Russia’s toxic chemicals and cyber warfare tactics

What do chemical pollutants do to our bodies? It’s a timely question given that last week Philadelphia residents emptied grocery store shelves of bottled water after a toxic leak from a chemical plant spilled into a tributary of the Delaware River. , a source of drinking water for 14 million people. And it was only last month that a train carrying a suite of other hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing an unknown amount of toxic chemicals.

There is no doubt that we are polluting the planet. In order to know how these pollutants might affect our own bodies, we need to determine how we are exposed to them. What chemicals do we inhale, eat and digest? And how much? The field of exposomics, which seeks to study our exposure to pollutants, among other factors, could help us provide much-needed answers.Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

This story is from The Checkup, Jessica’s weekly biotech newsletter. Register to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

Learn more:

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+ Microplastics disrupt seabird microbiomes. The next step is to figure out what this might mean for their health and ours. Read the full story.