Drug contamination traces may linger in cars, even after ventilation

Testing on methamphetamine smoke taint under controlled conditions

Flinders University

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Methamphetamine can be manufactured in vehicles in transportable and generally small-scale clandestine laboratories. Additionally, private and commercial vehicles can be used for transportation or smoking of the drug.

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Credit: Flinders University

Environmental health experts at Flinders University have found open windows and ventilation can reduce but not completely remove methamphetamine contamination on most hard surfaces of a car after an extended period. 

In a new study, researchers tested various parts of a car’s interior to show concentrations in the air and surfaces exposed to controlled release of methamphetamine smoke. While levels generally dropped over time, the experts warn indirect exposure could still occur, in particular in textile or soft surfaces.

The latest results, published in the journal Forensic Chemistry, highlight the complexity of managing meth contamination in contained spaces where various fabric types showed differing levels of meth smoke taint – even after eight weeks of ventilation.

“Redistribution of methamphetamine can occur, and remediation attempts may be hampered by methamphetamine ‘stored’ in non-surface material including the air-conditioning unit, upholstery, and underlying foam,” says lead author Gemma Kerry, from Flinders University’s College of Science and Engineering.

“And some fabric concentrations appeared to slightly increase after venting for a total of eight weeks. This may have occurred because of relatively high temperatures reported inside the car during the venting period, volatilising the drug and resulting in transfer.”

Lead author, PhD in Forensic Chemistry and Environmental Health Gemma Kerry, is investigating levels and subsequent risk to other people’s health of meth contamination left on household upholstery, underlying foam and even air-conditioning units.

Senior researcher Professor Kirstin Ross adds: “Testing and remediation for methamphetamine in contaminated vehicles, residences and elsewhere is important to protect public health.

“This latest data on methamphetamine distribution from smoking and ventilation could aid in further investigation of contamination and remediation in cars.

“Individuals exposed to indirect contamination may have adverse health symptoms including respiratory problems, headaches and behavioural and cognitive issues.”

This makes it important to determine the overall methamphetamine contamination extent of cars to provide the public with safeguards when buying or using vehicles, the Flinders University experts conclude. 

Under a special licence, the Flinders University team used controlled emissions of methamphetamine smoke in a car with no known prior contamination.

After three smoking events, there was a general concentration increase on the car surfaces, on four fabric types placed on the car seat and seat backrests, and in the sampled air.

The highest surface concentrations were reported from the driver’s overhead – likely due to rising smoke.

The highest methamphetamine concentrations were observed from cotton and faux leather, with the lowest concentrations from polyester and neoprene fabrics. For cotton, faux leather, and neoprene fabrics generally lower concentrations were reported from the seat back when compared to the seat.

Air concentrations ranged from 0.19 to 0.96 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3) in the driver area and the rear storage area after three controlled smokes.

Air testing detected small amounts of methamphetamine in the air. By comparison, tobacco smoke could contain hundreds of thousands of micrograms per cubic metre of airborne particles in indoor environments.

After the contaminated car’s windows were opened for decontamination purposes, the concentrations in the air and on the surfaces generally decreased after venting for a total of eight weeks after the last smoking event.

The Flinders University research will help law enforcement agencies, vehicle dealerships, vehicle lenders and owners faced with testing and cleaning contaminated vehicles, in particular stolen or second-hand cars.

The new article, ‘Controlled smoking of methamphetamine in a car and initial remediation by ventilation: Analysing air, surfaces and fabrics’ (2026) by Gemma L Kerry, Kirstin E Ross, Jackie Wright and G Stewart Walker was published Forensic Chemistry DOI: 10.1016/j.forc.2025.100723.

All testing activities were done with Flinders University Risk Assessment and Safe Work Procedure and under Government of South Australia Research, Instruction, Training or Analysis Permit (Controlled Substances Act, 1984 Permit Number: 2024-83442).

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Journal

Forensic Chemistry

DOI

10.1016/j.forc.2025.100723 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Controlled smoking of methamphetamine in a car and initial remediation by ventilation: Analysing air, surfaces and fabrics’

 

Researchers reconstruct path and intensity of China's Guangzhou 'April 27' tornado using multi-source data

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

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Damage Assessment Map: Documenting the Damage Swath and Survey Sites.

