Scientists Thought #Parkinsons Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the #Water
New ideas about #ChronicIllness could revolutionize treatment, if we take the research seriously.
By David Ferry, December 10, 2025
Excerpt: "Sometime before 1953, a massive plume of #trichlorethylene, or #TCE, had entered the groundwater beneath #CampLejeune. TCE is a highly effective solvent—one of those midcentury wonder chemicals—that vaporizes quickly and dissolves whatever grease it touches. The spill’s source is debated, but grunts on base used TCE to maintain machinery, and the dry cleaner sprayed it on dress blues. It was ubiquitous at Lejeune and all over America.
"And TCE appeared benign, too—you could rub it on your hands or huff its fumes and feel no immediate effects. It plays a longer game. For approximately 35 years, Marines and sailors who lived at Lejeune unknowingly breathed in vaporized TCE whenever they turned on their tap. The Navy, which oversees the Marine Corps, first denied the toxic plume’s existence, then refused to admit it could affect Marines’ health. But as Lejeune’s vets aged, cancers and unexplained illness began stalking them at staggering rates. Marines stationed on base had a 35 percent higher risk of developing kidney cancer, a 47 percent higher risk of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a 68 percent higher risk of multiple myeloma. At the local cemetery, the section reserved for infants had to be expanded.
"Meanwhile, Langston had spent the remainder of the 1980s setting up the California Parkinson’s Foundation (later renamed the Parkinson’s Institute), a lab and treatment facility equipped with everything needed to finally reveal the cause of the disease. 'We thought we were going to solve it,' Langston told me. Researchers affiliated with the institute created the first animal model for Parkinson’s, identified a pesticide called #Paraquat as a near chemical match to #MPTP, and proved that farm workers who sprayed Paraquat developed Parkinson’s at exceedingly high rates.
"Then they showed that identical twins developed Parkinson’s at the same rate as fraternal twins—something that wouldn’t make sense if the disease were purely genetic, since identical twins share DNA and fraternal twins do not. They even noted TCE as a potential cause of the disease, Langston says. Each revelation, the team thought, represented another nail in the coffin of the genetic theory of Parkinson’s."
Read more:
https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-thought-parkinsons-was-in-our-genes-it-might-be-in-the-water/
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/w8kFq
#TCE #Solvents #DryCleaningFluid #Toxins #ToxicContamination #ParkinsonsDisease #WaterIsLife #WaterContamination
🍫 'Chocolate-flavored' honey created using cocoa bean shells
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-chocolate-flavored-honey-cocoa-bean.html
A group of researchers from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, developed a product made from native bee honey and cocoa bean shells that can be consumed directly or used as an ingredient in food and cosmetics. The results were published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, which featured the study on its cover.
The next-generation #SolarCell is fully #recyclable
12 February 2025
Anders Törneholm
"In a study published in Nature, researchers at Linköping University have developed a method to recycle all parts of a solar cell repeatedly without environmentally hazardous #solvents. The recycled solar cell has the same efficiency as the original one. The solar cell is made of #perovskite and the main solvent is water."
Read more:
https://liu.se/en/news-item/nasta-generations-solcell-ar-helt-atervinningsbar
#SolarEnergy #SolarCells #sustainability #recycling #SolarPunkSunday #SolarPanels
Study offers a potential pathway for safer, non-addictive pain management
"The study showed that when D₂O passed through the TRPV1 channel, it suppressed pain signal transmission and achieved effective analgesia."
They studied both human cells in vitro and mice. This is good since another study found that D2O activated sweet taste receptors in humans, but not in mice -
Sweet taste of heavy water
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-01964-y
#HeavyWater #D2O #solvents #TRPchannels #SweetTasteReceptors #Pain
#nociception #TRPV1 #neuroscience #biology #MouseVsHuman
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS), in collaboration with Peking University, China, have made a discovery regarding the TRPV1 (transient receptor potential vanilloid 1) ion channel and its role in pain perception.
Toxic chemicals banished from the sustainable EV battery of the future
#pfas #foreverchemicals #toxicchemicals #solvents #workplacesafety #evbattery #evbatteries #batteries #energystorage #energystoragesystems #sustainable #sustainability #esginvesting #esg #csr #electricvehicles #electriccars #cars #vehicles #autoindustry #us #unitedstates #recycling #circulareconomy
Toxic chemicals banished from the sustainable EV battery of the future
#pfas #foreverchemicals #toxicchemicals #solvents #workplacesafety #evbattery #evbatteries #batteries #energystorage #energystoragesystems #sustainable #sustainability #esginvesting #esg #csr #electricvehicles #electriccars #cars #vehicles #autoindustry #us #unitedstates #recycling #circulareconomy
Typewriter Tools Upgrade
I've been wrenching on enough typewriters, that it was time to up my game again and add some new typewriter tools to the proverbial tool bag. In fact it was also time for an actual tool bag! So back on August 16th, I added a portable repair person's leather bag and some new typewriter repair tools to my collection. For those interested in improving their skills and typewriter tools, I am documenting some of these new typewriter repair and maintenance tools. If you're getting into the space, […]