#16 The Sparrow in the Lead Mine
Manage episode 439631962 series 3553693
Measure lead levels in blood of house sparrows and accurately predict lead blood levels in children in that town. No way? Absolutely YES WAY!
That is exactly what Prof Simon Griffith with his PhD candidate Max Gillings have achieved in one of their recent papers.
From the outside it is all so easy. Go to an area with known high lead impact (towns like Broken Hill or Mt Isa come to mind), catch a few hundred sparrows, take a blood sample from each sparrow (non-destructively by the way), analyse the blood for lead (and all sort of other markers) and overlay the data to blood lead levels in children living in those areas that the sparrows frequent.
Establish that there is a correlation and explain why there is one as well. Then use that data to predict children's blood lead levels in areas where there is no good heath monitoring available. Publish the research and take a bow!
It is fascinating research, presented by equally fascinating scientists in a beautiful paper. Gunnar and James were both glued to Prof Griffith's lips and we are sure, so will you.
Link to the paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c00946
Simon Griffith links:
https://griffithecology.com/
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/simon-griffith
https://au.linkedin.com/in/simon-griffith-07830719
Max Gillings
https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=yIHdN_0AAAAJ&hl=en
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/max-mclennan-gillings
This episode was recorded on 26 July 2024
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(c) Gunnar Haid and James Hammond
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