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Credit: Yi Yang

Existing disaster investigation systems often focus on meteorological cause analysis, while systematic research from the perspective of structural wind engineering on building damage mechanisms remains relatively limited.

In a study published in the journal Advances in Wind Engineering, researchers from South China University of Technology and collaborating institutions described the EF3-level tornado that occurred in Guangzhou, China on April 27, 2024. They achieved this by integrating methods such as UAV remote sensing, detailed ground-based post-disaster surveys, and mesoscale numerical simulation.

"This research combines meteorological simulation with structural damage analysis, systematically examining the tornado disaster from an engineering perspective," shares corresponding author Professor Yi Yang. "The findings can provide empirical data reference for refining the descriptions of engineering structural damage in China's national standard, the 'Tornado Intensity Scale'."

In the study, the research team established six main survey lines and 12 branch lines within an affected area of approximately 15 square kilometers in Guangzhou’s Baiyun District, collecting and analyzing disaster data from 471 characteristic sites. By examining nearly 500 sets of UAV images and about 1,200 sets of ground-based photos and videos, the team delineated the tornado's path: moving from west to east-southeast, with a total length of approximately 8.2 kilometers, an average width of 0.7 kilometers, and a maximum width reaching 1 kilometer. Based on the damage levels of indicators such as buildings, trees, and utility poles observed on-site, and referring to the Chinese national standard "Tornado Intensity Scale," the team rated the tornado as EF3 (with wind speeds approximately 61-73 m/s).

In the more severely affected areas (Main Survey Lines 2 and 3), numerous light-steel industrial buildings suffered severe damage to their metal roofing systems. Analysis of 431 building sites revealed that 18.33% experienced severe damage, including collapsed rigid frames and exterior walls. Common metal roof failure modes included localized tearing at self-drilling screw connections and connector pull-out from purlins.

Based on these findings, the team proposed wind-resistant design improvements such as optimizing ridge/eave geometry, increasing connector density, and using standing seam roof systems.

The study also employed the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to simulate the event. The KF-Eta scheme effectively reproduced the environmental conditions, successfully simulating parent storm characteristics like the "hook echo" signature, storm trajectory, and helicity patterns consistent with observational data. Additionally, by back-calculating the load capacity of two collapsed concrete utility poles, the research estimated peak gust wind speeds during the tornado at 74.59 m/s and 79.77 m/s.

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Contact the author: Yi Yang, State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building and Urban Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, ctyangyi@scut.edu.cn

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 200 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

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Journal

Advances in Wind Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.awe.2025.100098 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Post-disaster investigation and WRF model reconstruction of April 27th tornado in Guangzhou based on muti-source data fusion

'Indian Niño' drove record heat in 2023 and 2024, new UMD study finds

It’s the first time this Indian Ocean climate pattern has been connected to the recent years’ unusually high temperatures.

University of Maryland

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In 2023 and 2024, Earth’s average global surface temperature spiked nearly 0.3 degrees Celsius above what was already expected from climate change. Each year was declared the hottest on record and coincided with deadly wildfires, heat waves and historic numbers of climate-related disasters. 

Scientists have struggled to explain what caused these anomalously warm years. In a new study, published May 6, 2026, in the journal Earth System Dynamics, University of Maryland researchers propose a novel answer: They attribute part of the temperature surge to the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), a climate cycle similar to El Niño. It’s the first time the IOD has been linked to these two unusually hot years.

The researchers built a climate model that predicts global temperatures based on an extensive list of natural and manmade factors. The variables they considered could explain 93% of the global surface temperature anomaly in 2023 and 92% in 2024—the closest scientists have gotten to explaining the record-breaking heat. The IOD was among the most important predictors. When the researchers omitted the IOD from the model, they could only account for 69% of the temperature spike in 2023 and 77% in 2024. The authors say that understanding how such natural factors influence global temperatures will help global decision-makers isolate and potentially mitigate the climate impact of human activity. 

