About this Issue

This issue of Science Matters highlights EPA's research that addresses today's complex air quality issues, including the interrelationship between air pollution and climate change.

Matters of the Heart: Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease

EPA scientists explore the link between elevated ozone and heart disease risks

Too close for comfort? Living Near Major Roads May Impact Your Health

EPA researchers and partners are studying the local health effects associated with roadways and other "near-source" air pollutants.

Questions and Answers with EPA Air Scientist Dan Costa, Sc.D., DABT

The National Program Director for EPA's Air, Climate, and Energy research program answers questions about air science. Listen to the SM podcast with Dr. Costa.

Cleaning Up In the Kitchen: Cleaner Cookstoves

EPA researchers and partners are working to improve cookstoves to protect millions from unhealthy indoor air and help improve the global climate at the same time.

Modeling Matters

EPA scientists are developing advanced models to monitor pollution exchanges between air, water, and land.

Health Effects of Biodiesel

EPA researchers examine biodiesel emissions.

Anthrax in the Air?

EPA Homeland Security researchers and their partners are studying the potential for anthrax to "reaerosolize" in outdoor, urban environments following a bio-terrorist incident.

Clean Air Technology Initiative: Improving Air Quality through Technological Innovation

EPA researchers join forces with local and state agencies to promote innovation.

EPA's most recently published Scientific Journals

Learn about some of the recent research EPA researchers and their partners have published in scientific journals.

Asthma and New Fuels
An estimated 10% of the population has fungal allergies. The development of new biofuel crops is creating a number of new allergens, which are particularly a problem for workers who cultivate these crops. Dr. Marsha Ward discusses new EPA research on the potential of various biomass sources to induce allergic and/or asthma-like responses.

Developing a Low-Cost Water Filter
The Oglala Lakota Tribe that lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota has been trying to deal with groundwater that has persistently been found to contain unsafe levels of arsenic and uranium. Brett Llewellyn, a student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, discusses his work on a prototype low-cost water filter that can reduce these contaminants.

Innovating for a Green Economy
Did you know that EPA helps fund start-up companies? EPA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provided funding to Cambrian Innovation, a small company that developed a bio-electrochemical system to treat wastewater from fermentation-based (e.g., beer brewing) industries. April Richards, Program Manager for the SBIR program, has the details.

Attention Innovators: The My Air, My Health HHS/EPA Challenge is Open!
What if we could use electronic devices attached to our bodies to gather vast amounts of data on the pollutants that are around us and how they are affecting our bodies? That's the goal of a new nationwide contest just launched by EPA and HHS. Ruthanna Gordon, a behavioral scientist and AAAS science and technology fellow working with the EPA Innovation Team, explains the contest in her blog.

EPA and Partners Announce "My Air, My Health Challenge" / Inventors will compete to develop personal air pollution and health sensors
EPA, NIEHS, and HHS launched a new nationwide challenge called My Air, My Health (MAMH) to develop inexpensive, personal, and portable sensors that measure air pollution and a person's physiological conditions!

EPA Scientists Link Ozone to Cardiovascular Health
In an article recently published by the American Heart Association, EPA scientists link ozone to changes in the cardiovascular systems of healthy young adults.

Dr. Glenn Paulson Joins EPA as Science Advisor
EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson names Dr. Glenn Paulson as the next EPA science advisor.

EPA Awards $2 Million to Small Businesses
EPA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program awarded $2 million to 25 companies in support of technology development toward environmentally sustainable solutions.

EPA Announces NAS' Review of IRIS Assessment Development Process
EPA announced in May that the National Academy of Sciences will conduct a comprehensive review of the agency's IRIS assessment development process.

EPA's People, Prosperity and the Planet Expo on National Mall
On April 21st, more than 30 nonprofit and government agencies and 45 university and college teams participated in an environmental technology design competition on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. as part of EPA's P3 program.

White House Honors Two EPA Scientists
Two EPA Scientists win prestigious Presidential Award

Grants and Funding Opportunities

For information about EPA grants and funding opportunities, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/.