Danger Dust

This problem goes beyond the simple child's game of stacking objects; it is a scientific challenge with major implications. From the construction of dry masonry walls to the optimization of automated storage systems, understanding the probabilistic nature of these collapses can improve safety and efficiency in a variety of fields.

"As blocks are added, random misalignments gradually modify the stack's center of gravity. When this exceeds a critical limit, the stack collapses."

This approach revealed two main areas of vulnerability: the base of the stack, where cumulative errors become unsustainable, and an intermediate zone, where hidden instabilities accumulate insidiously.

The maximum height of a pile before it collapses is inversely proportional to the square of the amplitude of the positioning errors. Thus, small errors allow much greater heights to be reached, while larger errors lead to rapid collapse. Monte Carlo simulations, used to validate the theoretical model, were used to visualize the behavior of the piles. These simulations confirmed the bimodal nature of the failure points, for a given drop height, and highlighted the distribution of weak interfaces within the piles.

Firefighters have more PFAS in their blood than the average person. It isn't clear why, but one theory is that it comes from the protective equipment they wear during a fire—called turnout gear.

Our latest study showed that PFAS are present not only in the jacket and pants worn by firefighters, but also in many of the smaller protective garments.

While many chemicals will degrade relatively quickly after they’re disposed of, PFAS can stick around for up to 1,000 years. This durability is great for their use in firefighting foams, nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing and even food packaging.

However, their resilience means that they persist in soil, water and even living organisms. They can accumulate over time and affect the health of both ecosystems and humans.

Some initial research has shown potential links between PFAS exposure and various health issues — including cancers, immune system suppression and hormone disruption. These concerns have led scientists to search for effective ways to break down these stubborn chemicals.

Looking at just three chemicals, we found significant health and economic costs—and we believe these estimates to be quite conservative.

Bisphenol A (BPA), commonly found in food packaging, is an endocrine disruptor associated with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and reproductive disorders. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), used in industrial food processing, household products and electronics, has been linked to cardiovascular mortality and developmental issues. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), flame retardants added to synthetic textiles, furniture and other household products, are neurotoxic and impair cognitive development in children when their mothers are exposed during pregnancy.

The study estimates some of the health and economic impacts of these chemicals for 2015, the year that provides the most complete assessment based on availability of data, revealing that:

• BPA exposure was associated with 5.4 million cases of heart disease and 346,000 strokes, leading to 431,000 deaths. The economic toll of these deaths was valued at nearly $1 trillion 2015 international dollars.

• DEHP exposure, particularly among individuals aged 55-64, was linked to approximately 164,000 deaths, resulting in economic losses of $398 billion.

• PBDE exposure in pregnant women led to a loss of 11.7 million IQ points in children born that year, with associated productivity losses exceeding $80 billion.

Mars explorers will be taking a limited amount of resources with them. This means they'll need to "live off the land," making structures from locally sourced materials. A new paper examines 11 different ways to make concrete/cement on Mars, from traditional lime concrete to more exotic materials that might only be possible on a cold, nearly airless world. They found that sulfur concrete is the most promising, offering strength, quick hardening, and it doesn't need water.

Modern medicine has enabled citizens of wealthy, industrialized nations to forget that children once routinely died in shocking numbers. Teaching 19th-century English literature, I regularly encounter gutting depictions of losing a child, and I am reminded that not knowing the emotional cost of widespread child mortality is a luxury.

In the first half of the 19th century, between 40% and 50% of children in the U.S. didn’t live past the age of 5. While overall child mortality was somewhat lower in the U.K., the rate remained near 50% through the early 20th century for children living in the poorest slums.

Texas sues DuPont, 3M over ‘forever chemicals’ in consumer products

PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, is the name of a family of chemicals that have been widely used in a range of consumer products including nonstick pans and waterproof clothing and cosmetics.

The substances have also been linked to a range of health issues including cancers, and issues with the thyroid, immune system and fertility.

They are sometimes called “forever chemicals” because they persist for a very long time in the environment instead of breaking down.

During the Vietnam War, the United States dropped more than 8 million tons of bombs and sprayed 74 million liters of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Nearly 50 years after the war’s end, the deadly impacts of these campaigns persist: Unexploded ordnance continues to maim and kill, while hot spots of dioxin, a potent toxin in the herbicides, might still be contributing to cancers and birth defects today.

Now, using declassified military satellite photos, scientists have identified the likely locations of these hidden dangers, which could help direct remediation and cleanup efforts.

As PM2.5 are breathed in, they enter the lungs and the bloodstream to cause a cascade of reactions in the body such as inflammation. This increases the risk causing or worsening several chronic diseases such as heart disease, lung disease, cancer and dementia, as well as affecting maternal and child health. The consequences can ultimately be fatal.

John McCrae, pneumoconiosis

Tunnel construction workers in Australia’s most populous state were repeatedly exposed to dangerous levels of respirable crystalline silica on major government projects between 2016 and 2020, historical air quality readings show. More recent data would likely show that this exposure is ongoing, but the state safety regulator has refused to release it.

TfNSW released 948 measurements, of which 318—more than one third—exceeded 0.1mg/cc. In 80 of those cases, workers had no personal protective equipment. Some of the readings were as high as 10.4mg/cc.

Today, researchers are working on several promising new treatments to prevent or clear mucus plugs that may leave people with asthma breathing easier.

At the heart of the problem is mucus itself, a viscous mixture of water, cellular debris, salt, lipids and proteins that performs the crucial job of trapping foreign particles and ferrying them out of the lungs. The primary component of this fluid is a family of proteins known as mucins, which give mucus its gel-like thickness. In people with asthma, genetic changes in mucin proteins make the mucus thicker and harder to clear from the lungs.

