Radioactive materials emitted during the Fukushima disaster caused physical mutations and genetic damage to butterfly populations living near the nuclear plant, a new study says.

In a series of tests, Japanese scientists found that butterflies collected from the Fukushima area about (more…)

Levels of some automobile-related pollutants in Los Angeles have plummeted by 98 percent since the 1960s, even as gasoline consumption nearly tripled during the same period, a new study says.

Levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are emitted from the tailpipes of cars and are a key (more…)

From reducing mobile source emissions, to connecting households to drinking water and wastewater services, to clean-up efforts of streams and canals, the United States and Mexico have made a joint effort to protect both human health and the environment in their shared 2,000 mile border region. (more…)

Last time I talked about why energy matters (obviously for the internet). Today I’ll look at one half of the energy efficiency incentive package… or why we should care about saving energy (as if preserving talking cat videos was not enough of a reason).

Electricity is the cheapest form of power in most (more…)

A new NASA study calculates that nearly 64 million tons of dust, pollution, and other tiny particles enter the atmosphere above North America from other continents each year, nearly as much as the 69 million tons of aerosols produced domestically through natural processes and human activities. (more…)

Several university-led studies that have downplayed concerns about the controversial drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing have been funded in part by drilling companies themselves, Bloomberg News reports.

Bloomberg cited, for example, a 2009 report published by Pennsylvania State University predicting (more…)

By declining to implement tougher regulations on smog last fall, President Obama rejected measures that could have saved several thousand lives a year and prevented millions of cases of asthma attacks and other acute respiratory problems, according to a new study. (more…)

With the Summer Olympics only days away, athletes are facing some of the worst air pollution in Europe. London’s NOx and Ozone concentrations have the potential to adversely affect athletes, and the huge crowds that will be attending the games. Athlete performance is likely to be impacted, and attendees with health conditions should be aware to take care to not (more…)

On June 20th the health and use of the world’s oceans takes center stage at Rio +20, the sustainable development conference in Rio de Janeiro. The garden of the city’s modern art museum (MAM) is where the Blue Pavilion has been erected in order to house a line-up of events that will unfold during the day. The program will kick off with a press conference about the film Planet (more…)

Debris from last year’s tsunami in Japan, including some potentially toxic materials, is increasingly being discovered along the Alaska coastline.

Since January, millions of pieces of debris have washed ashore along the Alaska coast, from soccer balls and buoys to motorcycles and large drums (more…)