Many of us imagine the Brazilian Amazon to be pristine. But evidence of humanity’s modern lifestyle flows downstream through the rainforest every day from the region’s major population centers. According to findings published last year, urban streams and tributaries feeding into the Amazon River are highly contaminated with pharmaceuticals, including analgesics, psychostimulants and anti-diabetics, as well as with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, in concentrations up to a hundred times larger than in the mainstem rivers into which they flow. Those results come from the Silent Amazon Projec…