True or False
True or False: Pollution is one major environmental cause for illness.
Hint: Pollution is a major issue today that affects our air.
True!
Many things in the environment impact our health. This includes pollution in the air we breathe, carcinogens in the food we eat, pesticides, lead, increased computer screen time, you name it.
(Glenn)
https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Environmental-Factors
Which of the following that you can be exposed to can lead to having permanent detrimental health conditions?
A: Toxic Chemicals
B: Norovirus
C: Pink Eye
D: Influenza
Hint: One of your options isn't very common, meaning your chances of getting permanent health conditions are low.
A
Exposure to toxic chemicals can lead to chronic and often irreversible health conditions
(Glenn)
https://www.paho.org/en/topics/environmental-determinants-health
How can weather impact the health of a major population?
Hint: Look at what Hurricane Ian and other past weather related phenomena have done to the areas they devastated.
Extreme weather events have exacerbated food insecurity, air pollution, access to clean water, population migration and transmission patterns of vector-borne illnesses
(Glenn)
https://www.paho.org/en/topics/environmental-determinants-health
Scientists suspect many of the things we’re exposed to in our ______ are related to health problems like cancer, asthma or Parkinson’s disease
Hint: The word has to do with what's around you
Environmental
Which of the following modern environmental conditions may prevent revived viruses from being able to spread again?
A: Ultraviolet light
B: Sulfur
C: Oxygen
D: Microbial Competition
E: Carbon Dioxide
Hint: 2 of 3 of your answers are very commonly mentioned when discussing the atmosphere and the third one has to do with different bacteria trying to achieve the same goal.
A, C and D
Ultraviolet light, oxygen, and microbial competition may destroy them before they can spread.
(Ernesto)
https://gradstudies.musc.edu/about/blog/2025/05/climate-meets-contagion
True or False: Certain illnesses like asthma or Parkinson's disease aren't related to the environment.
False:
Scientists suspect many of the things we’re exposed to in our environment are related to health problems like cancer, asthma or Parkinson’s disease.
(Niklaus)
Which of the following is most known for contributing to diseases?
A. Global Warming
B. Pollution
C. Climate Change
D: Overpopulation
Hint: This option has a global impact on environments, people, and weather.
C: Climate Change
Climate change is another important environmental risk factor for health. Heat waves, other extreme weather events and forest fires, as well as food and water insecurity are among the climate change impacts which may trigger and exacerbate NCDs. People living with NCDs are especially vulnerable, and climate change increases the global burden of cardiovascular, respiratory, kidney diseases, and cancer
(Niklaus)
Why are environmental factors considered when talking about a individual's risk of catching a disease?
Hint: This has to do with chance.
Genetic studies often take environmental factors into consideration, as these exposures can increase an individual’s risk of genetic damage or disease
(Glenn)
https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Environmental-Factors
Climate change is another important environmental risk ____ for health.
Hint: This helps determine something and must be taken into account when figuring something out
Factor
Which of the following locations where ancient viruses found?
A: Ice Sheets
B: Permafrost
C: Glaciar
D: Frozen Magma
E: None of the above
Hint: 2 of these options aren't like the others.
B, and C
In recent years, scientists have revived viruses frozen in permafrost for tens of thousands of years.
Suggested that the risk of viruses spilling over to new hosts was higher at locations close to where large amounts of glacial meltwater flowed in.
(Ernesto)
https://gradstudies.musc.edu/about/blog/2025/05/climate-meets-contagion
True or False: These are all example of factors that don't affect our health through the environment: Air pollution, flame retardants, and lead.
Hint: Think about how these factors would affect people and how often people get sick from these diseases.
False:
Air pollution, flame retardants, lead, nanomaterials, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, smoke, and pesticides are all factors that affect our health.
(Niklaus)
Which of the following best describes the amount of people suffering from lack of proper sanitary systems?
A: 21 million
B: 83 million
C: 39 million
D: 16 million
Hint: The number is larger than you may think.
B: 83 million
Approximately 83 million people still do not have adequate sanitation systems of which 15.6 million people still practice open defecation and 28 million do not have access to improve sources of safe drinking water, resulting in about 30 thousand preventable deaths each year
(Niklaus)
https://www.paho.org/en/topics/environmental-determinants-health
What are some resources that we use in our everyday lives that could contribute to environment related diseases?
