We all know that smoking is harmful to our health, but fewer people realize that breathing polluted air can be just as dangerous, if not more so. Millions of non-smokers face the risk of lung damage every day simply by breathing the air around them. Depending on where you live, …
Diabetes causes roughly 1.5 million deaths worldwide each year, making prevention a major focus of medical research. Most efforts concentrate on familiar risk factors such as diet, physical activity, and genetics. In recent years, however, researchers have begun looking into a less obvious factor: air pollution. Diabetes is a metabolic …
It is common to think that nighttime should have lower PM2.5 since there are fewer car and industrial emissions in general. However, this is not the case. There’s a great source of data to help answer this question: the US Embassy. The US Embassy (and its consulates in four cities …
What are ionizer air purifiers and ionizers in general? This is an important question because ionizer air purifiers are all over the place. For example, I was at a friend’s apartment in the US, and I saw his tower fan air purifier had an ionizer button on it: Ionizer air …
Is it possible to see air pollution just by looking at the color of sunlight in the sky? That sounds tough, sometimes I hear people say air pollution is invisible: But after years of living in Beijing and Delhi, I’ve been amazed at how well we can detect air pollution …
It’s that time of year when Beijing is starting to sizzle, if this person roasting fish on her car is any indication. We’ve just turned our air conditioner on, and that got some in the Smart Air office wondering: does our AC suck in outdoor air pollution? Although we’re roasting, …
The boring answer is “it depends on your filter,” but here are three much more useful insights I’ve learned from actually testing HEPA lifespan: I’m not an expert in air pollution. I was just a poor grad student living in Beijing, and I started making DIY air purifiers to cope with one …
Seasonal allergy symptoms can be difficult to cope with. Symptoms include sneezing, a runny nose, and red, watery, and itchy eyes. Fortunately, studies show the use of HEPA filter air purifiers in the home can significantly reduce pollen and seasonal allergy symptoms. Studies Show HEPA Air Purifiers Reduce Pollen and …
If you’re buying an air purifier, you might see the terms “airflow” and “CADR” used interchangeably to describe purifier performance. But what’s the difference between CADR (clean air delivery rate) and airflow? Are they the same thing? Or which one – CADR vs. airflow – should you use to choose …
When Delhi’s air pollution spikes, netizens in the nation’s capital often bring up the solution of planting trees. For instance, this user on the question-answer site Quora asks “how many trees does Delhi need to combat its air pollution problem?” However, environmental research suggests that planting trees are an incredibly …
