In part one of our two-episode series on the exposome, Douglas Walker, Ph.D., will discuss how the field of exposomics is transforming environmental health research. Walker also talks about challenges in the field and opportunities for exposomic research to improve public health.

The Exposome and Health (Part 1)

In this episode, we’ll hear from Jeff Burgess, M.D., who has been a leader in the field of firefighter health and safety research for more than 30 years. Burgess discusses the health risks of firefighting and shares best practices to reduce occupational exposures and improve firefighter health.

Protecting Firefighter Health

In this episode, we’ll hear from Jochem Klompmaker, Ph.D., a research fellow at Harvard University who led one of the largest studies to date examining the link between the natural environment and neurodegenerative disease risk. Klompmaker discusses how access to nature may protect against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and the implications of his findings for creating greener communities.

Spending Time in Nature May Slow Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Disease Progression

In this episode we’ll hear from Johnathan Levy, Sc.D., an environmental health researcher who has studied gas stove emissions for more than two decades. Levy discusses how pollutants released by gas stoves can harm health and the environment. He also offers tips to reduce indoor air pollutants and health risks associated with gas stoves.

Gas Stoves and Your Health

In this episode we’ll hear from Anna Goodman Hoover, Ph.D., a public health researcher at the University of Kentucky, and Nina McCoy, who leads the group Martin County Concerned Citizens. They are working with residents in rural eastern Kentucky who are concerned about high levels of disinfection byproducts detected in their drinking water. Hoover and McCoy discuss potential health effects of long-term exposure to disinfection byproducts and an NIEHS-funded community-engaged project to raise local awareness of these compounds in drinking water and reduce exposure to them.

Reducing Exposure to Disinfection Byproducts in Drinking Water

When hazardous materials are spilled or released, specially trained workers must respond to minimize the health and safety risks posed to people, communities, and the environment. In this episode we’ll hear from two NIEHS grantees who are using cell phone-based technologies to enhance health and safety training for hazardous materials workers.

Combining Technology and Training to Protect Workers’ Health

In this episode, Sappho Gilbert, a doctoral candidate at Yale University School of Public Health, discusses her NIEHS-funded project to better understand how climate change and other environmental factors are altering food security and nutrition among Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic.

Food Security, Nutrition, and Indigenous Health in the Arctic

In this episode, Kari Nadeau, M.D., Ph.D., talks about how climate change and air pollution affect children’s health. She also discusses what health care professionals, policy makers, and parents can do to better protect kids from climate change- and air-pollution-related health impacts.

Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Children’s Health and Your Health

In this episode, Laurel Schaider, Ph.D., talks about how PFAS exposures affect health and how communities can learn more about this large class of chemicals, including ways to reduce exposure.

PFAS and Your Health

In this episode, we hear from Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza, Ph.D., from Duke University, and Veronica Carter, with the North Carolina Coastal Federation. They discuss “Stop, Check, Enjoy!” a campaign to help fishers in southeastern North Carolina understand the risks of consuming certain fish from the Cape Fear River. They also share tips on how to choose, prepare, and cook fish to reduce exposure to harmful contaminants.

Campaign Promotes Eating Safer Fish

This podcast series explores how environmental exposures affect our health. Each short episode highlights ways researchers work in partnership with community groups to understand and address environmental health issues.

Environmental Health Chat

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Many factors are known to raise the risk of heart disease, including diet, smoking, inactivity, and genetic factors. According to a growing body of research, air pollution also plays an important role in the development of heart disease and in triggering cardiac events. In this podcast, we'll hear about the latest research and offer tips to reduce your risk.

Air Pollution and Your Heart

In this podcast we’ll learn more about autism and what NIEHS-funded researchers are doing to understand gene-by-environment contributions to autism. Plus, we’ll hear how prenatal vitamins may be useful in reducing the risk of autism.

Understanding the Link Between Environment, Nutrition, and Autism: Examining Approaches to Reduce Risk

In this podcast we will focus on the Global Burden of Disease Study and how it is helping inform health organizations and decision makers as they prioritize environmental factors that need to be addressed.

Understanding the Global Burden of Disease Part I

LEAD

Bioavailability is a concept that is often unknown or confusing to community members impacted by metals contamination. Since bioavailability has important implications for human health and cleanup decisions at Superfund sites, it is important for impacted communities and the public to understand this concept. The University of Arizona (UA) Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) SRP Center collaborated to develop a factsheet to provide a brief introduction to the concept of bioavailability and its relevance to communities impacted by metals contamination. In this podcast, hear how bioavailability can affect people's exposure to metals like arsenic and lead. Plus, learn how to reduce exposure to arsenic or lead present in contaminated soil.

Understanding Bioavailability of Arsenic and Lead in Soils at Hazardous Waste Sites

Some groups of people in the United States experience higher rates of certain diseases than the general population. For example, communities near highways, which are more likely to be lower income or include people of color, may be exposed to more traffic-related air pollution and have a higher risk of respiratory disease. These differences in health outcomes between groups are called health disparities. In this podcast, hear more about the complex factors that are involved in environmental health disparities. Plus, learn how the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and NIEHS-funded researchers are working to address environmental health disparities and promote environmental justice for all.

Addressing Environmental Health Disparities through Research

In this podcast we’ll hear about how researchers are exploring preconception, particularly for fathers to be, as a critical window of susceptibility to harmful exposures. Plus, learn what you can do to improve your preconception health!