Hint: Look at your basic necessities to live
The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the homes, buildings and neighborhoods we live and work in can all contribute to environmental health problems, sometimes by disrupting how the body works
(Niklaus)
https://environmentalhealth.ucdavis.edu/communities/what-environmental-factors-affect-health
Exposure to toxic chemicals can lead to chronic and often irreversible ___ conditions
Hint: This word describes how your body is doing
Health
A: Pigs
B: Birds
C: Whale
D: Bats
Hint: 1 is a avian and 1 is a mammal.
B, and D
The next pandemic may come not from bats or birds but from matter in melting ice, according to new data
(Ernesto)
True or False: New recent data suggests the next pandemic could originate from permafrost.
Hint: Permafrost is a frozen layer of ice, usually around the arctic. Permafrost is known for preserving organisms and other things.
True:
The next pandemic may come not from bats or birds but from matter in melting ice, according to new data
(Ernesto)
https://gradstudies.musc.edu/about/blog/2025/05/climate-meets-contagion
Which of the following is the most likely to trigger certain biological processes which can lead to ancient diseases beginning to spread once again?
A: Oxygen
B: Fertile Soil
C: Fire
D: Water
D: Water
An increase in unfrozen water is enough to activate some biological processes.
(Ernesto)
https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2020/07/03/arctic-permafrost-pandemic-life-uh-finds-a-way/
Why are the chances of ancient diseases that were in the permafrost spreading out increasing?
Hint: What does global warming do to ice sheets?
Genetic analysis of soil and lake sediments from Lake Hazen, the largest high Arctic freshwater lake in the world, suggests the risk of viral spillover – where a virus infects a new host for the first time – may be higher close to melting glaciers
(Ernesto)
The risk of viruses spilling over to new ___ was higher at locations close to where large amounts of glacial meltwater flowed in
Hint: This word describes something that is used by something else.
Bonus Hint: The second letter is O
Host
Which of the following was found in the thawing permafrost?
A: Bones
B: Rocks
C: Flowers
D: Moss
Hint:
A, and D
This permafrost is thawing faster and deeper than expected, revealing not just bones or moss but biological matter.
(Ernesto)
https://gradstudies.musc.edu/about/blog/2025/05/climate-meets-contagion
True or False: There is a possibility that viruses aren't the only things preserved in permafrost
Hint: Permafrost is frozen sediment found underground, however, the water that is there should have gotten there centuries or even several millennia.
True:
If one virus can endure nearly 50,000 years in the frozen permafrost, what else might be preserved beneath the surface
(Ernesto)
https://gradstudies.musc.edu/about/blog/2025/05/climate-meets-contagion
Which of the following percents best represent the amount of environmental factor related deaths?
A: 23%
B: 48%
C: 67%
D: 89%
Hint: The number is lower than you may think.
A:
Environmental risk factors for health cause about 23% of all global deaths. About two thirds of these are attributable to NCDs. These risk factors are defined as all the external physical, chemical, biological, and work-related factors that affect a person’s health
(Niklaus)
Why should we take caution when dealing with ancient diseases that might spread and cause a pandemic?
Hint: It involves the term "Potential"
Of course, there are also reasons to believe these viruses may pose little danger. Many scientists point out that revived viruses are often too fragile to survive modern environmental conditions—ultraviolet light, oxygen, and microbial competition may destroy them before they can spread. However, the fact that some can still infect host cells under the right lab conditions suggests they can’t be entirely dismissed
(Ernesto)
https://gradstudies.musc.edu/about/blog/2025/05/climate-meets-contagion
This permafrost is ____ faster and deeper than expected
Hint: This word is used to describe a cold object is heating up
Thawing
Which of the following was put through genetic analysis in the permafrost of Lake Hazen?
A: Volcanic Rock
B: Soil
C: Frozen Plants
D: Metamorphic Rock
E: Lake Sediment
Hint: The first option helps plants and the second option is a result of rocks, dead animals and plants being gathered in a body of water.
B, and E
Genetic analysis of soil and lake sediments from Lake Hazen, the largest high Arctic freshwater lake in the world, suggests the risk of viral spillover
(Ernesto)