Thirdhand smoke is a new frontier, and UC’s Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program has assembled a group of investigators, including at LBNL and UCSF, to study the health risks caused by the remnants of cigarette smoke.
“Third hand smoke is what you smell when you go into a hotel room where people have been smoking or what rubs off on your skin when you touch a wall or if you visit somebody’s house and they’ve been smoking. So that means its not only in the air but its also coming out of surfaces. Third hand smoke is the residue in tobacco smoking that is in a building after people have smoked.” – Laura Gundel, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
UCLA scientists have developed a cell phone attachment that acts as a microscope and detects pathogens such as E.coli, which contaminates food and drinking water.