Gleanings of the Week Ending October 24, 2026

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

10/02/2026 Inside Climate News Maryland Demands Answers as Fuel Leak Persists from Joint Base Andrews - Maryland environmental regulators say jet fuel continues to seep into Piscataway Creek from Joint Base Andrews more than six months after the spill was reported, despite the base’s assurances that it has isolated the damaged fuel system and stopped the leak.

10/10/2026 Science Daily A plastic once thought harmless may be fueling fatty liver disease - Texas A&M researchers discovered that polyethylene microplastics can contribute to fatty liver disease, with potentially worse effects when combined with an unhealthy diet. Even more surprising, this widely used plastic was previously considered relatively harmless. (Polyethylene is the most commonly produced plastic. It is primarily used for plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bottles, cups, jars, folders, etc.)

09/29/2026 CNN Over 90% of common household items contain hazardous plastic chemicals - Potential health harms include cancer, genetic changes, and endocrine, reproductive and organ toxicity. Five categories of plastic people use almost every day include: 1) Almost 92% of the chemicals found in food-contact plastics were of high risk to human health;  2) Nearly 89% of children’s toys contained high-risk plastics; 3) Some 93% of textiles and clothing were made with dangerous chemicals; 4) Over 92% of common household products — such as bottled water, kitchenware, tableware, gardening tools, toilet articles and office supplies — contained high risk chemicals; 5) Nearly 93% of hygiene and medical plastics also contained dangerous chemicals. Those products include dental floss, tampons and other menstrual products, pill casings, patches, and syringes, to name a few.

10/8/2026 Our World in Data A 73% average decline in wildlife populations: an overview of the 2026 Living Planet Index report – 73% decline since 1970. This covers mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish; it doesn’t yet include invertebrates or plants. Digging deeper - it’s more effective to target restorative and protective efforts to populations in serious trouble than to assume that all populations are struggling.

10/8/2026 NASA Fighting Drought in Texas Cotton Country - Satellite images highlight the scale of the problem in Lubbock and adjacent counties. Brown, parched crops and vacant plots dominated the landscape in September 2026. In contrast, much greener landscapes prevailed in September 2025 which was a more typical year for the area with a relatively healthy harvest.

10/10/2026 BBC Future The US produces millions of tons of rice waste each year. Now people are building homes with it - Previously viewed as a waste product and even pollutant, rice husks are now attracting attention for their potential as a versatile, sustainable construction material. With hundreds of new homes in the US now using rice husk paneling and other rice husk products from porches to playgrounds available. While rice husk paneling costs slightly more to install compared to cedar, the long-term maintenance costs are lower due to its resistance to moisture, sun and fire.

10/08/2026 Yale Environment 360 The U.S. Public Is Losing Its Say on Environmental Policy - Public participation is a hallmark of environmental regulation, embedded in every major environmental statute enacted over the past half-century. There are good reasons to speed up the process of writing regulations and issuing permits, but truncating public input has serious costs. It can result in flawed policy that is harder to implement, full of avoidable error, and more vulnerable to being struck down by courts. Research shows that when people participate in decisions that affect them, they are more likely to view those decisions as legitimate. There are good reasons to reform our regulatory and permitting system, but not by dispensing with public participation.

10/09/2026 Smithsonian Magazine September’s Ozone Hole Was the Biggest It Has Been in 25 Years - In September, the Antarctic ozone hole peaked at 10.6 million square miles—the second largest ever observed for this time of year. Researchers are still trying to understand how climate change impacts the strength of the polar vortex, and why bigger ozone holes are persisting longer than they used to. It could be that changes in global atmospheric dynamics are making longer-lived ozone holes more likely, which in turn could mean our timelines for ozone recovery need to be adapted.

10/09/2026 Inside Climate News Looking for Oil in Alaska, No Environmental Strings Attached - Oil companies will no longer be required to conduct environmental reviews before exploring for fossil fuel reservoirs in the Western Arctic, the largest tract of federally managed public land in the United States. The Western Arctic is the traditional land of the Iñupiat people and serves as a critical wildlife habitat for hundreds of thousands of caribou across three major herds.

10/08/2026 Science Daily Scientists tested 5 natural compounds on cancer cells. One stood out - All five disrupted cancer cell energy production and pushed many of the cells into a non-dividing state, with curcumin producing the strongest overall effect. Curcumin also showed a relatively favorable safety profile, while some other compounds caused more toxicity.