Exaggerating how much lockdown improved air quality could allow us to underestimate the scale of the air pollution problem.
Air pollution exposure during mid to early life may be more important to developing Alzheimer’s disease than doctors realized.
Cecilie Arcurs via Getty Images
The tiny air pollutants known as PM2.5, emitted by vehicles, factories and power plants, aren’t just a hazard for lungs. A study finds more brain shrinkage in older women exposed to pollution.
Sampling wildfire smoke sometimes means sticking a tube out the window of an airplane.
Brett Palm/University of Washington
Thousands of chemical compounds in wildfire smoke are interacting with each other and sunlight as the smoke travels. For people downwind, it can become more toxic over time.
Studies demonstrate that vehicular emissions are a huge pollution source in Nairobi.
President-elect Joe Biden opposes proposals to allow uranium mining around the Grand Canyon, which the Trump administration supports.
Michael Quinn, NPS/Flickr
The Trump administration has used executive orders, deregulation and delays to reduce environmental regulation. Biden administration officials will use many of the same tools to undo their work.
By opening data, monitoring and reporting on air quality can be complemented by data from various sources to create more localised and relevant decision-support solutions.
Wildfire smoke turned the San Francisco sky orange in the middle of the day in early September.
Ray Chavez/Medianews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images
Coping with intense and prolonged wildfire smoke is difficult, both physically and mentally. Smoke is an environment hazard to be respected, not a personal challenge to be overcome.
AirQo monitoring system on a ‘boda boda’.
Makerere University
Government action is needed to cut car dependency.
The health impact of wildfire exposure depends in part on the fire itself and how much smoke a person breathes in, how often and for how long.
AP Photos/Noah Berger
Professor & Chair in Air Quality and Health; Founding Director, Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), Co-Director, Institute for Sustainability, University of Surrey, University of Surrey