We found a strong and significant association between the temporal pattern of mosquito abundance and El Niño phases and local weather, showing the fundamental role that climate plays in driving infestation periodicity. Specifically, we identified a relationship between Ae. aegypti infestation and the strength of the ENSO phenomenon active in that period.

Our results showed that seasonal rainfall exceeding 153.12 mm appears to have a notable impact on vector indices, potentially leading to the accumulation of ample water in outdoor discarded receptacles, supporting the aquatic phase of mosquito development.

Hydrogen sulfide, a colorless gas that smells like rotten eggs, is produced naturally from decaying matter. This gas is lethal to breathe in, and hydrogen sulfide present in high concentrations can cause death very rapidly.

Its relative density is also greater than air, causing it to accumulate at lower altitudes and posing an enormous threat to workers at sites, such as manholes, sewage systems and mining operations.

Why is hydrogen sulfide so dangerous? It binds strongly to the heme-containing cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) enzyme and blocks the cellular process of aerobic (oxygen-dependent) respiration.

Source Paper:

Detoxification of hydrogen sulfide by synthetic heme model compounds

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-80511-1

It might not be a pleasant image, but recycling all the human and livestock feces and urine on the planet would contribute substantially to meeting the nutrient supply for all crops worldwide, thereby reducing the need to mine fertilizers such as phosphorus and dramatically reducing the dependency on fossil fuels.

The agency estimated there were "at least 239,000" deaths attributable to exposure to above-recommended levels of PM2.5, the smallest particulate matter that can be inhaled and the most dangerous to human health.

The number of deaths was highest in Italy, Poland and Germany.

Across the continent the figure was down compared with 2021, when particulate matter, which can penetrate deep into the lungs, caused the premature deaths of 253,000 people.

In its various forms, lead has been used in many everyday products for millennia. The Romans even added it to wine as a sweetener. Its most widespread use, however, was its addition to petrol. And it is this use that has been associated with increased mental health disorders, according to a new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Americans, especially those born between 1966 and 1986 (largely so-called generation X), have probably suffered from an additional 151 million mental health disorders that would not have occurred without the use of leaded petrol.

The study finds increases in anxiety and depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and neuroticism, as well as decreases in conscientiousness.

Although the toxicity of lead for humans has been known for almost as long as it has been used, the full extent of its effects and the exposure levels at which they manifest is still being uncovered.

Leaded Gasoline Tied to Uptick in Mental Health Disorders, and a Mysterious Outbreak Occurs in the DRC

A mysterious outbreak occurs in the Democratic of the Congo, and researchers find evidence that exposure to leaded gasoline was linked to increases in mental illness.

Dangers of Respirable Crystalline Silica dust

#anitech #occupationalhygiene #australia

Investigation uncovers how chemicals like diquat, banned in the UK but legal to export, are causing health problems in the global sout

Valdemar Postanovicz was at home after a day tending to his tobacco crop when his limbs seized up. “All of the right side of my body was paralysed. I couldn’t feel my foot and my hand. My mouth twisted to the right,” he says.

He feared it was a stroke. In fact, he was suffering ­symptoms of acute ­pesticide poisoning. Postanovicz, 45, had absorbed Reglone, a powerful herbicide based on the chemical diquat. “It was only one time in my life, but I felt so sick,” he says.

Barnard 68 is often mistaken for a hole in space, but it’s actually a dense, opaque cloud of dust—for now

Some of the most visually captivating celestial objects are quiet, steady, even calm—and so dark that they not only emit no visible light but actually absorb it, creating a blackness so profound they seem to be a notch cut out in space.

Cinnamon and Other Spices Can Contain Lead. Here’s What to Know

Why is lead found in cinnamon?

Most people are familiar with cinnamon in two forms – sticks and ground spice. Both come from the dried inner bark of the cinnamon tree, which is harvested after a few years of cultivation. For the U.S. market, cinnamon is largely imported from Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India and China.

One way that lead could accumulate in cinnamon tree bark is when trees are cultivated in contaminated soil. Lead can also be introduced in cinnamon products during processing, such as grinding.

When ground cinnamon is prepared, some producers may add lead compounds intentionally to enhance the weight or color of the product and, thus, fetch a higher sale price.

Zimmer’s team members—who worked in hazmat suits to protect themselves from the lead-rich yellowish deposits that coated the cathedral after the fire—also recovered 1000 pallets of stone and metal items. It was largely impossible to recycle these salvaged materials for restoration work, as they had been damaged or weakened by the intense fire. But the debris “played a central role in advancing our understanding of Notre Dame’s structure and informing the restoration,” says De Luca, an architect and computer scientist.

For example, archaeologist Cédric Moulis of the University of Lorraine painstakingly reassembled dozens of wedge-shaped stones called voussoirs recovered from the collapsed vaulted ceiling over the nave to glean insights into their mechanical properties. That allowed architects reconstructing the cathedral to ensure that the new vaults have a similar tolerance to forces as the vaults had before the fire, says Stéphane Morel, a mechanical engineer at the University of Bordeaux.

My research in India shows that being “rescued” in no way guarantees freedom. Many of the people I spoke with had been forced to return to the exploitative working conditions that they had supposedly been freed from.

So what is it actually like to be “freed”?

I spoke to 31 people who had been “rescued” by NGOs from bonded labour in a variety of environments from construction sites and stone-cutting to domestic and sanitation work. They told me of a devastating gap between the promises of liberation and the harsh realities they faced.

For all of them, genuine freedom has remained elusive.

The lack of information about the cause, extent and number of infected people makes it hard to accurately assess the threat it poses. But this is not an isolated risk. Outbreaks of new infectious diseases have occurred regularly over the years.