The number of cases of progressive massive fibrosis, the most severe form of black lung disease, has been increasing dramatically among coal workers and especially younger workers in central Appalachia. These new findings represent the first-ever documentation of this spike and were presented by Kirsten Almberg, research assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences in the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, at the American Thoracic Society meeting in San Diego on May 22.

Over-prescribing has long been thought to increase antibiotic resistance in bacteria. But could much bigger environmental pressures be at play?

While studying the role of climate on the distribution of antibiotic resistance across the geography of the U.S., a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists from Boston Children’s Hospital found that higher local temperatures and population densities correlate with higher antibiotic resistance in common bacterial strains. Their findings were published today in Nature Climate Change.

Shuttering coal- and oil-fired power plants lowers the rate of preterm births in neighboring communities and improves fertility, according to two new University of California, Berkeley, studies.

The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people and was the deadliest outbreak since the discovery of the virus in 1976.

Water pitchers designed to rid water of harmful contaminants are not created equal, new research has found.

A new scientific advisory reaffirms the American Heart Association’s recommendation to eat fish- especially those rich in Omega-3 fatty acids twice a week to help reduce the risk of  heart failure, coronary heart disease, cardiac arrest and the most common type of stroke (ischemic). The advisory is published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.

If you’ve had a minor stroke or a transient ischemic stroke (TIA), taking the clot-preventing drug clopidogrel along with aspirin may lower your risk of having a major stroke within the next 90 days, according to new research published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Goodbye, winter. Hello spring. Hello sunshine, blossoms, birdsong, … pollen, itchy eyes, runny nose …

By analyzing reported physical activity levels over time in more than 11,000 American adults, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers conclude that increasing physical activity to recommended levels over as few as six years in middle age is associated with a significantly decreased risk of heart failure, a condition that affects an estimated 5 million to 6 million Americans.

Children who were exposed to higher levels of air pollution during the third trimester of their mother’s pregnancy had a higher risk of elevated blood pressure in childhood, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.