Search Results (15)

Air pollution plays a key role in sleep disorders and neurodegeneration. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and/or transactive response DNA-binding protein TDP-43 neuropathology have been documented in children and young adult forensic autopsies in the metropolitan area of Mexico City (MMC), along with sleep disorders, cognitive deficits, and MRI brain atrophy in seemingly healthy young populations. Ultrafine particulate matter (UFPM) and industrial nanoparticles (NPs) reach urbanites’ brains through nasal/olfactory, lung, gastrointestinal tract, and placental barriers. We documented Fe UFPM/NPs in neurovascular units, as well as lateral hypothalamic nucleus orexinergic neurons, thalamus, medullary, pontine, and mesencephalic reticular formation, and in pinealocytes. We quantified ferromagnetic materials in sleep and arousal brain hubs and examined their motion behavior to low magnetic fields in MMC brain autopsy samples from nine children and 25 adults with AD, PD, and TDP-43 neuropathology. Saturated isothermal remanent magnetization curves at 50–300 mT were associated with UFPM/NP accumulation in sleep/awake hubs and their motion associated with 30–50 µT (DC magnetic fields) exposure. Brain samples exposed to anthropogenic PM pollution were found to be sensitive to low magnetic fields, with motion behaviors that were potentially linked to the early development and progression of fatal neurodegenerative diseases and sleep disorders. Single-domain magnetic UFPM/NPs in the orexin system, as well as arousal, sleep, and autonomic regions, are key to neurodegeneration, behavioral and cognitive impairment, and sleep disorders. We need to identify children at higher risk and monitor environmental UFPM and NP emissions and exposures to magnetic fields. Ubiquitous ferrimagnetic particles and low magnetic field exposures are a threat to global brain health. Full article

Regions densely populated with archaeological monuments pose significant challenges for construction investors and archaeologists during the planning stages of major construction projects. Recognising the archaeological potential of these areas is crucial for planning effective rescue excavations, which have become a standard procedure in construction. This study explores the utility of non-invasive prospection techniques, including artefact field surveys, multispectral imaging, and magnetic surveys, in assessing the area chosen for the I/16 Slaný–Velvary road construction. We specifically focused on the contributions these methods make towards understanding the archaeological context of the proposed construction site. The findings from the magnetic survey were compared with the results of actual archaeological excavations. Through manual visual analysis and statistical spatial correlation, we assessed the effectiveness of the magnetic survey. The ability of magnetic survey to locate different types of archaeological objects proved to be dependent on various factors. The variability of the environmental setting, particularly pedological and geological conditions, is essential. However, the modern anthropogenic impact and the very nature of individual archaeological objects, especially their dimensions, also play an essential role. Full article

Cetaceans are cast to shore for a large number of reasons, although sometimes it is not clear why. This paper reviews the types and causes of cetacean strandings, focusing on mass strandings that lack a direct scientific explanation. Failure of cetacean orientation due to radiofrequency radiation and alterations in the Earth’s magnetic field produced during solar storms stand out among the proposed causes. This paper proposes the possibility that anthropogenic radiofrequency radiation from military and meteorological radars may also cause these strandings in areas where powerful radars exist. A search of accessible databases of military and meteorological radars in the world was carried out. Research articles on mass live strandings of cetaceans were reviewed to find temporal or spatial patterns in the stranding concentrations along the coast. The data showed certain patterns of spatial and temporal evidence in the stranding concentrations along the coast after radar setup and provided a detailed description of how radars may interfere with cetacean echolocation from a physiological standpoint. Plausible mechanisms, such as interference with echolocation systems or pulse communication systems, are proposed. This work is theoretical, but it leads to a hypothesis that could be empirically tested. Further in-depth studies should be carried out to confirm or reject the proposed hypothesis. Full article

