Drugs are sneaky. They keep changing, and it's tough to keep up. But here's a clever way to stay ahead: check the wastewater. This isn't about snooping; it's about public health. Scientists have found a way to spot new drugs in our water systems. They've created a swift and efficient method to detect 311 different new psychoactive substances (NPS) and their breakdown...

Imagine trying to predict how many people have COVID-19 by looking at their wastewater. Sounds a bit strange, right? But that's exactly what scientists did in Italy's Veneto region during the pandemic. They checked for tiny bits of the virus's genetic material (RNA) in wastewater and compared it with the number of reported COVID-19 cases. The idea was to spot trends ...

Water can be a hidden reservoir for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a nasty bug that can make people sick. One type of this bacteria, called CRPA, is extra tough due to carbapenem resistance. This makes it hard to treat infections caused by it. Currently, we mostly know how to find CRPA in hospitals, but not so much in water. Scientists wanted to change that. They tested di...

Recently, the H5N1 bird flu has been making its way into more people. Six more cases have been reported, with five in California and one in Oregon. This is the first case in Oregon. There might be another case in California, but it's still being checked. All these cases are mild, and the people caught it from sick animals. In California, dairy workers got it, while i...