Nothing destroys my resolve to live a natural, chemical-free life like a giant angry pimple. When I have clear skin, it’s all flowers and rainbows, paraben-free this, phthalate-free that. But when acne strikes, I’ve been known to go totally nuclear. Kill it with fire! Get the acid! The longer the ingredient list, the better! If it burns when you put it on, that means it’s working!

Thankfully, over the past few years, I’ve happened across some natural acne remedies that avoid acids, don’t sport worrisome-sounding ingredient lists, and actually work. I promise. 

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Honey

This simple sweetener seems like it’d be totally unmatched against that profile-altering pimple that’s cropped up right between your eyebrows. But I’ve found humble honey to be the perfect antidote to a bout of acne. Make sure you use raw honey — I prefer raw, wild, and pure from the farmers market. Its probiotic and antibacterial properties can help reduce redness and swelling and kill acne-causing bacteria without irritating the surrounding skin. Just dab a bit of raw honey on clean skin as necessary. Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes, then rinse it off with lukewarm water.

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Tea Tree Oil

Skip the gimmicky scrubs and lotions with tea tree oil as an ingredient, and get a bottle of tea tree essential oil. This natural antimicrobial oil is derived from the Australian paperbark tree and is remarkably effective for treating acne. I find that it can be a bit drying if you overuse it, so I prefer to use tea tree oil as a spot treatment as needed, rather than as an all-over preventive measure.

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Ditching the Face Wash

I know, this sounds incredibly counterintuitive, but hear me out. We associate acne with dirt, germs, and bacteria, so it’s no wonder that our first approach is to wage war with antibacterial face washes, rinses, and scrubs. The problem with this approach is that doing so dries out the skin, forcing it to produce more oil to compensate. My occasional breakouts improved considerably when I ditched my face washes and instead used a soft washcloth and warm water to wipe away dirt and impurities. If your face feels tight after washing it, you’re stripping your skin. No good! Try plain water for a week or two and see how it feels.

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Who knew reaching for the big guns could actually end up causing more problems than it would solve? Stick to a gentle approach to acne and let your skin take care of itself naturally.

Want more natural beauty tips? Check out 4 DIY Facial Masks for Natural Skin Benefits.

Editor’s Note: Originally published on March 16, 2017, this article was updated in December 2023.

The world’s climate crisis has wide ranging implications for human health. But how do our perceptions about climate change influence our intentions when it comes to personal health? A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, used the National Cancer Institute’s annual Health Information and National Trends Survey (HINTS) to analyze adults’ views on climate change and their interest in cancer screening. The study found that individuals who saw climate change as a personal health threat were also more likely to endorse interest in cancer screening. The results are published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

“Our findings suggest that individuals who are more aware of the potential health impacts of climate change may also be more overall health conscious, which may drive their interest in preventive healthcare measures, such as cancer screening,” said senior author Alexander P. Cole, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Urology and the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “Awareness of climate change impacts could also prompt individuals to take more proactive steps to protect their health in the face of environmental threats.”

Previous studies have uncovered both direct and indirect links between cancer and climate change. Certain climate change consequences, such as ozone depletion and the emergence of more environmental carcinogens, can cause cancer. And extreme weather events can disrupt cancer care as well as access to health care in general.

In the current study, Cole and colleagues analyzed responses from adults who completed the HINTS survey in 2021. Each respondent’s perceived risk of climate change to their personal health was categorized as “no harm” or “little harm” versus “some harm or “a lot of harm.” Researchers also assessed each respondent’s interest in getting screened for cancer the following year, categorized as “not at all” and “a little” versus “somewhat” and “very.”

The study found that 54 percent of survey respondents felt that climate change would cause “some” or “a lot” of harm to their health. Respondents also showed 73 percent higher odds of being interested in cancer screening when they felt that climate change posed “some” risk to their health and 84 percent higher odds when they perceived that climate change could harm their health “a lot.”

Other findings showed that respondents who were younger, female, and more educated were more likely to perceive climate change as a health threat. And that non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic populations expressed a higher interest in cancer screening than non-Hispanic White populations.

“We see room for improvement in climate change awareness overall as well as some racial disparities underlying some of the differences in awareness,” said first author Zhiyu Qian, MD, a urology resident in the Department of Urology and research fellow at the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “There are a lot of ways to interpret this and one could be that more vulnerable populations are already feeling more of the impacts from climate change.”

The authors note that their study is retrospective and does not prove causation, but future studies could explore whether climate change awareness directly impacts screening behavior. The research team is continuing to investigate specific ways that cancer care can be impacted by climate change, such as in the relationship between extreme weather events and cancer care. They are also working to improve sustainability in cancer care and adaptability of the healthcare system, such as by increasing the accessibility and quality of telehealth.