Magnetic fields are a constant and essential part of our environment. The main components of ambient magnetic fields are the constant part of the geomagnetic field, its fluctuations caused by magnetic storms, and man-made magnetic fields. These fields refer to extremely-low-frequency (<1 kHz) magnetic fields (ELF-MFs). Since the 1980s, a huge amount of data has been accumulated on the biological effects of magnetic fields, in particular ELF-MFs. However, a unified picture of the patterns of action of magnetic fields has not been formed. Even though a unified mechanism has not yet been generally accepted, several theories have been proposed. In this review, we attempted to take a new approach to analyzing the quantitative data on the effects of ELF-MFs to identify new potential areas for research. This review provides general descriptions of the main effects of magnetic storms and anthropogenic fields on living organisms (molecular–cellular level and whole organism) and a brief description of the main mechanisms of magnetic field effects on living organisms. This review may be of interest to specialists in the fields of biology, physics, medicine, and other interdisciplinary areas. Full article

Archaeological landscapes can be obscured by environmental factors, rendering conventional visual interpretation of optical data problematic. The absence of evidence can lead to seemingly empty locations and isolated monuments. This, in turn, influences the cultural–historical interpretation of archaeological sites. Here, we assess the potential of integrating thermal and magnetic remote sensing methods in the detection and mapping of buried archaeological structures. The area of interest in an alluvial plain in Tuva Republic makes the application of standard methods like optical remote sensing and field walking impractical, as natural vegetation features effectively hide anthropogenic structures. We combined drone-based aerial thermography and airborne and ground-based magnetometry to establish an approach to reliably identifying stone structures concealed within alluvial soils. The data integration led to the discovery of nine buried archaeological structures in proximity to an Early Iron Age royal tomb, shedding light on ritual land use continuity patterns. Full article

The recycling of hazardous industrial waste into high-tech materials with desired properties is of considerable interest since it provides optimal alternatives for its final disposal. Coal fly ash, the major waste generated by coal-fired power plants, contains significant quantities of dispersed microspheres with a diameter smaller than 10 μm, which are anthropogenic atmospheric pollutants PM₁₀. Due to their composition and fine-grained powder morphology, they can be converted into sintered products. In this study, dispersed microspheres from class C fly ash were directly sintered without any additive to form high-strength glass-ceramics with magnetic properties. The optimum processing conditions were achieved at a temperature of 1200 °C, at which samples with a compressive strength of 100.6 MPa were obtained. Sintering reduces the quantity of the glass phase and promotes the formation of larnite, Fe-spinel, ye’elimite, and ternesite. Mössbauer measurements show that the relative concentration of the magnetic phase compared to the paramagnetic one rises almost in order. The sintered sample demonstrates a narrower distribution of the hyperfine magnetic field and a significantly lower value of the coercive field of 25 Oe, which allows proposing such materials as soft magnetic materials. The presented results demonstrate promising industrial applications of hazardous PM₁₀ to minimize solid waste pollution. Full article

The impacts of waste management on various soils of agricultural and urban lands may last centuries or even millennia; however, generally, most studies tend to focus only on decadal or shorter timescales. This study investigates the characteristic properties of anthrosols in and around the urban settlement of St Andrews (Scotland), in the context of soil management and organic carbon content and speciation. Formed by the repeated application of fresh organic and pyrogenic wastes since the medieval period, these soils provide a 1000-year urban research context based on historical accounts of town waste management. We employed complementary methods of high-field solid-state ¹³C-CPMAS NMR, in situ magnetic susceptibility measurement, elemental micro-analysis and portable optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). A significant proportion of the soil organic carbon was present as refractory aromatic C structures, including aryl-C moieties. Portable OSL assessment revealed differences in the intensity and rate of sediment accumulation. The medieval urban areas had higher soil phosphorus concentrations, organic carbon content and magnetic susceptibility relative to the extra-urban site located outside of the medieval burgh. The study confirms that specific signatures, including carbon group functionalities, do reveal evidence of such induced long-lasting past anthropogenic soil modifications. Full article

