Wigs are big business - worth millions of dollars to local and foreign businesses.
Xinhua News Agency / Contributor/GettyImages
Wigs are popular fashion accessories for Nigerian women. However, many are laden with heavy metals and pesticides.
Sabena Jane Blackbird / Alamy Stock Photo
New research shows how old lead mines are polluting the environment and surrounding wildlife and farmland with legacy contaminants.
A person takes a sample of water for testing.
Irina Kozorog / Shutterstock
If not properly managed, heavy metals such as arsenic can accumulate in landfills and leach into soils and groundwater.
Shutterstock
It’s not just the ingredients we should be concerned about. The devices themselves release chemicals that end up in our blood and urine.
Newcrest Mining/AAP
The action by the Environment Protection Authority follows alarming results from testing of rainwater tanks and the blood and hair of residents living near to the mine.
One symptom of arsenic poisoning is the growth of plaques on the skin called arsenical keratosis.
Anita Ghosh/REACH via Flickr
Millions of people worldwide are exposed via soil and water to arsenic, whether naturally occurring or related to pollution. Chronic exposure is linked to the formation of cancer stem cells.
A caracal monitored by the Urban Caracal Project, TMC33 Hermes, walks across a pipeline in Cape Town.
Kris Marx
Caracals are most likely being exposed to metals like arsenic, lead and mercury through their diet.
Juan Fernández fur seals were once hunted for their semi-waterproof fur.
Constanza Toro Valdivieso
The mystery surrounding a forgotten marine mammal, a remote archipelago and man-made pollution.
When two neutron stars merge and create a black hole, they produce a powerful blast of gamma rays.
A. Simonnet (Sonoma State Univ.) and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Gamma-ray bursts occur when a massive star explodes or when two neutron stars merge. A newly discovered burst has puzzled astronomers, as it lasted much longer than astronomers would have expected.
The Osun River has become turbid and unsafe for consumption - threatening its cultural and biodiversity significance. Photo by: Stefan Heunis/AFP via Getty Images.
from www,gettyimages.com
The ability of the Osun River to support biodiversity is being threatened by pollution and can only be rescued if the contamination ends.
Heavy metals can be toxic to plants - and humans, too.
Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock
Plants have evolved several ways to deal with heavy metals that might otherwise poison or kill them.
Wildfire smoke contains a mixture of toxic pollutants that can be harmful to both the lungs and the brain.
Bloomberg Creative/ Bloomberg Creative Photos via Getty Images
Pollution from more frequent floods and wildfires – exacerbated by the warming climate – is threatening human health and poses particular risks to the brain.
Like many marine species, oysters are affected by nanoplastics that pollute the oceans.
(Shutterstock)
Nanoplastics and arsenic can affect some of the most basic functions of oysters.
Hot mix asphalt plants should not be built within residential areas and around water resources.
Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto via Getty Image
There have been instances of heavy metals pollution in Nigeria that led to public health crisis.
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Like rings in tree trunks, the layers of our teeth carry a detailed record of our growth — and reveal lead contamination is common.
One study found that 95% of baby foods tested contained at least one heavy metal.
Plume Creative via Getty Images
Reports from baby food companies show questionable levels of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals. Here’s what parents need to know.
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New research fired laser beams on tiger snake scales, and found arsenic was 20-34 times higher in wild wetland snakes than in captive snakes.
Will Notley
New research points to ‘heavy metals’ having unseen effects on a much larger scale than previously thought.
Phil / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
Australia has failed to ratify an international treaty to reduce harmful mercury emissions. Mercury exposure can cause kidney damage and brain impairment, especially in children.
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We must stop using biosolids for farmlands immediately, especially when alternative ways to recycle wastewater sludge already exist.