“This is probably the most comprehensive attribution that’s out there right now,” said study lead author Endre Farago, who conducted this research as part of his chemistry Ph.D. research at UMD. “Being able to explain 92% to 93% of the anomaly—that’s basically spot on.”

The IOD, sometimes called “Indian Niňo,” refers to the difference in sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean’s western and eastern sides. Depending on the year, the western side can be warmer or cooler than the eastern side by varying degrees. This temperature gradient affects everything from rainfall patterns in India to bushfires in Australia.  

The IOD was only discovered in the late 1990s and is still not fully understood. Until the 2010s, scientists debated whether it was an independent cycle or a consequence of the more well-known El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Pacific Ocean. And because the Indian Ocean is the smallest of the three major ocean basins, many people didn’t think it could strongly affect the global climate, said study co-author and Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Professor Ross Salawitch. 

“There was a view in the climate community that the Pacific Ocean was the dog, and the Indian Ocean was the tail,” said Salawitch, who also holds joint appointments in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. 

Even Salawitch was skeptical when Farago, his former graduate student who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University, first told him about the IOD result. But Salawitch was convinced by the regional patterns of warming in South America and southern Australia in 2023 that were uniquely associated with the IOD, and how much worse the model performed when they removed this climate cycle from consideration. 

Farago was impressed that the model could explain nearly all of the temperature anomaly in 2023 and 2024. Leading atmospheric scientists had been racing to identify the causes. But those studies, including one by the World Meteorological Organization, didn’t include the IOD and could not fully explain the temperature spike—especially in 2023, which was one of the two most extreme IOD events since modern recordings began around 1850.

In addition to the IOD, the research team estimated contributions from other natural cycles, including the other two major ocean basins: high sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic and an ENSO event in the Pacific. The IOD affected global temperatures almost as much as ENSO in 2023 and nearly half as much in 2024. 

Although natural climate cycles partly explained the hot temperatures, the researchers emphasize that human activity was a key factor as well. The new study found that in 2023 and 2024, anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions increased temperatures by about 0.022 degrees Celsius per year—an acceleration compared with the late 20th century.

Additionally, recent efforts to clean up the shipping industry affected temperatures in subtle but noticeable ways. To improve public health, the International Maritime Organization implemented a regulation in 2020 that limited the allowable amount of sulfur in ship fuel. The new rule reduced toxic sulfur oxide emissions. Although these pollutants are unhealthy to breathe, they reflect solar radiation away from Earth, so reducing their presence in the atmosphere unintentionally allowed more radiation to heat the planet. In 2023 and 2024, that caused heating equivalent to up to 25% to 30% of that caused by the recent rise in greenhouse gases, per the new study. It’s also possible that these maritime regulations contributed significantly to the unusually warm conditions in the North Atlantic in 2023 and 2024, which were also a major driver of the record global surface temperatures, the study states.

Although the extent of the temperature anomaly (0.3 degrees Celsius) seems small, it is meaningful. It represents about 20% of the roughly 1.5 degrees Celsius Earth has warmed since 1850 and manifests as prolonged heat waves, stronger precipitation and other climate extremes that harm people and the economy, Farago said. He says it’s crucial to understand the natural and manmade factors that lead to such drastic temperature swings.

Thus, Salawitch hopes that other researchers will include the IOD in their climate models moving forward. 

“After our paper comes out, colleagues will have serious conversations about whether they should include IOD in future global warming attribution studies. It's our hope that they'll find some importance and truth—some veritas—to what we did and what we found,” Salawitch said. “Doing so will hopefully lead to better quantification of the various natural and human factors that drive global warming, with meaningful implications for future policies to address climate change.” 

###

UMD AOSC graduate student Brian Bennett and Associate Professor Timothy Canty co-authored this article with McLane and Dodson.

The paper, “Quantification of the influence of anthropogenic and natural factors on the record-high temperatures in 2023 and 2024,” was published in Earth System Dynamics on May 6, 2026.

This research was supported by the NASA Climate Indicators and Data Products for Future National Climate Assessments program. This article does not necessarily reflect the views of this organization.

