Ecology

News section with updates from clinics, science, health care, and society, explained clearly with practical context.

Climate change could expand chikungunya risk zones: Model points to 139 countries

The study's key finding: currently, potential risk zones for chikungunya virus transmission cover 21.26% of the world's land area and affect 139 countries and regions. The highest risk zones are currently concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions—South America, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and parts of Oceania.

28 May 2026, 21:20

Air pollution has been linked to an increased risk of dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease dementia.

This large Danish case-control study, based on national registries, examined whether long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) and nitrogen dioxide was associated with the risk of two neurodegenerative conditions: dementia with Lewy bodies and dementia associated with Parkinson's disease.

19 May 2026, 09:28

Microplastics and nanoplastics were found in almost all human brain samples.

A new study in Nature Health reports that microplastics and nanoplastics were found in almost all human brain samples studied: 99.4% of tissue samples from patients with brain tumors and 100% of healthy brain tissue samples taken from deceased donors.

29 April 2026, 09:59

Seven days without contact with plastic dramatically reduces phthalate and bisphenol levels in the body.

The study focuses not on microplastics as particles, but on so-called plastic-associated chemicals—chemicals associated with plastic, primarily phthalates and bisphenols—that can enter the body through food, packaging, kitchen utensils, personal hygiene products, dust, and air.

23 April 2026, 16:59

Asphalt has been found to be an underestimated source of air pollution: a study has been published on its emissions, oxidation, and the formation of ultrafine particles.

The main idea of the study is that road asphalt is not just a passive surface, but a source of non-methane volatile organic compounds, which, after chemical oxidation in the atmosphere, can turn into ultrafine secondary organic aerosols.

23 April 2026, 09:10

Air pollution linked to increased migraine activity in long-term study

A study published in the journal Neurology assessed how short-term and cumulative exposure to air pollution is associated with migraine activity.

16 April 2026, 11:29

Global warming may lead to increased sedentary lifestyles and premature death.

A major international study published in The Lancet Global Health attempted to assess a subtle consequence of climate change: how rising temperatures affect people's physical activity habits, rather than heatstroke directly.

23 March 2026, 15:00

Bisphenols and Preterm Birth: What a New Study Shows and Why Doctors Should Consider Anemia

Environment International published a study from a Chinese cohort that linked prenatal exposure to bisphenols (BPs) to the risk of preterm birth (PTB) and specifically tested whether maternal anemia increased this risk.

New acid in the rain: what is TFU and should we be afraid of it

Rain and snow increasingly bring traces of the same molecule to Earth: trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). Over the past decades, it has been found in rivers and lakes, groundwater, tree leaves, beer and bottled water, and in human blood and urine samples.

Smog's metallic fingerprint: Nickel, vanadium, sulfates most strongly linked to asthma hospitalizations

Fine particles PM2.5 are known to increase the risk of asthma exacerbations. But PM2.5 is a mixture of dozens of components (metals, inorganic salts and organics), and until now it was unclear which "building blocks" of the mixture were the most dangerous.

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