to “decline to defend these illegal regulations.”…