Can pollution make you gain weight? It works that way with animals. New research shows that exposure to polluted air early in life led to an accumulation of abdominal fat and insulin resistance in mice even if they ate a normal diet. Animals exposed to the fine-particulate air pollution had larger and more fat cells in their abdominal area and higher blood sugar levels than did animals eating the same diet but breathing clean air.
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Dirty dust from China – It’s that time of year again (and no, we don’t mean Easter!): The economic growth across much of Asia comes with a troubling side effect: pollutants from the region are being wafted up to the stratosphere during monsoon season, and they’re blowing OUR way. Not only that, that can circulate around the globe for years!
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Instead of helping us by importing cars from the US (which would help our ailing car manufacturers), the Chinese are helping stem their pollution problem by getting back on their bikes (which may help THEIR overpopulation problem!)
There are now four million vehicles in Beijing, meaning that they have American-style traffic jams, while 20 years ago, 4 out of 5 commuters rode bikes to work. China, which is one of the world’s only successful economies right now, has imported other American ideas as well: cars as status symbols, and bigger cars are considered to indicate success. In BBC News, Michael Bristow quotes Beijing car owner Richard Liu as saying, “I think 80% of Chinese people want to have a car, even if they don’t have much money they will buy cheaper ones.”read more
This isn’t the kind of pollution that monkeys MAKE, it’s the kind they DETECT. It turns out that testing hair from Asian monkeys living close to people may provide early warnings of toxic threats to humans and wildlife (and those of us who don’t have jungles nearby will just have to find another way). And at least monkeys listen to their females’ advice most of the time!
In parts of South and Southeast Asia, macaques and people drink from identical water sources, breathe the same air, share food sources, and play on the same ground. When macaques live in environments polluted by motor vehicles, openly disposed garbage, and industrial waste, they can come into contact with toxic substances such as lead, just as their human neighbors might.
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