Intialaiset hengittävät maailman saastuneinta ilmaa. Ilmansaasteet tappavat joka päivä tuhansia ihmisiä.

The study, published last month in journal Fertility and Sterility, has found that high levels of air pollution were associated with a 16 percent higher risk of miscarriage in the US.

It’s no secret that a mother’s exposure to pollution can harm her unborn child. Studies have linked polluted air to many a health problem, including premature birth, low birth weight, and infant mortality as well as childhood obesity, high blood pressure, respiratory problems, and brain abnormalities.

Now, we might be closer to understanding why. For the very first time, researchers have found evidence that microscopic carbon particles find their way to the placenta.

Take a deep breath. Even if the air looks clear, it is nearly certain that you will inhale millions of solid particles and liquid droplets. These ubiquitous specks of matter are known as aerosols, and they can be found in the air over oceans, deserts, mountains, forests, ice, and every ecosystem in between.

If you have ever watched smoke billowing from a wildfire, ash erupting from a volcano, or dust blowing in the wind, you have seen aerosols. Satellites like Terra, Aqua, Aura, and Suomi NPP “see” them as well, though they offer a completely different perspective from hundreds of kilometers above Earth’s surface.

Air pollution causes a “huge” reduction in intelligence, according to new research, indicating that the damage to society of toxic air is far deeper than the well-known impacts on physical health.

Air pollution causes ‘huge’ reduction in intelligence, study reveals
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/27/air-pollution-causes-huge-reduction-in-intelligence-study-reveals

Impact of high levels of toxic air ‘is equivalent to having lost a year of education’

Researchers in pollution-prone Xian test the properties of the city’s bad air but health specialists say the bigger concern is just how small the particles are

Traffic pollution in European cities can stall children’s brain development and stop them from reaching their full potential, according to a Spanish study that measured air pollution in 300 classrooms.

Researchers involved in the BREATHE project found that the distance to the nearest road significantly influenced the levels of harmful invisible particles in classrooms and ultimately slowed brain growth in children.

The harmful effects are due to tiny particles released from vehicles, especially diesel engines. The invisible flecks of carbon are so small that once you breathe them in, they can cross from the lung into the bloodstream and then travel to the brain.

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HEALTHENVIRONMENT
Traffic pollution prevents children’s brains from reaching their full potential
17 July 2017
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High pollution is linked to slower growth in the region of the brain where decision-making, social behaviour and complex thinking are believed to happen. Image credit – ‘Automobile exhaust gas’ by Ruben de Rijcke is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Traffic pollution in European cities can stall children’s brain development and stop them from reaching their full potential, according to a Spanish study that measured air pollution in 300 classrooms.

Researchers involved in the BREATHE project found that the distance to the nearest road significantly influenced the levels of harmful invisible particles in classrooms and ultimately slowed brain growth in children.

The project, funded by the EU’s European Research Council, examined 3 000 children in 40 different schools across Barcelona and discovered that those that inhaled more air pollution performed worse on computer tests. The harmful effects are due to tiny particles released from vehicles, especially diesel engines. The invisible flecks of carbon are so small that once you breathe them in, they can cross from the lung into the bloodstream and then travel to the brain.

‘They stimulate immune cells and produce an inflammatory effect at various levels of the brain,’ explained Professor Jordi Sunyer, lead scientists on the BREATHE project and senior researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Spain.

Each student was tested four times, leading researchers to find that a high-pollution day before a test could even affect a child’s performance. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were even more susceptible to pollution particles.

The tiny particles of carbon are often surrounded by heavy metals, hydrocarbons and other chemicals known to be bad for health, which are already linked to heart disease, lung cancer and stroke, as well as pre-term births and diabetes.

Could all of the countries that supported the Paris agreement on climate change subsist on 100% renewable energy by 2050? According to the latest research out of Stanford University, it just might be possible. In a study published in Joule, Cell Press’s new peer-reviewed journal focused on advancements in sustainable energy, Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, posits that 139 countries could rely entirely on wind, water, and solar power by the midpoint of this century.

In the study, Jacobson and 26 of his colleagues examine each country’s renewable energy resources and assess how many wind, water, and solar energy generators each nation would need to construct to be 80% renewable-energy-reliant by 2030 and 100% reliant by 2050. According to their estimates, only about 1% of the total available land and rooftop space would be needed to accomplish these goals. Countries with large open swathes of land, such as the United States and China, will have the easiest time making this transition, according to the study. Smaller countries with less undeveloped land area may need to build offshore solar paneling in neighboring bodies of water to meet the 100% threshold.

World’s first carbon-capture station brought online in Iceland last May. The CO2 market was worth $6 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.7% through at least 2025.