Virginia Gewin

1 week ago | nature.com | Virginia Gewin

At one of Germany’s top-funded universities, a high-profile biology researcher has bullied his large group of junior staff, targeting women and international students, for decades. In interviews with Nature’s careers team, 14 current and former laboratory members detail what they describe as endless demands for unrealistic levels of research productivity. If those demands aren’t met, they allege, he withholds letters of recommendation and approval of time off work.

2 weeks ago | nature.com | Virginia Gewin

Scientists who study biodiversity are in the rapid adoption phase of AI. They are finding that what AI can — and can’t — do is shifting rapidly.

1 month ago | eos.org | Adityarup Chakravorty |Grace van Deelen |Virginia Gewin |Katherine Kornei

President Donald Trump’s EPA is considering a rule that would weaken regulations limiting chemicals harmful to human health in consumer goods, The Guardian reports. Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of chemicals added to consumer products, oftentimes for their water- and stain-resistant properties. Exposure to PFAS is known to raise the risk of certain cancers, kidney and liver disease, and complications surrounding reproductive health.

2 months ago | eos.org | Virginia Gewin

Wind erosion and dust may be invisible hazards, but in the United States, they have an eye-popping $154 billion annual price tag, according to the first comprehensive cost assessment in 3 decades. On the basis of 2017 data, the best available for the contributing factors assessed, the total is 4 times greater than the 1995 estimate. When compared to other billion-dollar disasters in 2017, dust’s cost was second only to tropical cyclones.

Feb 12, 2025 | civileats.com | Virginia Gewin

Farmers use the herbicide paraquat, often sold under the brand name Gramoxone, to clear fields before planting. One of the most popular herbicides in the U.S., paraquat is cheap and effective, able to rapidly kill grasses and perennial weeds, but a growing body of research has connected it to Parkinson’s disease, thyroid cancer, and harm to birds, amphibians, reptiles, and plants.