Traffic pollution lowers kids' IQs
Children who live in neighbourhoods exposed to heavy traffic have lower IQs and poorer memories than children from cleaner areas, say Harvard School of Public Health researchers who studied more than 200 children in Boston aged eight to 11. The greater their exposure to so-called black carbon, a component of traffic exhaust, the lower their scores on several intelligence tests, Reuters reports. The effect was similar to that seen in children whose mothers smoked 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant, says team leader Shakira Franco Suglia. The researchers say traffic pollution may cause inflammation and affect the supply of oxygen to the brain.
Rural drinking water a health risk
Almost half of all drinking water in rural China is unhealthy, leading to outbreaks of diarrhoea and other diseases, reports the Ministry of Health, based on analysis of about 7,000 samples from across the mainland. Water from 44.4 per cent of the sites was below government standards, AFP reports, quoting Xinhua. About three-quarters of rural people get their water from underground, 'which may have been polluted already', says ministry spokesman Mao Qunan.
Breast cancer test rings the change
Hair from women suffering from breast cancer is noticeably and consistently different from hair from those who don't have the disease, say Australian researchers, based on a small study. The difference is apparent when the hair is exposed to X-rays in the way it diffracts the radiation. Hair from those with breast cancer showed a distinctive extra low-intensity ring, Reuters reports. The ring sign was fairly accurate in identifying breast cancer, missing only one of the cancer patients.