Global study reveals widespread burning of plastic for heating and cooking
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Jun-2026 19:15 ET (22-Jun-2026 23:15 GMT/UTC)
A new Curtin University-led study has shed new light on the widespread number of households in developing countries burning plastic as an everyday energy source, uncovering serious international health, social equality and environmental concerns.
MIT engineers designed a pill that can report when it has been swallowed, an advance that could aid in medication adherence.
In agricultural production, microplastics have become environmental pollutants that cannot be ignored. They may not only enter the food chain through the soil-plant system, threatening food safety, but also alter the physical and chemical properties of soil, interfere with microbial functions, and thereby affect soil health and crop growth.
In intensive care units, some patients who appear unconscious occupy a gray zone in their relationship to the world. To better diagnose them and predict their recovery potential, Dragana Manasova, Jacobo Sitt, and their colleagues have developed an automated tool that integrates multiple modalities for analyzing consciousness. Tested in three European care centers, it could contribute to a more refined and personalized assessment of disorders of consciousness. This work is published in Brain.
In International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, researchers have created a new class of ultrathin hydrogel electrodes that could finally make long-term wearable health monitoring practical, bringing the promise of 24/7 and high-fidelity health monitoring closer to reality.
A research team led by Dr. Shin Hur at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM, President Seog-Hyeon Ryu), including Syed Turab Haider Zaidi, a student researcher from the UST–KIMM School at KIMM, in collaboration with Dr. Byung-Chul Lee’s team at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), has developed the world’s first skin-attachable, noninvasive blood pressure sensor using PMN-PT single-crystal piezoelectric composites integrated through a low-temperature soldering process.
A Leicester study has shed light on why people of South Asian (SA) origin may face a higher risk of cardiometabolic disorders and respond differently to physical activity compared to White European people (WE).
Australia’s beloved dolphin populations face growing pressures from environmental changes and human activity, increasing the need for reliable, accessible and non-invasive tools to monitor their health and support conservation and management.
In a new study published in the Journal of Thermal Biology, marine mammal experts from Flinders University analysed more than 40,000 drone-based thermal images to test how accurately drones fitted with thermal cameras can measure dolphin surface temperature and respiration rates without the need for capture or invasive probes.