Moreover, addressing the root causes of climate change can yield advantages in lowering cancer risk. A prominent example is the reduction of meat consumption, which not only diminishes greenhouse gas emissions but also mitigates a significant cancer risk factor. Additionally, lifestyle modifications like active commuting and preserving greenspace have been associated with decreased cancer risks, while also supporting environmental health.

“Cancer care is multidisciplinary and extremely complex. You need a well-functioning healthcare system for it to work,” said Cole. “Raising awareness is a big piece as is changing the healthcare system. There are so many exciting opportunities to do this through public awareness, healthcare delivery, and lifestyle and diet modifications where you can do things that are great for planetary health as well as for patients’ health and cancer risk.”

Authorship: Additional authors include Edoardo Beatrici, Quoc-Dien Trinh, Adam S. Kibel, Stacy Loeb, and Hari S. Iyer.

Disclosures: QDT reports personal fees from Astellas, Bayer, and Janssen, outside the submitted work. QDT reports research funding from the American Cancer Society, the Defense Health Agency, and Pfizer Global Medical Grants. APC reports research funding from the American Cancer Society and Pfizer Global Medical Grants.

Funding: APC reports research funding from the American Cancer Society and Pfizer Global Medical Grants (Prostate Cancer Disparities #63354905), by the Bruce A. Beal and Robert L. Beal surgical fellowship of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Surgery and a Physician Research Award from the Department of Defense (#PC220342).

Manure stinks in part because it contains ammonia, one of the more than 300 compounds that contribute to its odor. The pungent gas is not only a harmful air pollutant but can turn into the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide and water-polluting nitrate.

Ammonia is also the foundation of many nitrogen fertilizers that have fueled modern crop production. The industrial method for making ammonia for nitrogen-based fertilizers, the Haber-Bosch process, consumes a lot of energy and emits hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gasses every year.

Although manure itself can be used as fertilizer, doing so can be costly, logistically challenging and has environmental drawbacks. So, researchers around the world are hunting for strategies to efficiently recover ammonia from manure, creating more concentrated and valuable fertilizers that are greener and more affordable to transport.

Among these strategies are chemical processes driven by electricity, which is becoming increasingly inexpensive in many rural communities thanks to growing solar and wind power generation. However, most electrochemical techniques in development are not yet practical, mainly because they consume a lot of energy and aren’t efficient enough at pulling dissolved ammonia (in the form of ammonium ions) out of manure.

This new technique, described in a Dec. 8 paper published in the journal Nature Sustainability, relies on a specially designed electrode, like those used for batteries, that targets ammonium ions.

The technique involves a nickel-based electrode that is placed directly into the manure wastewater. As organic matter in the manure naturally gets oxidized by the electrode, the ammonium, as well as potassium ions, within the wastewater are selectively driven into and captured by the electrode.

The strategy does not end with simply removing the nutrients from the wastewater.

In an innovative step that could help make the process even more attractive, the nutrient-loaded electrode is then placed into a device that uses electricity to release the recovered ammonium and potassium ions, which can then be used to make nitrogen and potassium-based fertilizers, and simultaneously produce other useful chemical products. These could include hydrogen fuel or hydrogen peroxide, which is commonly used for disinfection.

“We got lucky because nature does a lot of the work for us,” says Song Jin, a UW-Madison professor of chemistry who led the work along with doctoral candidate Rui Wang and civil and environmental engineering Professor Mohan Qin.

“Manure has all this stuff in it and we don’t have to do too much extra work,” Jin says. “The battery material goes in, and ammonia gets sucked out when the organic stuff gets oxidized.”

Trial runs with small amounts of manure recovered more than half the ammonia in the first pass, with a recovery of about 85% after two cycles.

The ability to produce fertilizers and other chemical products together is a key part of why the team believe their strategy could be a winner. An environmental analysis led by Rebecca Larson, a professor in the Nelson institute for Environmental Studies, indicates that a 1,000-head dairy farm operation could reduce its ammonia emissions by more than 50% by deploying the system, while also significantly reducing the amount of nitrate entering nearby waters.

Meanwhile, a preliminary technical economic analysis led by Professor Fikile Brushett, a collaborator at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shows that a model dairy farm using the system could expect resulting revenues to be higher than operating costs, so long as electricity prices aren’t exorbitant.

The next steps include further improving the materials and processes, scaling the system up and studying how it functions at a level more closely resembling a real-world livestock operation. Jin is optimistic that the system’s benefits will continue to outweigh potential costs at these larger scales, given the initial analyses.

“It looks indeed to be promising,” says Qin. “There’s a pathway to see how this might really help in the real world.”

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF, CBET- 2219089). A provisional patent on this technology has also been filed by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).

The alarming finding is the result of an international study led by UQ’s Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of UQ’s School of the Environment, who is currently attending the COP28 climate change meetings in Dubai.