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Journal

Earth System Dynamics

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Quantification of the influence of anthropogenic and natural factors on the record-high temperatures in 2023 and 2024

Article Publication Date

6-May-2026

Scientists reveal how cells “back up” DNA replication to survive severe damage

DNA helicase HELQ promotes replication fork reversal, protecting cells from toxic DNA crosslinks

Institute for Basic Science

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A representative figure showing that HELQ-deficient cells fail to undergo normal fork slowing after MMC (a crosslinking agent) treatment, consistent with defective fork reversal.

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Credit: Institute for Basic Science

Every time a cell divides, it must copy its DNA with extraordinary precision. But this process is constantly challenged by DNA damage. Among the most dangerous lesions are DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs), which chemically bind the two strands of DNA together and block the machinery responsible for copying the genome. These lesions are not only produced naturally in cells but are also deliberately induced by widely used chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin and mitomycin C. If not properly managed, they can cause catastrophic DNA breakage and cell death.

A research team led by Dr. Kei-ichi TAKATA at the Center for Genomic Integrity within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has uncovered how cells protect themselves from this severe form of DNA damage. Their findings reveal that the DNA helicase HELQ plays a key role in stabilizing stalled DNA replication by actively remodeling DNA structures.

When DNA is being copied, it forms a Y-shaped structure known as a replication fork. If the fork encounters an obstacle such as a crosslink, it can stall abruptly. Without proper handling, this can lead to mutations, chromosome breakage, or cell death. The researchers found that HELQ enables a protective response called replication fork reversal. In this process, the replication machinery temporarily “backs up,” converting the fork into a four-way DNA structure. This stabilizes the damaged site and gives the cell time to repair the DNA safely.

Using DNA fiber analysis, the team observed that normal cells slow down replication when exposed to crosslinking agents—a hallmark of fork reversal. In contrast, cells lacking HELQ failed to show this response, indicating that HELQ is required for this protective slowdown. To directly visualize these structures, the researchers used electron microscopy and confirmed that HELQ-deficient cells form significantly fewer reversed forks under replication stress.

The study further shows that HELQ is not just a passive participant but an active molecular motor. Further experiments showed that HELQ acts directly at damaged replication sites, using its enzymatic activity to reshape DNA and promote fork reversal. This function depends on HELQ’s enzymatic activity—when the researchers tested a helicase-inactive mutant, cells lost the ability to properly slow replication under DNA damage, confirming that HELQ’s activity is essential. HELQ was also found to work together with the BCDX2 complex, a DNA repair complex, with both acting in the same pathway to promote fork reversal.

Previous studies had shown that cells lacking HELQ are unusually sensitive to DNA crosslinking agents, but the reason was unclear. This study now provides a clear explanation: without HELQ, cells cannot properly reverse and stabilize stalled replication forks. As a result, DNA damage accumulates and becomes more toxic. The researchers also found that HELQ helps limit error-prone repair pathways. In its absence, cells rely more heavily on alternative mechanisms that can introduce mutations, highlighting HELQ’s role in maintaining genome stability.

Because DNA crosslinking agents are widely used in cancer treatment, these findings have important implications for cancer biology. Differences in HELQ activity may influence how cancer cells respond to chemotherapy, potentially affecting both sensitivity and resistance to treatment. “This study explains why HELQ-deficient cells are highly sensitive to DNA crosslinking agents,” said Director MYUNG Kyungjae. “By showing that HELQ directly promotes replication fork reversal, we now have a clearer picture of how cells protect their genomes against one of the most toxic forms of DNA damage.”

Overall, the study identifies HELQ as a critical regulator of replication fork remodeling. By enabling stalled replication forks to reverse and stabilize, HELQ helps cells survive severe DNA damage while minimizing mutations. These findings advance our understanding of how human cells maintain genome integrity under replication stress and provide a foundation for future studies on how cancer cells respond to DNA-damaging therapies.

The study was published in Nucleic Acids Research on April 29, 2026.

 

A schematic model proposing that HELQ acts at an RPA-coated leading-strand gap to drive replication fork reversal and facilitate safe interstrand crosslink repair.

