health

Oct 3, 2011

Spanish Colonialism’s Environmental Legacy, Part Three: The Toxic Present

Editor’s Note: This is the last of three guest posts by NC State history lecturer Nicholas Robins, an expert on the environmental history of South America and author of “Mercury, Mining and Empire: The Human and Ecological Cost of Colonial Silver Mining in the Andes.” Robins is also founder and president of the Environmental Health Council,… 

Sep 29, 2011

Spanish Colonialism’s Environmental Legacy, Part Two: ‘A Black Shadow Of Hell’

Editor’s Note: This is the second of three guest posts by NC State history lecturer Nicholas Robins, an expert on the environmental history of South America and author of “Mercury, Mining and Empire: The Human and Ecological Cost of Colonial Silver Mining in the Andes.” Robins is also founder and president of the Environmental Health Council,… 

Sep 27, 2011

Spanish Colonialism’s Environmental Legacy, Part One: Origins

Editor’s Note: This is the first of three guest posts by NC State history lecturer Nicholas Robins, an expert on the environmental history of South America and author of “Mercury, Mining and Empire: The Human and Ecological Cost of Colonial Silver Mining in the Andes.” Robins is also founder and president of the Environmental Health Council,… 

Jun 13, 2011

Knick-Knack, Paddy-Whack, Save a Dog a Bone…

And we’re not talking soup bones. Osteosarcoma is the most common canine bone cancer, with tumors generally appearing on the dog’s front limbs, above the wrist joint.  Veterinarians can treat osteosarcoma, but in many cases the treatment involves amputation, a particular challenge for dogs with additional health problems that may affect their balance or mobility,… 

Jun 2, 2011

Using Desire To Be A ‘Good Dad’ To Curb Domestic Violence

A lot of fathers who have battered their partners, and/or their kids, also witnessed domestic violence in their own homes as children. Many of these men want to do a better job as fathers. A pilot study in North Carolina is trying to tap into that desire to be a “good dad” to curb domestic… 

Jun 1, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Horse Flies

Mosquitoes and ticks are nasty, but no family of blood feeders can compete with horse flies. They’re the most diverse group of blood-feeding animals on Earth (and, as far as we know, in the entire universe). Whether you call them horse flies, greenheads, deer flies or bloodthirsty so-and-sos, these insects are all part of the… 

May 23, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Black Widows

It’s hard to think of an arthropod with a worse reputation than the black widow. Heck, the term is even used to describe serial killers – and it doesn’t get much worse than that. We’ve already covered mosquitoes, ticks and carpenter bees in our “bad bugs” series, but any conversation about bugs people hate has… 

May 17, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Ticks

In our second post on the bad bugs of summer, we’ll be talking about ticks. Or, as I like to think of them, those bloodsucking disease spreaders. First of all, I really shouldn’t call ticks “bad bugs.” Technically, they’re not bugs at all. Of course, mosquitoes aren’t either. But ticks aren’t even insects. They’re arachnids.… 

May 16, 2011

Opening Markets: Initial Data Collection Docs

Editor’s Note: This post is the second in a series authored by Dr. Ben Chapman, an assistant professor and food safety researcher at NC State. The series is part of his research team’s efforts to run a fully open-source research project. You can track relevant posts by clicking on the “Open Source Research” tag. Growing season… 

May 11, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Mosquitoes

Summer is more than lemonade and swimming pools. It means bug bites – mosquitoes, ticks, horse flies, you name it. This is the first in a series of posts profiling these bad bugs of summer: what they do, why they do it, tips on how to protect yourself, and the occasional trivial factoid. We’re starting… 

Apr 25, 2011

Opening Markets: Exploring And Communicating Food Safety Barriers

Editor’s Note: This post is the first in a series that will be authored by Dr. Ben Chapman, an assistant professor and food safety researcher at NC State. Chapman’s posts on The Abstract are part of his team’s efforts to run a fully open-source research project. You’ll know what’s going on from beginning to end. You… 

Apr 21, 2011

Earth Day: Global Research Challenges

For more than 40 years, Earth Day has been a call to arms to appreciate and protect our natural environment. In order to accomplish that mission, we must first understand the challenges threatening our environmental health and sustainability. 

Apr 18, 2011

Earth Day: Research Challenges

For more than 40 years, Earth Day has been a call to arms to appreciate and protect our natural environment. Improving our understanding of the environment is an essential component of that mission. With that in mind, we have asked researchers in fields ranging from wildlife ecology to meteorology to political science to briefly outline… 

Mar 24, 2011

What Happened In Japan? An Overview

In the wake of a recent earthquake and tsunami, there has been enormous interest in the problems facing Japanese nuclear power plants. These events have people asking a large number of questions. What happened? How dangerous is this? How do nuclear power plants work, anyway? On March 23, a panel of nuclear engineering experts held… 

Mar 11, 2011

We Have Found the Enemy and It Is Us

If you suffer from preeclampsia during pregnancy, it could be because your body is fighting against itself. New research from Dr. Jorge Piedrahita, NC State professor of genomics, has found that the placentas of women diagnosed with preeclampsia have more of a gene associated with regulating the body’s immune response than  the placentas of women who…