Minerals and Human Health

The book addresses issues associated with the physical and geological processes of the Earth, the sustainability and fragility of the Earth's resources, and the interplay between health, industrial activities, and environments. It combines mineralogy, medicine, and the environmental, life, and political sciences to develop solutions to ease human suffering from geological toxicity.

Minerals and Human Health helps students to understand the Earth's activities and the unique resources that sustain life and facilitate industrial progress. The text teaches readers how the dispersal of geological materials effects the human population.

In-book quizzes allow students to assess their own progress. Questions for discussion and review encourage critical thinking and debate and support retention.

Minerals and Human Health can be used in courses on earth and environmental sciences, geopollution, and geochemistry.

Larissa Dobrzhinetskaya earned her Ph.D. in geology and mineralogy from the Institute of Precambrian Geology and Geochronology in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is a faculty member in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of California at Riverside. Dr. Dobrzhinetskaya is a recipient of long-term fellowships from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science and the Research Council of Norway. She is an elected Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America, the Geological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is also a recipient of the Distinguished Research Award of the University of California at Riverside. Author of over 100 peer-reviewed papers, her research interests include mineral resources, mineral synthesis in the laboratory, the role of minerals in understanding the Earth's dynamics, and the effects of minerals on environments. "