Why Dad’s Environment Before Conception Matters

A shift towards sedentary lifestyles has far reaching impacts on children's health, including increased incidence of obesity, diabetes, asthma, and attention deficit disorders. In this podcast, hear how spending time in nature can increase physical activity, reduce the risk of chronic disease, and improve children's sense of emotional wellbeing. Plus, learn how health professionals and unique initiatives are working to prescribe nature to improve the health of children and their communities.

Children, Nature, and the Importance of Getting Kids Outside

In this podcast, we’ll learn about a complex group of chemicals known as PFAS and how researchers are working to understand how they may impact early development in children.

PFAS and Children’s Health

Did you know that many of the processes in your body operate on a 24-hour cycle? This cycle, called the circadian rhythm, controls important functions in the body, such as hormone production and sleep patterns. The circadian rhythm is largely controlled by the normal pattern of light and darkness we experience in a day. But our circadian rhythm – and the processes it controls – can become disrupted if we are exposed to artificial light during nighttime hours. Disruption of the circadian rhythm has been linked to a range of health problems, including obesity, mood disorders, and cancer. In this podcast, Helmut Zarbl, Ph.D., discusses his research on circadian rhythms, and highlights why people who work night shifts and are frequently exposed to nighttime light have increased rates of certain types of cancer. We’ll also learn tips for maintaining a normal, healthy circadian rhythm and getting a good night’s sleep.

Circadian Rhythm and Your Health

In this podcast, we’ll learn more about the global burden disease (GBD) and how the GBD study could ultimately help clarify the true burden of environmental exposures, thereby raising prevention and associated policies as a societal priority (in all countries).

Understanding the Global Burden of Disease Part II

Although childhood lead poisoning has decreased over the last four decades, it remains an important public health concern. While the internet offers vast informative resources for parents, landlords, and property owners, there can be a lot of conflicting information, as well as myths, about lead exposure and its health effects. Such misinformation has hampered progress in addressing the issue of pediatric lead exposure. In this podcast, learn about common myths around lead, and the evidence debunking them.

Demystifying the Common Myths About Lead

In this podcast, we take a look at how geographic information systems (GIS) and other spatial methodologies can illuminate environmental exposures and help researchers and communities communicate risks. Hear about recent developments in mapping technology, challenges with data management and training, and the potential for these technologies to improve our understanding of environmental health around the globe.

Mapping Environmental Health

In many parts of the country, and indeed around the world, wood is used as fuel to heat homes, particularly during colder winter months. Wood combustion releases particulates and other air contaminants that can hurt your health. This can be particularly important for children's respiratory health and the health of other susceptible groups, such as the elderly. In this podcast, hear how researchers at the University of Montana are working in their communities to understand exposure to indoor air pollutants and the negative health impacts it causes and to identify promising interventions to protect human health.

Wood Burning Stoves and Human Health

In this podcast, hear more about the significant risks that opioids pose to worker health and safety, and how different agencies and nonprofit organizations are working to address these concerns.

Opioids and Worker Health

Algae are organisms that get their energy from the sun and live in aquatic and marine environments. Some types of algae are small, single-celled organisms. Different factors such as light, temperature, and available nutrient levels can trigger some types of algae to produce toxins. Harmful algal blooms are overgrowths of toxin-producing algae in natural bodies of water, such as oceans, lakes, and rivers. These toxins can cause serious harm to people, fish, and other parts of the ecosystem. In this podcast, hear more about the adverse impacts of toxins from harmful algal blooms on human health, ecosystems, and the economy. In addition, learn how scientists are exploring the use of toxins and other chemicals released by these algae to treat certain diseases.

Harmful Algal Blooms and Your Health

In this podcast, we take a close look at how climate change affects one particularly vulnerable population: children.

Children and the Changing Climate

People can be exposed to a wide variety of chemical and non-chemical stressors in their daily lives. These stressors may come from outdoors, homes or workplaces, food consumption, or use of personal care products. Exposure at low levels may not necessarily be problematic for human health, but researchers are looking at different periods in human growth and development where people may be more sensitive to these exposures. Researchers call these especially sensitive periods 'windows of susceptibility.' One window of susceptibility is during pregnancy and early development. In this podcast, hear how researchers are studying windows of susceptibility throughout the lifespan and learn how to prevent potentially harmful exposures to environmental stressors.

Windows of Susceptibility

In Part 1 of this 2-part series, hear about the types of health risks associated with disasters and how disaster research helps to reduce the health-related impacts of disasters.

Dealing with Disasters: Part 1

In this podcast, we will learn about Translational Research at NIEHS and how a new tool, called the Translational Research Framework, can help move research from the lab bench to impacts in the real world.

From the Lab to Real-World Impacts: NIEHS Tools for Translational Research

In this podcast, you’ll hear how health communication researchers are improving information and messages about breast cancer online. Plus, you’ll learn how they are teaming with social media influencers to help people understand and reduce their risk.

Harnessing Social Media to Share Science on Breast Cancer and the Environment

The Best Multi-Part Documentaries, with documentaries on Obama, Federer vs Nadal, the making of Star Wars, Netflix vs Blockbuster and more. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best Multi-Part Documentaries

The best podcasts about ourselves as well as the world through the lense of Science. Specific topics include things about our brain, emotions to biology, physics and more!