… Changing weather patterns, droughts and competing water demands have led to the rapid shrinking of the Salton Sea and have left large areas of the lake bed exposed.  Dr. Emma Aronson is a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of California, Riverside. For years, her team has been collecting and studying dust from the dried-up lake bed to find out how it is impacting residents’ lungs.  “The Salton Sea region has been becoming incredibly prone to dust storms, and daily dust exposure is causing problems for people’s health,” said Aronson.  Recently, her team was able to determine that the Salton Sea dust has an impact on our lung microbiome.