Previous studies indicate that breast milk arsenic concentrations are relatively low even in areas with high drinking water arsenic. However, it is uncertain whether breastfeeding leads to reduced infant exposure to arsenic in regions with lower arsenic concentrations. The researchers estimated the relative contributions of breast milk and formula to arsenic exposure during early infancy in a U.S. population.

The second plague pandemic in medieval Europe started with the Black Death epidemic of 1347–1353 and killed millions of people over a time span of four centuries. It is commonly thought that after its initial introduction from Asia, the disease persisted in Europe in rodent reservoirs until it eventually disappeared. Here, we show that climate-driven outbreaks of Yersinia pestis in Asian rodent plague reservoirs are significantly associated with new waves of plague arriving into Europe through its maritime trade network with Asia.

Climate change is now the leading cause of coral-reef degradation and is altering the adaptive landscape of coral populations. Increasing sea temperatures and declining carbonate saturation states are inhibiting short-term rates of coral calcification, carbonate precipitation and submarine cementation. A critical challenge to coral-reef conservation is understanding the mechanisms by which environmental perturbations scale up to influence long-term rates of reef-framework construction and ecosystem function.

Ocean acidification is a global, long-term problem whose ultimate solution requires carbon dioxide reduction at a scope and scale that will take decades to accomplish successfully. Until that is achieved, feasible and locally relevant adaptation and mitigation measures are needed. To help to prioritize societal responses to ocean acidification, we present a spatially explicit, multidisciplinary vulnerability analysis of coastal human communities in the United States. We focus our analysis on shelled mollusc harvests, which are likely to be harmed by ocean acidification.

Natural disasters have enormous impacts on human society, especially on the development of the economy. To support decision making in mitigation and adaption to natural disasters, assessment of economic impacts is fundamental and of great significance.

The atmospheric concentrations of 17 trace elements (Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Ti and Zn) were measured by means of the "lichen-bag" technique in the Agri Valley (southern Italy). The lichen samples were collected from an unpolluted site located in Rifreddo forest (southern Italy), about 30 km away from the study area along the north direction. The bags were exposed to ambient air for 6 and 12 months. The exposed-to-control (EC) ratio values highlighted that the used lichen species were suitable for biomonitoring investigations.

We investigate the use of landslide failure forecast models by exploiting near-real-time monitoring data. Starting from the inverse velocity theory, we analyze landslide surface displacements on different temporal windows, and apply straightforward statistical methods to obtain confidence intervals on the estimated time of failure. Here we describe the main concepts of our method, and show an example of application to a real emergency scenario, the La Saxe rockslide, Aosta Valley region, northern Italy.

Impact assessments are conducted with the objective of safeguarding human health and the environment. The Environmental Impact Assessment notification of 2006, subsequent amendments and associated guidelines provide the framework to document untoward effects of proposed industrial and developmental projects on the environment, and to manage them. It is also implicitly understood that the notification covers human health concerns arising from the proposed projects. Are health concerns being adequately accounted for when projects are provided clearance?

Though there is a fair understanding of the ways in which India's population is changing as well as of the social and economic implications of these changes, little attention has so far been paid to its possible environmental impact. This article attempts to understand how the changing demographic trends have affected the environment and seeks to identify measures both to mitigate environmental damage as well as increase resource use efficiency.

Multi-generational gas-phase oxidation of organic vapors can influence the abundance, composition and properties of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Only recently have
SOA models been developed that explicitly represent multi-generational SOA formation. In this work, we integrated the statistical oxidation model (SOM) into SAPRC-11 to
simulate the multi-generational oxidation and gas/particle partitioning of SOA in the regional UCD/CIT air quality model. In SOM, evolution of organic vapors by reaction with