Carole Bass is an investigative journalist who writes about public health, legal affairs, the environment, and nanotechnology. She was a 2008 Alicia Patterson fellow, reporting on toxic chemicals on the job.
Recent Articles
- Despite Hype, Pratt & Whitney Study Shows Cancer Increase
The second phase of a massive study found somewhat elevated brain cancer rates at one Pratt & Whitney Aircraft factory. You wouldn’t know that from the headlines.
- publication: New Haven Independent
- published: June 2010
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- This Is Your Brain on Nano-Silica
Patients of the future might find doctors injecting tiny bits of silica into their brains. Tomas Guilarte wants to find out whether that’s safe.
- publication: New Haven Independent
- published: May 2010
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- Carbon Nanotubes: The New Asbestos?
These tiny cylinders — wondrously strong and light — are among the most common nanomaterials. They’re also the ones producing the most alarming health and safety studies.
- publication: Occupational Health at Work
- published: January 2010
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- Radio interview: KDHX in St. Louis
Jean Ponzi of KDHX in St. Louis interviewed me about the risks of nanoparticles.
- publication: KDHX Radio
- published: September 2009
- read article online
- Tiny Troubles
How nanoparticles are changing everything from our sunscreen to our supplements.
- publication: E Magazine
- published: July 2009
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- Why Is Black Lung Back? Tracking An Epidemiological Mystery
Black lung disease used to be nearly as common as dirty fingernails among American coal miners. Now it’s back: After a 90 percent drop, the rate of the deadly illness has doubled in recent years. Federal scientists are trying to find out why.
- publication: New Haven Independent
- published: January 2009
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- Amory Lovins: Energy Efficiency is the Key
The world’s biggest untapped energy source, according to energy expert Amory Lovins, is efficiency. But don’t call it “conservation.”
- publication: Yale Environment 360
- published: November 2008
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- Nanotechnology Now
In makeshift labs and old factory buildings, Connecticut entrepreneurs are trying to engineer commercial breakthroughs using the science of the very, very small.
- publication: Connecticut Magazine
- published: October 2008
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- OSHA, Inspect Thyself
Pushed out for blowing the whistle on OSHA’s failure to protect its own employees, Adam Finkel is still trying to get the workers’-health agency to do its job.
- publication: Alternet
- published: July 2008
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- The Risks and Rewards of Nanotechnology (radio interview)
New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Word of Mouth” show interviewed me for a segment on nanotechnology.
- publication: New Hampshire Public Radio
- published: July 2008
- listen online
- Nanotech: The Unknown Risks
“It’s green, it’s clean, it’s never seen — that’s nanotechnology!” That exuberant motto, used by an executive at a nanotech trade group, reflects the enthusiasm about nanotechnology, now used in everything from computer keyboards to toothpaste. But the motto is open for debate. For while nanotech does hold clean and green potential, it also poses possible serious risks to the environment and human health — risks that researchers have barely begun to probe, and regulators have barely begun to regulate.
- publication: Yale Environment 360
- published: June 2008
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- (Nano)Silver Bullet
Your toothpaste and computer keyboard might be pesticides. As manufacturers lace more and more ordinary household goods with germ-killing nano toxins, federal regulators — and the environment — struggle to keep up.
- publication: The New Republic
- published: May 2008
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- Solving a Massive Worker Health Puzzle
The largest workplace health study ever conducted is applying cutting-edge techniques to investigating an apparent cancer cluster—and highlighting the reasons why science doesn’t always protect us at work
- publication: Scientific American
- published: March 2008
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- As Nanotech’s Promise Grows, Will Puny Particles Present Big Health Problems?
Amid the great promise nanotechnology offers, big questions remain on health dangers posed by exposure to tissue-penetrating particles
- publication: SciAm.com
- published: February 2008
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- Yale’s Big Green Experiment
A world-class university gets serious about its environmental footprint.
- publication: Yale Alumni Magazine
- published: November 2007
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- On the Job
The novel is set a century ago, but workplace tragedy is still with us.
- publication: New Haven Review
- published: August 2007
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