Credit

Institute for Basic Science

Journal

Nucleic Acids Research

DOI

10.1093/nar/gkag332 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

The DNA helicase HELQ promotes replication fork reversal in coordination with BRCA2- and FANCD2-mediated repair pathways

 

The merits and pitfalls of metaphor use in science communication

Metaphors often use imagery and comparison as a bridge to simplifying ideas and getting a point across. They are especially useful in science communication, but they often come equipped with faults

Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research (OLAR)

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Illustration of key metaphors used in climate science, including the “ocean conveyor belt” and “tipping points,” alongside models and data. The figure highlights how metaphors provide intuitive understanding of complex Earth system processes but must be interpreted in the context of models, observations, and uncertainty.

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Credit: Gerrit Lohmann (AWI / University of Bremen)

Effective science communication is a powerful but underrated tool. Metaphors, a common literary device, draw connections between unlike things and are often conceptually, innately understood. In science and science communication, these figures of speech act as a means of structuring concepts to provide the basis for further exploration. The use of metaphors in science can be a catalyst for change, invention, and, unfortunately, misunderstanding. Metaphors should be used responsibly when attempting to make complex scientific concepts easily understandable, and should weigh the accuracy and accessibility of information in a favorable balance.

 

Dr. Gerrit Lohmann published his research in Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research in March 2026.

 

In this research, two popular metaphors for describing climate-related issues were explored: the “ocean conveyor belt” metaphor and the “tipping point” metaphor.

 

Both of these metaphors began as concepts with scientific origins and evidence to create the framework for the literary decor. The metaphor of the ocean conveyor belt started as a means to describe the overturning circulation driven by deep water formation from the North Atlantic Ocean on a global scale. This metaphor helped propel hypotheses in the scientific community and also fostered more interdisciplinary communications; however, the oversimplification of the metaphor neglected important facets of its origins. The three-dimensional structure of oceanic circulation and the slew of other dynamics in the globe’s oceans are difficult to wrap succinctly in one metaphor, and to many, the conveyor belt imagery stuck around, but true understanding never arrived.

 

Similarly, the “tipping point” metaphor resonated strongly across disciplines and with the public. This metaphor communicates the possibility of abrupt change and, though it provided major motivation for further experiments, policy change and the public’s attention, it also became a focal point for fatalists and sensationalists. “Tipping elements,” individual issues with a threshold and consequence when surpassed, were later introduced as a way to further the metaphor.

 

For example, a tipping point often cited is a global temperature increase of 1.5°C leading to the irreversible damage and downfall of many of Earth’s systems, sending us into a catastrophe amounting to the end of days as we know it. However, this way of framing can be misleading to those with no basis of understanding climate science, leading to thoughts of instantaneous disaster versus gradual shifts that would take lifetimes to fully experience.   

 

“Both the conveyor belt and tipping point metaphors illustrate how science progresses through dialogue between models, data, and conceptual simplifications,” said Gerrit Lohmann, professor of climate physics and author of the study.

 

Metaphors, like the tipping point, can oversimplify to the point of being problematic. The binary framing of this metaphor with the image of imaginary thresholds being crossed with sudden, dramatic, dire implications is not entirely the truth, and like most things, the truth is somewhere in between the extremes.

 

Improving metaphors by balancing accuracy and accessibility is not as easy as it seems, given the amount of nuance involved in nearly every subject, especially within the sciences.

 

Lohmann suggests integrating communication research with practical evidence and models to remove some of the fog that can surround metaphors heard or seen without a base of knowledge to check against. When metaphors dramatize risk, Lohmann also suggests adding a clear explanation along with it to reduce negative feelings such as fear and vulnerability to the information being depicted. The better the metaphor, the more likely it is that better scientific practices and policies can be put into place to create actionable and measurable change.

 

Gerrit Lohmann of the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Univeristy of Bremen is the researcher and author of this study.

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Journal

Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research

DOI

10.34133/olar.0140 

Method of Research

Commentary/editorial

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Models and Metaphors for Interdisciplinarity and Communication in Earth System Science