“We were shocked to find heat stress conditions started as much as 12 weeks ahead of previously recorded peaks and were sustained for much longer in the eastern tropical Pacific and wider Caribbean,” Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said.

“Historical data suggests the current marine heatwaves will likely be the precursor to a global mass coral bleaching and mortality event over the next 12 to 24 months, as the El Niño phase of El Niño-Southern Oscillation or ENSO continues.

“Across July 2023, Earth experienced its warmest days on record since 1910, as well as the warmest month ever recorded for sea surface temperatures.

“This puts immense pressure on vital but fragile tropical ecosystems, such as coral reefs, mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows.

“For example, a coral reef in the Florida Keys called Newfound Harbor Key accumulated heat stress almost 3 times the previous record and it occurred 6 weeks ahead of previous peaks.”

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said the findings come at a critical point in protecting global biodiversity, with commitment to climate change mitigation slipping in many nations.

“The latest environmental information indicates that we’re well off-track when it comes to keeping global surface temperatures from reaching a very dangerous condition by mid to late this century,” he said.

“Frankly, we’re hurtling in the opposite direction.

“Compounding this is the fact these devastating impacts appear to be rolling into a vast record-breaking global event.”

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said that without serious and swift action, the persistence of coral reefs beyond the next few decades is in serious jeopardy.

“Our study shows that ENSO is a major determinant of the fate of the world’s coral reefs,” he said.

“Rising sea temperatures, coupled with other stressors such as ocean acidification and pollution, have severely weakened their resilience.

“This puts coral reefs and a quarter of the ocean’s biodiversity at serious risk of annihilation.”

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said efforts to introduce of heat-tolerance genes into the natural coral population have shown promise, but the reality of scaling these efforts remains logistically challenging.

“Given the complex and interconnected nature of marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, a comprehensive approach is necessary for mitigating the impacts of changing oceanic conditions,” he said.

“The importance of reducing our emissions is underscored in our findings, where massive changes to oceanic warming are set to destroy coral reefs and many other ecosystems.

“With this in mind, there are extremely tough discussions underway at the COP28 climate meetings.”

Every year 55 million organisms are sold — worth $2.15bn at retail — placing the MAT on par with global fisheries, such as tuna, in terms of economic significance.

The paper, published in Science Advances, estimates there are currently over 8,000 retailers globally and 6.7 million marine hobbyists. This number is expected to increase to 45 million by 2100 based on population increases and as countries increase their wealth.

Species traded for aquariums are worth more money per kilogram, compared to fish for food. For example, the average price achieved by the fishers for the MAT is $148 per kg, whereas tuna is $3 per kg.

More than 25 per cent of all known marine species — including high value fish and organisms — are found on coral reefs. These ecosystems are crucial to millions of people as they provide a quarter of all the fish caught by developing countries that border the reefs.

However, scientists warn the aquarium trade is at a crossroads forced by threats from global climate change and other stressors.

Lead author, Professor Gordon Watson from the University of Portsmouth’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “We know that MAT puts stress on key habitats, but it can also help stimulate enthusiasm for marine conservation, and it is a valuable source of income for many communities.

“Aquariums are a great way to educate people about how critical coral reefs are to a healthy and productive planet.”

This paper estimates there are around 500 species being regularly traded in the MAT; 210 fish, and 296 inverts. Twenty-five were identified as being at extremely high risk of being overfished, including species of snails, hermit crabs, and the Bangaii cardinal fish. Indonesian and Sulu-Celebes Seas are the areas most exploited.

“The Marine Aquarium Trade is a hugely valuable industry that has the leverage to generate change, providing a framework for fishers and governments to protect reefs, and as a result the communities that rely on them,” added Professor Watson.

“But data gaps are amplifying demands for an international ban on the trade. Our study goes some way to fill in these grey areas.”

Despite a growing awareness of the environmental impacts of the MAT, the authors warn if nothing changes it will transform into an aquaculture-dominated industry. This would see species farmed away from the reefs and associated coastal communities who rely on them to sustain their economy, or moving to more destructive methods of fishing.

Professor Watson said: “The trade finds itself at a crossroads with near-future governance decisions being critical for its long-term future. These choices can be distilled into a ‘business-as-usual’ approach or a ‘MAT positive’ one.”

The study has outlined a number of ways the MAT can become more sustainable:

• Species stock assessment of those most at risk and put in stock management
• Address mortality in the chain of custody
• Support local coral reef protection and restoration programmes
• Governance structures needed, similar systems to the tuna
• Successful introduction of the Fairtrade/MSC certification-style system to help implement these things

The paper concludes by saying a ‘MAT-positive’ future is imaginable, but requires real action on climate change, evidence-based management, consumer education, sustainable practice incentivisation, and over-exploitation assessments to ensure that the MAT becomes a ‘force-for-good’ and paradigm of sustainable coral reef fisheries.

