![\"mike](\"http:\/\/blog.epa.gov\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/mike-hannigan1.jpg\" "\\"mike")
<\/p>\nI sat down with Mike Hannigan, EPA grantee and UC Boulder scientist, Tuesday to talk about his innovative research on coarse particles.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cCoarse particles are basically what we think of as dust,\u201d Hannigan explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what\u2019s tricky is that depending on where you are, the dust can look very, very different.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an urban environment, for example, a large percentage of coarse particle pollution comes from the brake-wear of stopping and slowing vehicles. In rural areas though, agricultural dust and windblown soil play a big role.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe major question we\u2019re trying to answer is\u2014do these different kinds of coarse particles cause different health effects? And if so, should this impact the way coarse particles are managed in the future?\u201d<\/p>\n
A handful of studies have suggested increased hospitalizations for cardiovascular and respiratory illness with exposure to coarse particles, but a comparison of urban and rural effects has never been done before.<\/p>\n
Hannigan and colleagues set up monitors in Denver, Colorado and in a rural town called Greeley, about 100 miles to northeast of Denver. The monitors measure both coarse and fine particles continuously, producing hourly averages that give a clear picture of how particle exposures vary over time.<\/p>\n
Hannigan\u2019s group has been monitoring for just over a year and will continue for another two. After monitoring is complete, the data will be turned over to epidemiologists to look for any associations between coarse particles and hospitalizations, deaths, and birth outcomes in Denver and Greeley.<\/p>\n
\u201c Nobody has ever looked at birth outcomes as a possible effect of coarse particle exposure before,\u201d Hannigan said, \u201cso this is very new.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the three years of monitoring, Hannigan and colleagues will also collect samples for lab analysis in an effort to determine the origins of coarse particles in each area.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can measure barium in samples, for example,\u201d Hannigan explained, \u201cand since brakes are really the only place you find barium… that tells us something about the source of those particles.\u201d
\nIn the future, Hannigan hopes to expand his analysis to include biological sources of coarse particles like pollen and bacteria.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can sequence the DNA of particles off the filters from the field and understand more about where they are coming from,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all very exciting; it\u2019s going to add a lot of knowledge to the scientific community.\u201d<\/p>\n
About the Author: Becky Fried is a science writer with EPA\u2019s National Center for Environmental Research. Her OnAir posts are a regular \u201cScience Wednesday\u201d feature.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I sat down with Mike Hannigan, EPA grantee and UC Boulder scientist, Tuesday to talk about his innovative research on coarse particles. \u201cCoarse particles are basically what we think of as dust,\u201d Hannigan explained. \u201cBut what\u2019s tricky is that depending on where you are, the dust can look very, very different.\u201d In an urban environment, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471636\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}