Microplastics have become one of the quietest concerns in modern drinking water: too small for most people to see, yet widespread enough to raise serious questions about long-term exposure. In Virginia, 18-year-old high school student Mia Heller turned that concern into a working invention. After learning about water contamination issues in her community, she developed …
For decades, cancer was largely viewed as a disease that arrived later in life. It was something most people associated with aging, long-term habits, or inherited risk factors that accumulated over time. That assumption is becoming harder to defend. A growing body of research shows that cancer is increasingly affecting younger adults, particularly women. According …
When reaching for a plastic water bottle or heating a quick meal, few consider what might be left behind long after the convenience has passed. While the environmental toll of plastic pollution is widely recognized, a startling new wave of scientific research has turned the focus inward, uncovering an unsettling reality about human anatomy. Microscopic …
Mia Heller was not looking for a science fair project when she picked up her local newspaper a few years ago. She was just a teenager in Warrenton, Virginia, scanning headlines over breakfast. But one article stopped her cold. It reported that her neighborhood’s tap water was contaminated with PFAS chemicals and microplastic pollution, and …