“One of the biggest issues facing international sustainability efforts is that smaller, less economically developed countries often don’t have the resources to conduct nuanced, in-depth surveys of local people and the local environment in the threatened area,” says Ana Quiñónez Camarillo, a Ph.D. candidate in environmental conservation at UMass Amherst and the paper’s senior author. “And so environmental organizations often wind up pushing a top-down conservation strategy, which may or may not be acceptable to the local people. If the strategy isn’t acceptable, then it may fail, costing time, money, goodwill and further endangering ecological and social health.”

This is especially true of ecological issues that are widely dispersed, have multiple causes and result in an array of negative effects.

Quiñónez Camarillo and her co-author, UMass Amherst Professor of Environmental Conservation Timothy Randhir, point to Honduras’s Lake Yojoa watershed as an example.

Lake Yojoa is the country’s largest natural lake, and its watershed covers 337 square kilometers of forest and mountains. It is adjacent to two national parks; a major highway runs nearby, and dozens of towns and villages are located within the watershed, some right on the lake’s edge and other tucked up in the mountains. The watershed is rich in biodiversity and has become a popular tourist destination. Aside from tourism, fishing is a major industry, as well as mining and aquaculture.

Many in the region are concerned about water quality, but what water quality looks like depends upon which part of the watershed you are in — and the method of protecting water quality may, on the surface, look like it has nothing to do with water. For instance, in the mountainous highlands, a concern for water quality may mean changing logging or mining practices, since deforestation often leads to silt-filled streams which empty into the lake, which then effect fish and the people who rely upon them for their livelihood. “If you were to tell someone in the mountains, ‘don’t log in this way to protect the fish in the lake,’ it wouldn’t make any sense” says Quiñónez Camarillo.

To help make these connections visible and expedite planning, Quiñónez Camarillo and Randhir adapted a sensitive, flexible and complex framework, called a multiscale ecological framework, to focus on the local perception of threats, consequences and solutions (TCS).

“Academic experts in sustainability all over the world are faced with the challenge of how to use extremely theoretical scientific frameworks to engage the public,” says Randhir, who has been a pioneer in such environmental frameworks. “Our TCS framework makes thinking across multiple scales more approachable for local communities by focusing on the three big areas — threats, consequences and solutions — that are familiar to how people live their daily lives.”

To test the TCS framework, Quiñónez Camarillo and Randhir conducted 224 surveys across 12 communities within the Lake Yojoa watershed, as well as engaging 24 other stakeholders, which ranged from private companies to the National parks and which were selected by the local commonwealth for the Lake Yojoa Watershed, AMUPROLAGO. The surveys were conducted orally in Spanish. The surveys were designed in conjunction with AMUPROLAGO and, in addition to standard demographic questions, focused on threats, consequences and solutions to the loss of forests, wetlands, wildlife, fishing resources, water quality and water quantity.

From the rich data that the researchers collected, they were able to generate a series of detailed tables assessing a wide range of threats, consequences and solutions for the various locales in the Lake Yojoa watershed — grass-roots information which the team hopes will serve as a valuable baseline for conservation and governmental organizations at work in the Lake Yojoa region.

“With the TCS framework,” says Quiñónez Camarillo, we can design better solutions that will be more effective because they are more equitable and acceptable to local people. This framework can help show how big solutions actually affect the things that people really care about at the grass roots.”

This research was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture, the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, and the National Science Foundation.

In a recent study, a team of researchers led by Prof. Il-Nam Kim, Associate Professor of Marine Science at Incheon National University, evaluated the prokaryotic population changes and metabolic modifications due to the concurrent impact of OW, OA, OD, and AND across the Western North Pacific Ocean. Their findings were published online in Volume 196 of in Marine Pollution Bulletinon November 1, 2023.

“Climate change leads to marine environmental changes and this study can enhance our understanding of their impact on human life,” Prof. Kim says.

The authors simultaneously studied the effects of climate change across the surface layer (SL), intermediate layer (IL), and deep layer (DL) of the ocean. The microbial community and their functional potential in regulating the N₂O and CH₄ cycles were evaluated using biogeochemical analysis and microbial genome-sequencing.

The results indicated that prokaryotes from SL to DL are closely associated with climate change drivers. During the long-term, the sensitive marine ecosystem in WNPO can be adversely affected by an increase in N₂O production with subsequent pH alteration, ultimately increasing CH₄ emissions. These findings deviate from the currently assumed potential of prokaryotes and biogeochemical processes related to climate change. It also realigns the focus on how climate change impacts the open ocean ecosystem. Dr. Kim concludes, “This research will contribute to raising the awareness about the severity of climate change and the importance of the ocean resources.”

This pioneer study has the potential to shape future marine ecosystem research. Policies aimed at reducing ocean acidification and warming can help in the stabilization of these vital microbial communities and greenhouse gas cycles.