Toxicology | Nature

News Explainer | 24 April 2024

Plastic pollution: three numbers that support a crackdown

As negotiators haggle over a global treaty to curb plastics pollution, a flood of data outlines how a treaty could make a difference.

Nicola Jones

News | 17 November 2023

EU allows use of controversial weedkiller glyphosate for 10 more years

In the wake of a stalemate among member states, the European Commission has decided to approve the herbicide’s continued use.

Barbara Casassus

News Explainer | 14 July 2023

Aspartame is a possible carcinogen: the science behind the decision

More research is needed to investigate a potential link between the common sweetener and cancer.

Miryam Naddaf

Research Highlight | 27 June 2023

What happens when you microwave that plastic bowl?

Tests show that certain types of plasticware give off high levels of microscopic plastic particles when heated in an microwave oven.

Correspondence | 13 June 2023

Europe: hold industry accountable for forever chemicals

Muhammad Usman
& Khalil Hanna

Outlook | 07 June 2023

Is nicotine bad for long-term health? Scientists aren’t sure yet

As e-cigarettes grow in popularity, the lack of knowledge about whether nicotine contributes to the damaging health effects of smoking is becoming more worrying.

Anthony King

Research Highlight | 12 April 2023

That new car smell has a whiff of health hazards

Surface temperature drives emissions of chemicals that give a newly manufactured vehicle its signature aroma.

News Round-Up | 31 August 2022

Memory boost, forever chemicals and dark-matter signal

The latest science news, in brief.

Nature Podcast | 24 August 2022

How to make water that’s full of holes

Embedded ‘nanocages’ help water dissolve large amounts of gas, and potential evidence that hominins walked on two legs seven million years ago.

Benjamin Thompson
& Shamini Bundell

News | 18 August 2022

How to destroy ‘forever chemicals’: cheap method breaks down PFAS

Disposing of these persistent substances often requires high pressures and temperatures.

Giorgia Guglielmi

Outlook | 27 October 2021

The fluoride wars rage on

There is little question that supplemental fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces decay. But at what cost?

Lauren Gravitz

Correspondence | 22 June 2021

Canada is right to classify single-use plastics as toxic

Tony R. Walker

Nature Podcast | 24 May 2021

Audio long-read: How harmful are microplastics?

Scientists are trying to figure out whether these pervasive plastic specks are dangerous.

XiaoZhi Lim
& Benjamin Thompson

News Feature | 04 May 2021

Microplastics are everywhere — but are they harmful?

Scientists are rushing to study the tiny plastic specks that are in marine animals — and in us.

XiaoZhi Lim

News & Views | 31 December 2019

From the archive

How Nature reported ambitions to modernize the Indian sugar industry in 1920 and a successful treatment for rattlesnake bites in 1870.

News & Views | 06 November 2019

Toxin discovery reveals fresh ammunition for bacterial warfare

A previously unknown bacterial toxin has now been characterized. The protein is secreted into neighbouring cells, depleting them of essential energy-carrying molecules and so leading to the cells’ demise.

Brent W. Anderson
& Jue D. Wang

News & Views | 29 October 2019

From the archive

How Nature reported a ban on artificial sweeteners in 1969, and the growing awareness of vitamins in 1919.

Outlook | 11 September 2019

Research round-up

Highlights from laboratory studies and clinical trials on opioids.

Neil Savage

Outlook | 11 September 2019

Unravelling the mystery of opioid addiction

To help solve the opioid epidemic, researchers must understand what makes dependence on these drugs so deadly.

Lauren Gravitz

Outlook | 28 August 2019

Weighing the dangers of cannabis

As interest builds in the potential health benefits from the plant, accumulating evidence confirms that taking the drug also carries risks.

Emily Sohn

News & Views | 27 August 2019

From the archive

How Nature reported a toxicological study of alcohol in 1919, and the potential benefits of computer graphics for medical geography in 1969.

News & Views | 25 June 2019

From the archive

How Nature reported the first occurrence of paralytic shellfish poisoning in Britain in 1969, and a discussion in 1919 of how human nervous systems contain features of much older nervous systems.

Research Highlight | 11 June 2019

What a bottled-water habit means for intake of ‘microplastics’

People in the United States could be taking in more than 100,000 plastic particles a year in food, drink and air.

News | 13 May 2019

US environment agency cuts funding for kids’ health studies

The Environmental Protection Agency's decision leaves fate of more than a dozen decades-long projects in doubt.

Sara Reardon

News | 26 February 2019

US adopts science-based guidance for chemical-attack response

Comprehensive guidelines recommend wiping down with dry, absorbent materials.

Declan Butler

News Feature | 06 February 2019

Tainted water: the scientists tracing thousands of fluorinated chemicals in our environment

Researchers are struggling to assess the dangers of nondegradable compounds used in clothes, foams and food wrappings.

XiaoZhi Lim

News | 07 September 2018

Raging wildfires send scientists scrambling to study health effects

Blazes have created natural experiments in Montana and California towns and a monkey-breeding colony.

Sara Reardon

News | 14 August 2018

Industry trumps peer-reviewed science at US environment agency

Critics outraged over changes to chemical-safety review guidelines.

Jeff Tollefson

News | 11 July 2018

Software beats animal tests at predicting toxicity of chemicals

Machine learning on mountain of safety data improves automated assessments.

Richard Van Noorden

Research Highlight | 08 May 2018

How to tell how much wasp stings will hurt

Short stinging organs tend to carry more-toxic venom — but inflict less pain — than long ones.

Research Highlight | 22 March 2018

World’s longest animal boasts a potent poison

The bootlace worm’s mucus is loaded with a powerful nerve toxin.

News Feature | 21 March 2018

When antibiotics turn toxic

Commonly prescribed drugs called fluoroquinolones cause rare, disabling side effects. Researchers are struggling to work out why.

Jo Marchant

Outlook | 07 March 2018

Cleaning up pollutants to protect future health

Although the benefits of reducing exposure to toxic chemicals are becoming clearer, the path from evidence to action is not straightforward.

Karl Gruber

News | 28 February 2018

EU expected to vote on pesticide ban after major scientific review

Survey of more than 1,500 studies concludes that neonicotinoids harm bees.

Declan Butler

Comment | 13 November 2017

Chemists can help to solve the air-pollution health crisis

Learning more about how pollutants enter and damage the body would reduce disease and deaths, say Jos Lelieveld and Ulrich Pöschl.

Jos Lelieveld
& Ulrich Pöschl

Editorial | 31 August 2017

Closure of US coal study marks an alarming precedent

The Trump administration has stepped up its assault on environmental protections by halting a US$1-million study on the health risks of coal mining — casting a pall on academic freedom.

News | 18 May 2017