Science, Health, Tech

Scientists say microplastics are everywhere—including in Delaware waterways. 

A local start-up lab is trying to build capacity for testing and remediating PFAS in the First State. 

Illicit fentanyl continues to accelerate overdoses in Delaware. 

The Delaware Center for the Inland Bays is recruiting First State residents for its annual Oyster Gardening Program.

Last year Lewes saw 8 days of sunny-day or high-tide flooding—twice the annual average two decades ago. That number is expected to keep going up. 

Delaware 211 has joined with the Unite Delaware Platform to expand resources to meet social care needs in the First State.

The company developing a wind farm off the coast of southern Delaware and Maryland is hoping to start a second one. It could be several times the size of the first. 

The state gets $50 million to put toward efforts to deal with contamination by a group of toxic legacy chemicals. It’s not determined yet how the money will be spent. 

Since May, wildlife officials and scientists along the East Coast and Midwest have been tracking a surprising number of sick or dying birds – but remain baffled by the cause.

Delaware has seen some cases reported locally and this week contributor Jon Hurdle takes a closer look at what we know and don’t know about this puzzling illness.

Beebe Healthcare is the first in the state offering a Hospital at Home program.

Delaware’s main partner for COVID tests is switching to a nasal method starting Wednesday.

Delaware’s largest health system now offers care at the end of life. 

Fewer than one in ten Delawareans who started a two-dose COVID vaccine missed their second shot. That’s better than the nationwide average.

New data indicates, like many other states, diabetes continues to become more of a problem in Delaware.

It’s been seven years since public water utilities in New Castle shut down and treated drinking water wells after finding toxic PFAS chemicals in them.

But the state still doesn’t know for certain the source or extent of the groundwater contamination there.

As Delaware appears set to develop limits on PFAS chemicals in drinking water, Delaware Public Media’s Sophia Schmidt updates how utilities and the state are managing PFAS pollution in New Castle.

This week was Pollinator Week—and pollinators play an important role in Delaware’s agricultural sector.

Government agencies and commercial operations will get access to better data about the currents in the Delaware Bay—thanks to a new radar installed on Lewes Beach. 

Delaware is expected to have a hotter and wetter summer than normal. The projection comes on the tail of a warmer-than-average spring.

A spring survey showed a decline in the number of red knots stopping along the Delaware Bay during their annual migration.

Some see that decline as troubling and seek stronger measures to protect the shorebird and horseshoe crabs that provide the eggs they feed on.

But contributor Jon Hurdle reports not everyone sees this latest data as reason to act.

Cicadas are back this year.

The last time they appeared 17 years ago Lance Armstrong won his 6th Tour de France and Ruth Ann Minner was Delaware’s Governor.

Now the bugs have returned and are making noise in the northern part of the state - at least for a little while longer.

Delaware Public Media’s Nick Ciolino spoke with University of Delaware entomology specialist David Owens about cicada Brood X.

A few years ago, we brought you a story on a tool to help fishers avoid accidentally catching the endangered Atlantic sturgeon.

This week, we have an update on the locally developed technology.

Delaware Public Media’s Sophia Schmidt talks with University of Delaware postdoctoral researcher Matthew Breece and UD College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment professor Matthew Oliver about how the tool is used—and how it’s evolved since it was first released.