A note from...
Bijal Trivedi
Science and Technology Editor
A few months ago our education editor Jamaal Abdul-Alim pointed out that it’s been nearly five years since the country first learned about the lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan. That inspired several of us to sleuth out new research exploring the health effects of lead. But the consequences aren’t easy to identify because past exposure to this toxic metal is difficult to quantify.
Jill Johnston, an environmental scientist and epidemiologist at the University of Southern California, used out a clever technique to solve this problem. She studied a community living in the shadow of a lead-acid battery smelter in southeast Los Angeles County and discovered that the key to gauging past lead exposure was buried in treasured biological samples that families had saved – baby teeth.
Lead contamination is not just a problem for Flint, Michigan. It is an issue in many regions. One epidemiologist figured out how to measure past lead exposure using treasured biological samples.
MySpace users were recently shocked to learn that the company lost 50 million user files. It's a harsh lesson in not leaving your intellectual property unprotected on the information superhighway.
Rather than revealing an advertiser targeted you by your phone number or email address, Facebook may tell you it showed you a particular ad because you like Facebook. That's not much help.
Fiona Greenland, University of Virginia; James Marrone, Johns Hopkins University; Oya Topçuoğlu, Northwestern University; Tasha Vorderstrasse, University of Chicago
According to a new study, a small portion of a site can yield thousands of objects, adding up to millions of dollars.
Ann Scarborough Bull, University of California, Santa Barbara; Milton Love, University of California, Santa Barbara
Californians love their coast and strongly oppose offshore drilling. Will they support converting old oil rigs to artificial reefs – a policy that benefits both marine life and oil companies?
Government produces millions of pages of records every day: studies, reports, memos, emails, budgets and more. These reports belong to the public, but increasingly, lawmakers are trying to hide them.
No matter how well-intentioned, volunteers who may be inexperienced can't solve the entrenched and complex social problems low-income communities endure.
Lynn Marie Frydrych, University of Michigan; Matthew J. Delano, University of Michigan
Trauma results in 41 million emergency department visits a year and hundreds of thousands of deaths. May is National Trauma Awareness month, and two experts explain why it's time to pay attention.
An economist explains why the US and Chinese governments are most likely to dig in their heels rather than find a compromise to end the costly trade conflict.