A US EPA study has found that peat wildfire smoke is associated with a significant increase in emergency room visits for respiratory and cardiovascular effects. The study discovered a 37% rise in ER visits for people experiencing symptoms of heart failure during a period of dense smoke exposure.
The US EPA has awarded nearly $2.5 million to 11 companies to support their work in eight key environmental areas. These companies will use the additional funds to commercialize technologies such as microbial fuel cells and chromium-free coatings.
The EPA has awarded over $1 million in grants to 14 college teams who developed innovative solutions to protect human health and the environment. The P3 award competition encourages students to create sustainable technologies, and winners will receive funding to further develop their ideas.
The EPA has awarded 42 grants to teams of college and university students to design sustainable technologies addressing various environmental challenges. The winners will be selected based on their project designs and may receive additional funding for implementation or marketplace development.
The US EPA has awarded a grant to investigate how food allergies are initiated, with potential breakthroughs in predicting allergic reactions to genetically engineered foods. The study aims to identify key immune factors leading to food allergies, affecting approximately 3 million children in the US.
The EPA P3 award winners are recognized for their sustainable designs, including integrated aquaculture systems and solar thermal combined cycles. These projects demonstrate the potential for economic growth and environmental sustainability to coexist.
EPA's STAR fellowship program supports promising masters and doctoral candidates, such as Matthias Fripp, who are developing sustainable energy solutions for America. The program also recognizes the work of former fellows, including Toiya Goodlow and Dr. Brandon Jones, who now work at EPA.
The US EPA awarded $38 million to two new research centers to investigate the potential risks of nanomaterials on the environment and human health. The centers, led by UCLA and Duke University, will use innovative approaches to develop predictive models and conduct experiments in outdoor laboratories.
The EPA has awarded $3.6 million in research grants to develop innovative technologies for detecting known and emerging drinking water contaminants, including blue-green algae toxins and noroviruses. These new projects will improve the toolkit available to protect America's drinking water and public health.
The University of Kentucky will investigate how particle size and shape affect brain entry, focusing on nano-sized cerium oxide. The EPA has awarded a $2M grant for four years to examine potential health impacts.
The US EPA has funded three interdisciplinary teams to explore the links between biodiversity and human health, focusing on Lyme disease and West Nile encephalitis. Research will investigate how environmental factors and people's behaviors contribute to disease transmission.
The partnership aims to improve decision-making by incorporating the value of ecosystem services into policy. Researchers will use computer models to predict impacts on ecosystem services from development options.
The EPA report identifies strategies to protect the environment as climate change occurs, using a unique approach that considers management goals for protected areas. The report finds that existing best practices can be applied to reduce the impacts of climate change on ecosystems.