My intuition has always been that air pollution is lowest at night because there are fewer cars on the road and fewer factories humming. Apparently I’m not alone: 139 voted for their guess about what time of day has the lowest PM2.5, and night time came in first: I also know people who […]
Author: Thomas Talhelm
Thomas is a new Assistant Professor of Behavior Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the founder of Smart Air, a social enterprise to help people in China breathe clean air without shelling out thousands of dollars for expensive purifiers.
Ozone Levels Rising Across China
As summer nears, levels of the invisible pollutant ozone are on the rise, becoming more serious than PM2.5 at times. Based on data analyzed by Smart Air, Beijing’s ozone levels are near peak in June–and nearly double the World Health Organization limit. Data analyzed by Smart Air shows Beijing’s ozone is near peak in […]
A good-looking purifier for 200RMB?
When I started Smart Air in 2013, I wanted to make purifiers cheaper. At that time, the cheapest I could find was over 4,000 RMB, and I started shipping people the humble DIY for 228RMB. But recently I’ve started seeing cheaper purifiers out there, like this Diqu purifier that costs 198RMB. First Impression I […]
Plants Have No Detectable Air Purification Effect
Despite the popular conception that plants are purifiers, plants have detectable effect on particle or gas pollutants, according to the latest test data from real-world homes. Belief that plants are effective air purifiers is widespread. Arguably the most frequently cited evidence is the NASA study on plants. It feels scientific, authoritative. This page cites it, this page, this page. […]
Is Air Pollution Affecting Your Productivity in the Office?
We know that air pollution is bad for our health, but if you’re not outdoors picking apples or running marathons in China, is pollution still making you unproductive at your indoor office job? Recent studies suggest the answer is yes. The studies on the effects of outdoor air pollution are no surprise to […]
What Would China’s Air Be Like If Everyone Stopped Driving?
The prestigious science publication Nature published a study that tested the air of Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, and Guangzhou to find out exactly what PM2.5 is made out of. They found that about 20% were chemicals like ammonium and chloride. Coal made up about 4% of PM2.5 in the different cities. From that composition, the researchers could estimate […]
Does Closing the Windows Starve Us of Oxygen?
Air purifiers work best in a closed room environment and this worries some who are concerned that there wouldn’t be enough oxygen coming in when all doors and windows are closed. Yet recent tests in a real apartment — with as many as seven people in a small room — show less than 1% change in oxygen […]
New Data Shows Beijing’s Air Pollution Progress Reverses in March
After several months of progress cutting PM2.5, Beijing saw a sharp reversal this March, according to the latest data. In years past, Beijing’s particulate pollution normally peaks in January and decreases each month closer to summer. However, this year has seen the exact opposite trend, with PM2.5 increasing 265% from January to March. […]
Truth or Bullshit: Eating Broccoli Protects Against Pollution
Although many natural remedies are based more on intuition than science, a surprisingly rigorous set of studies from different research labs is finding that eating broccoli helps our bodies fight the effects of air pollution. Scientists have isolated the compound thought to help the body remove pollutants like benzene and fight inflammation. The compound, sulforaphane, […]
Smog doesn’t kill like you think it does
The World Health Organization tallied up all the deaths due to outdoor air pollution based on different causes, and the major killer isn’t what most people think. Asthma, lung cancer, and emphysema come to mind when we think about air pollution. But lung problems are only a small portion of the deaths caused by air pollution. […]