• Women & Public HealthWomen in Global Health: Providing Actionable Insights to Healthcare Providers

    Women make up 70 percent of the healthcare workforce. After almost 2 years of pandemic-driven challenges, women healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 response are facing burnout, are leaving the healthcare workforce, and are shifting to part-time work.

  • Climate & SecurityDHS Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change

    Two weeks ago, the Biden administration released four reports, by DHS, the intelligence community, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Council, on how climate change-driven developments — among them:  worsening conflict within and between nations; increased dislocation and migration as people flee climate-fueled instability; heightened military tension and uncertainty; infrastructure destruction; worsening public health; food and water shortages; financial hazards, and more – are posing an increasingly more serious challenge to global stability and to U.S. national security.

  • Public Health EmergenciesMore States Passing Laws Limiting Authority to Respond to Public Health Emergencies

    New data capture details of an emerging effort by states to limit executive authority to act in response to public health emergencies.

  • PandemicsTargeted Interventions: Containing Pandemics, Minimizing Societal Disruption

    COVID has so far infected 21 million people, with more than 4.5 of them dying. Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as case isolation, quarantining contacts, and the complete lockdown of entire countries, often come at the expense of economic disruption, harm to social and mental well-being, and require costly administration costs to ensure compliance.

  • MisinformationMisinformation on Stem Cell Treatments for COVID-19 Linked to Overhyped Science: Researchers

    Researchers call for stronger regulations to deter the sale of unproven cell-based products, and more responsible and accurate science communication.

  • Food SecurityNuclear War's Smoke Would Cause Climate Change, Threatening Global Food Supplies

    Nuclear war would cause many immediate fatalities, but smoke and soot from the resulting fires would also cause climate change lasting up to fifteen years, threatening worldwide food production and human health, according to a new study.

  • Chemical HazardsHelping Keep Communities Safe from Chemical Hazards During Severe Weather

    The destruction wrought by extreme weather is often spectacular in its devastation, but the quiet threat of subsequent chemical release can be just as deadly. Damage to infrastructure can lead to toxic substances like chlorine or ammonia contaminating our air and water.

  • Havana SyndromeRush to Stop “Havana Syndrome”

    By Christina Pazzanese

    In 2016, dozens of diplomatic staff at the U.S. and Canadian embassies in Havana began experiencing a sudden onset of health troubles with no apparent cause. It was suspected they had been exposed to a high-intensity burst of energy or sound waves. Known as Havana syndrome, today there are at least 200 CIA, State Department, and Pentagon personnel stationed overseas who have been affected. But cause, suspects unclear as scores of U.S. spies, diplomats, security staff hit by mysterious neurological injuries overseas.

  • Public HealthDEA, DOJ Warn of Lethal Fake Medication Pushed by Mexican Criminal Gangs

    Mexican criminal drug networks are mass-producing illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-laced fake pills using chemicals sourced largely from China., and are distributing these pills through U.S. criminal networks. These addictive fake pills are more lethal than ever. DEA laboratory testing reveals that today, four out of 10 fentanyl-laced fake pills contain a potentially lethal dose. DEA seizes 1.8 million fake pills and arrests 810 people nationwide in two-month effort to dismantle the drug distribution networks.

  • GunsCan Better Gun Safety Practices Lower Teen Suicide Rates?

    Forty percent of the teenagers committing suicide used guns. A new study showed that teens who die by suicide using guns may show fewer warning signs like mental health issues than teens who die by suicide using other methods. Gun availability could contribute to this, as gun-owning parents loosen safety practices as children grow up.

  • Vaccine cards black marketMandates Give Rise to Booming Black Market for Fake Vaccine Cards

    By Dora Mekouar

    As more organizations demand proof of inoculation against COVID-19, the black market for fake vaccine cards appears to be booming. Legal experts compare phony vaccine cards to counterfeit money or fake drivers’ licenses.

  • WildfiresStudy of Wildfires Reveals Increase in Mortality Rate

    A new study comprehensively links short term exposure to wildfire-related fine particulate matters (PM2.5) in the air and all-cause, respiratory and cardiovascular mortalities across cities and regions around the globe.

  • Water securityRiver Backwaters and High Water Quality Standards

    Clean drinking water is essential. Scientists are investigating how water quality in riverine floodplains, often used as drinking water resources, changes as a result of heavy rainfall and flooding.

  • First responders9/11: Twenty Years Later, Responders Still Paying a Heavy Price

    More than 91,000 responders were exposed to a range of hazards during recovery and clean-up operations, with 80,785 enrolling in the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) set up after the attacks. 3,439 are now dead – far more than the 412 who died on the day of the attacks – and many of those alive have been suffering from a series of ailments related to the work at the Twin Towers site.

  • Cyanide detectionKeeping First Responders Safe by Detecting Cyanide Poisoning after Fires

    When first responders rush to a burning building to subdue the fire and save lives, it is not just the flames that are dangerous and potentially lethal, but also toxic fumes like cyanide that are released when certain materials are incinerated. These fumes, mixed with smoke, are so toxic that even in very low quantities may pose more risk than the fire itself. Chemists at DHS S&T have invented a test to indicate possible toxic cyanide exposure at the fire scene.