impacts | Common News Update

Sep232023 by adminNo Comments

Metal-mining pollution impacts 23 million people worldwide

Science

Getty ImagesBy Victoria GillScience correspondent, BBC NewsAt least 23 million people around the world live on flood-plains contaminated by potentially harmful concentrations of toxic waste from metal-mining activity, according to a study.UK scientists mapped the world's 22,609 active and 159,735 abandoned metal mines and calculated the extent of pollution from them.Chemicals can leach from mining operations into soil and waterways. The researchers say future mines have to be planned "very carefully". This is particularly critical as the demand surges for metals that will support battery technology and electrification, including lithium and copper, says Prof Mark Macklin from the University of Lincoln, who led the research. .flourish-container{position:relative;color:#404040;font-family:'H...

Jun262020 by adminNo Comments

Repeated head impacts, brain injury increase risk for depression, study finds

Health

June 26 (UPI) -- Head injuries experienced while young may increase a person's risk for depression and dementia decades later, according to a study published Friday by the journal Neurology. In general, those with a history of repetitive head impacts scored 1.24 points higher on a 15-point depression symptom scale than those without a history, the researchers found. Advertisement Study participants with a history of traumatic brain injury, or TBI, had scores up to 0.75 points higher, they said. "The findings underscore that repetitive hits to the head, such as those from contact sport participation or physical abuse, might be associated with later-life symptoms of depression," study co-author Michael Alosco said in a press release. "It should be made clear that this association is likely...

May112020 by adminNo Comments

Violent meteorite impacts forged parts of the lunar crust

Science

May 11 (UPI) -- Parts of the moon's crust were forged by large and violent meteorite impacts, according to new research published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. Analysis of a lunar rock, brought home by astronauts on NASA's 1972 Apollo 17 mission, revealed the presence of minerals that can only form at temperatures greater than 4,300 degrees Fahrenheit -- the kind of temperatures generated by large impact events. Researchers found evidence of a specific phase of cubic zirconia inside the lunar rock, a phase only produced at high temperatures. The mineral has since reverted to baddeleyite, but the signature of its cubic zirconia phase remains imprinted in the structure of the baddeleyite crystals. Scientists were able to date the baddeleyite to 4.3 billion years ago, which sugges...

Oct112019 by adminNo Comments

Badger culls have varying impacts on cattle TB

Science

The UK government's badger cull has had mixed effects on the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in cattle, a new study reports.A team found the incidence of cattle TB had fallen in two areas where badgers had been culled and slightly increased in a third area.Farming groups claim the figures demonstrate badger culls are working.But researchers are more cautious about the results, which have been published in the journal Scientific ReportsGloucestershire saw a 66% fall in incidence of cattle TB and Somerset saw a 36% drop over the period between 2013 and 2017. Dorset, the third badger culling zone, saw a 10% increase, which the report's authors say is not statistically significant, in cattle TB from 2015 to 2017.Co-author Christl Donnelly from Oxford Universit...

Sep232019 by adminNo Comments

Climate change: Impacts ‘accelerating’ as leaders gather for UN talks

Science

The signs and impacts of global warming are speeding up, the latest science on climate change, published ahead of key UN talks in New York, says.The data, compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), says the five-year period from 2014 to 2019 is the warmest on record. Sea-level rise has accelerated significantly over the same period, as CO2 emissions have hit new highs.The WMO says carbon-cutting efforts have to be intensified immediately.The climate statement is a pull-together of the latest science on the causes and growing impacts of unprecedented levels of warming seen in recent years. Recognising that global temperatures have risen by 1.1 degrees C since 1850, the paper notes they have gone up by 0.2C between 2011 and 2015. ...