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Second-hand noise is the new smoke - we need have a debate on how to govern the cacophony of modern life, before it starts killing us too We used to be able to smoke everywhere. On trains, in bars and restaurants – even in the office. And then slowly, but surely, the spaces where people could light up a cigarette began to disappear. Why? Because we learned about the health-risks, new social norms started forming, and we would no longer accept the exposure to second-hand smoke. Will we one day feel the same way about  noise pollution  ? Sure, no-one ever died because someone’s earphones were playing too loudly. But the same principle applies; is it fair to inflict your second-hand noise on your neighbours and colleagues? The United Nations health organization (WHO) calls ‘noise’; “an underestimated threat that can cause a number of short- and long-term health problems, such as for example sleep disturbance, cardiovascular effects, poorer work and school pe...

Smoking puts your sperm at risk Do you smoke? You could be unwittingly lowering your   sperm   quality, a new study warns. The research that included 20 nonsmoking men and 20 men who smoked found that that sperm of smokers has a greater extent of DNA damage than that of non-smokers. Researchers also assessed 422 proteins in participants' sperm. One protein was absent, 27 proteins were underrepresented, and 6 proteins were over-represented in smokers. Analyses of these proteins suggest that cigarette   smoking   may promote an inflammatory response in the male reproductive tract. "More and more studies are demonstrating a harmful effect of smoking on male fertility. Our results point in the direction of important semen alterations: semen of smokers presents an inflammatory nature, associated with decreased capacity of sperm to achieve fertilization and generate a healthy pregnancy," said senior author Dr Ricardo Pimenta Bertolla. Bertolla added that in t...