Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 48 minutes ago
Kidneys are severely impacted by heat stress. Chronic kidney disease is cropping up in heat-vulnerable communities around the world, likely due to dehydration and other physiological changes caused by heat exposure. Nishad Jayasundara, Juli Plant Grainger Assistant Professor of global environmental health at Duke University, researches how chemical pollutants, especially those in drinking water, may synergize with heat stress to worsen kidney disease. That could be because temperature influences chemicals’ properties or release into the environment, or because bodies already dealing with heat stress are more vulnerable to chemical exposure. Working in his native Sri Lanka, Jayasundara has seen that even children are affected by kidney disease; he finds markers of kidney injury in one in ten children.
This presentation on Jayasundara's research was part of a workshop for science journalists, "Living and Working on a Hot Planet: Reporting on Climate Change and Public Health," presented by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing in Raleigh, NC, USA, on Nov. 8, 2024, in connection with ScienceWriters2024. The workshop, supported by a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Freelance writer Amber Dance curated the program and introduced Dr. Jayasundara.
Kidneys are severely impacted by heat stress. Chronic kidney disease is cropping up in heat-vulnerable communities around the world, likely due to dehydration and other physiological changes caused by heat exposure. Nishad Jayasundara, Juli Plant Grainger Assistant Professor of global environmental health at Duke University, researches how chemical pollutants, especially those in drinking water, may synergize with heat stress to worsen kidney disease. That could be because temperature influences chemicals’ properties or release into the environment, or because bodies already dealing with heat stress are more vulnerable to chemical exposure. Working in his native Sri Lanka, Jayasundara has seen that even children are affected by kidney disease; he finds markers of kidney injury in one in ten children.
This presentation on Jayasundara's research was part of a workshop for science journalists, "Living and Working on a Hot Planet: Reporting on Climate Change and Public Health," presented by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing in Raleigh, NC, USA, on Nov. 8, 2024, in connection with ScienceWriters2024. The workshop, supported by a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Freelance writer Amber Dance curated the program and introduced Dr. Jayasundara.
