Special Topics Why we need a science-based approach to help the monarch butterflies 5 Jul 2018March 31, 2020 [This post was originally published in Students of SETAC Outreach. The work described in this article has now been published: https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/etc.4672 ] I will start by acknowledging this: I am…
Recent News The impact of three insecticides on endangered species 15 Jun 2018December 29, 2021 Featured image: The location of critical habitats (areas essential for conservation of threatened and endangered species) in mainland United States. Photo Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. This post was…
Recent News The environmental impact of the world’s most famous weed killer 11 May 2018December 29, 2021 This post was originally published in Envirobites Weed killers are sprayed (see figures 1 and 2) to control land weeds on agricultural fields, residential lawns and golf courses. They are…
Basics of Toxicology Exposure to pollutants 19 Apr 2018February 24, 2022 Featured image: The three ways humans can get exposed to environmental pollutants. Image source: Damalas and Koutroubas et al., 2016 The concept of exposure is well-grained in our psyche. We…
Special Topics Biological scaling 15 Apr 2018December 29, 2021 Featured image: The brain and heart grow at different rates relative to the human body. [Image source: Shingleton, A. (2010) Allometry: The Study of Biological Scaling. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):2. (Adapted from Moore 1983; Data from…
Special Topics Genetic resistance 24 Mar 2018December 29, 2021 Featured image: A monarch butterfly caterpillar eating milkweed plant. Milkweeds contain a toxin that only a few species, like monarchs, can consume safely. (Photo taken by me at Iowa State…
Basics of Toxicology Tracking pollutants indirectly 2 Mar 2018December 29, 2021 Featured image: Sherlock Holmes - It is elementary, my dear scientist. Image source: Employee(s) of Universal Studios [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Imagine you are Sherlock Holmes. You have a…
Basics of Toxicology How pollutants move through us 3 Feb 2018February 24, 2022 Feature image: Movement of xenobiotics in our body First, let's learn a new term -- xenobiotic. A xenobiotic is a compound that is foreign to an organism, i.e., it does…
Basics of Toxicology How pollutants move through the environment 28 Jan 2018October 29, 2021 Feature image: Structure of DDT. Chemical structures help determine how a chemical would move in the environment Toxicologists love chemical structures because structures tell a lot about a chemical, just…
Basics of Toxicology Major environmental pollutants 21 Jan 2018December 11, 2021 Feature image: Smogs due to air pollutants were more common in the U.S. prior to passage of environmental laws (Photo source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) I use the…
Special Topics Environmental toxicology laws in the U.S. 13 Jan 2018December 5, 2022 Feature image: EPA is responsible for implementing most of the environmental protection laws in the United States (Image source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Many environmental toxicology laws (and laws pertaining…
Special Topics Rachel Carson’s legacy 8 Jan 2018October 29, 2021 Feature image: Rachel Carson (Photo source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) If there is one name you should know if you want to learn more about environmental toxicology, it is…
EnTox Simplified 