Unknowns around the environmental effects of marine renewable energy have slowed the deployment of this emerging technology worldwide. Established testing methods are necessary to safely permit and develop marine energy devices. Magnetic fields are one potential cause of environmental effects and are created when electricity is generated and transmitted to shore. Further, the existing variation of the background magnetic field at sites that may be developed for marine energy is largely unknown, making it difficult to assess how much additional stress or impact the anthropogenic magnetic field may have. This study investigates two instruments for their ability to characterize the background magnetic fields at a potential marine energy site in Sequim Bay, WA. Based on this evaluation, this study recommends an Overhauser magnetomer for assessing the background magnetic field and demonstrates the use of this sensor at a potential marine energy site. Full article

Geogenic and anthropogenic sources of atmospheric particulate and CO₂ can lead to threats to human health in volcanic areas. Although the volcanic CO₂ hazard is a topic frequently debated in the related scientific literature, space and time distribution of PM_2.5 are poorly known. The results of combined CO₂/PM_2.5 surveys, carried out at Salina, Stromboli, and Vulcano islands (Aeolian archipelago, Italy) in the years 2020–2021, and integrated with investigations on bioaccumulation of metallic particulate matter by the mean of data on the magnetic properties of oleander leaves, are presented in this work. The retrieved results indicate that no significant anthropogenic sources for both CO₂ and PM_2.5 are active in these islands, at the net of a minor contribution due to vehicular traffic. Conversely, increments in volcanic activity, as the unrest experienced by Vulcano island since the second half of 2021, pose serious threats to human health, due to the near-ground accumulation of CO₂, and the presence of suspended micro-droplets of condensed hydrothermal vapor, fostering the diffusion of atmophile viruses, such as the COVID-19. Gas hazard conditions can be generated, not only by volcanic vents or fumarolic fields, but also by unconventional sources, such as the outgassing from shallow hydrothermal aquifers through drilled or hand-carved wells. Full article

Earth’s magnetic field (MF) plays an important role for many species, including the honeybee, in navigation. Nowadays, much larger alternating fields are emitted by miscellaneous electric infrastructure components, such as transformers and power lines, and the environment is therefore polluted by an anthropogenic electromagnetic field, though little is known regarding its impact on living organisms. The behavior of animals is the first and easiest way to establish the impact of stress. It shows if the animal can detect the exposure and react to it. To investigate this, one-day-old bees were exposed to a 50 Hz magnetic field of induction at 1 mT and 1.7 mT for 10 min, 1 h, and 3 h under laboratory conditions. All groups exposed to the magnetic field showed differences in behavioral patterns. What is more, they presented a behavior absent in the control: loss of balance. There were differences, both in the ratio of behaviors and in the number of bouts—exposed bees more often changed behavior. Occurrence of differences is an indication of the reaction of the honeybee organism to the magnetic field. Loss of balance is a disturbing symptom, and behavior changes indicate a disturbance of the honeybee by the electromagnetic field. Full article

Humans are exposed to a complex mix of man-made electric and magnetic fields (MFs) at many different frequencies, at home and at work. Epidemiological studies indicate that there is a positive relationship between residential/domestic and occupational exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields and some types of cancer, although some other studies indicate no relationship. In this review, after an introduction on the MF definition and a description of natural/anthropogenic sources, the epidemiology of residential/domestic and occupational exposure to MFs and cancer is reviewed, with reference to leukemia, brain, and breast cancer. The in vivo and in vitro effects of MFs on cancer are reviewed considering both human and animal cells, with particular reference to the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS). MF application on cancer diagnostic and therapy (theranostic) are also reviewed by describing the use of different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications for the detection of several cancers. Finally, the use of magnetic nanoparticles is described in terms of treatment of cancer by nanomedical applications for the precise delivery of anticancer drugs, nanosurgery by magnetomechanic methods, and selective killing of cancer cells by magnetic hyperthermia. The supplementary tables provide quantitative data and methodologies in epidemiological and cell biology studies. Although scientists do not generally agree that there is a cause-effect relationship between exposure to MF and cancer, MFs might not be the direct cause of cancer but may contribute to produce ROS and generate oxidative stress, which could trigger or enhance the expression of oncogenes. Full article

