Mutations that occurred tens of thousands of years ago made humans uniquely sensitive to particulate air pollution.
Articles on Particulates
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What you don’t see when you burn a candle.
Clouds affect Earth’s weather and climate in many ways. New research suggests that the presence of microplastic particles could alter these processes.
Which is riskier for your health: a few days of very bad PM₂.₅ exposure or many more days of slightly bad exposure? Researchers developed new metrics to provide better answers.
The first thing to remember is that all smoke is harmful. Typically, if you can smell smoke, it’s at a level where it’s impacting your health.
On Feb. 7, 2024, the EPA strengthened the federal limit for annual levels of fine particulate air pollution, or PM2.5. Many serious health effects have been linked to PM2.5 exposure.
The longest-running study of its kind reviewed death records in the path of pollution from coal-fired power plants. The numbers are staggering − but also falling fast as US coal plants close.
Desert dust storms are increasingly picking up materials like sewage, herbicides and other human-made waste and transporting them on tiny particles that are easy to inhale.
Orangutans are vocal animals, so analyzing their calls during events like wildfires can indicate how smoke is affecting their health.
One day we’ll look back in amazement that wood heaters were once tolerated in cities right next to houses, schools and hospitals.
Fires in Canada have sent smoke across several US states, leaving cities including New York, Chicago and Denver with some of the worst air quality in the world – even far from the flames.
Be prepared. Download an air quality app, stock up on respirators and stay inside if you can.
As California goes on regulating air pollution, other states often follow – including the Golden State’s ambitious goals for cleaning up emissions from trucking.
Those directly exposed to toxic dust and trauma on and after 9/11 carry with them a generation of chronic health conditions, which are placing them at higher risk during the pandemic and as they age.
Fine particles in air pollution contribute to the deaths of 36,000 people each year in the UK.
Poor indoor air on tribal lands can cause a range of respiratory illnesses, including viral infections. Here’s how people are fixing the problem while preserving traditional ways.
Australia has a lot of work to do to overcome the challenges facing electric vehicles users, starting with the lack of a comprehensive national charging network.
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.
Air pollution can weaken people’s respiratory, immune and cardiovascular systems, leaving them more vulnerable when they get COVID-19.
Top contributors
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Professor of Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University
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Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, UMass Amherst
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Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Virginia
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Professor of Public Health Science and Community Medicine, University of Connecticut
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Postdoctoral Associate in Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell University
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Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University
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Conjoint Professor, School of Population Health, UNSW
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Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics, University of Virginia
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Assistant Professor of Environmental Health, Boston University
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Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York
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Assistant Professor of Computational Materials Chemistry, University of Oregon
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Professor of Urban Transport and Public Health, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Dean, Chair Professor of the Atmospheric Environment, City University of Hong Kong
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Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University