The Earth’s ionosphere presents long-term trends that have been of interest since a pioneering study in 1989 suggesting that greenhouse gases increasing due to anthropogenic activity will produce not only a troposphere global warming, but a cooling in the upper atmosphere as well. Since then, long-term changes in the upper atmosphere, and particularly in the ionosphere, have become a significant topic in global change studies with many results already published. There are also other ionospheric long-term change forcings of natural origin, such as the Earth’s magnetic field secular variation with very special characteristics at equatorial and low latitudes. The ionosphere, as a part of the space weather environment, plays a crucial role to the point that it could certainly be said that space weather cannot be understood without reference to it. In this work, theoretical and experimental results on equatorial and low-latitude ionospheric trends linked to the geomagnetic field secular variation are reviewed and analyzed. Controversies and gaps in existing knowledge are identified together with important areas for future study. These trends, although weak when compared to other ionospheric variations, are steady and may become significant in the future and important even now for long-term space weather forecasts. Full article

The number of sources of anthropogenic magnetic and electromagnetic fields generated by various underwater facilities, industrial equipment, and transferring devices in aquatic environment is increasing. These have an effect on an array of fish life processes, but especially the early developmental stages. The magnitude of these effects depends on field strength and time of exposure and is species-specific. We review studies on the effect of magnetic fields on the course of embryogenesis, with special reference to survival, the size of the embryos, embryonic motor function, changes in pigment cells, respiration hatching, and directional reactions. We also describe the effect of magnetic fields on sperm motility and egg activation. Magnetic fields can exert positive effects, as in the case of the considerable extension of sperm capability of activation, or have a negative influence in the form of a disturbance in heart rate or developmental instability in inner ear organs. Full article

While the main causes of the temporal gravity variations observed by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) space mission result from water mass redistributions occurring at the surface of the Earth in response to climatic and anthropogenic forces (e.g., changes in land hydrology, ocean mass, and mass of glaciers and ice sheets), solid Earth’s mass redistributions were also recorded by these observations. This is the case, in particular, for the glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) or the viscous response of the mantle to the last deglaciation. However, it has only recently been shown that the gravity data also contain the signature of flows inside the outer core and their effects on the core–mantle boundary (CMB). Detecting deep Earth’s processes in GRACE observations offers an exciting opportunity to provide additional insight into the dynamics of the core–mantle interface. Here, we present one aspect of the GRACEFUL (GRavimetry, mAgnetism and CorE Flow) project, i.e., the possibility to use gravity field data for understanding the dynamic processes inside the fluid core and core–mantle boundary of the Earth, beside that offered by the geomagnetic field variations. Full article

Ground-penetrating radar processing and interpretation methods have been developed over time that usually follow a certain standard pathway, which leads from obtaining the raw reflection data to the production of amplitude slice-maps for three-dimensional visualization. In this standard series of analysis steps a great deal of important information contained in the raw data can potentially be lost or ignored, and without careful consideration, data filtering and re-analysis, information about important buried features can sometimes be unobserved. A typical ground-penetrating radar (GPR) dataset should, instead, be processed, re-evaluated, re-processed and then new images made from new sets of data as a way to enhance the visualization of radar reflections of interest. This should only be done in an intuitive way, once a preliminary series of images are produced using standard processing steps. An example from data collected in an agricultural field in France illustrate how obvious buried features are readily discovered and interpreted using standard processing steps, but additional frequency filtering, migration and then re-processing of certain portions of the data produced images of a subtle Roman villa foundation that might have otherwise gone undiscovered. In sand dunes in coastal Brazil, geological complexity obscured the reflections from otherwise hidden anthropogenic strata, and only an analysis of multiple profiles using different scales and processing allowed this small buried feature to be visible. Foundations of buildings in a Roman city in England could be easily discovered using standard processing methods, but a more detailed analysis of reflection profiles after re-processing and a comparison of GPR images with magnetic gradiometry maps provided information that allowed for the functions of come buried buildings and also an analysis of the city’s destruction by fire. Full article