The weather was hot and sticky, and the acid sting of the smog had crept as far west as Beverly Hills. From the top of Mulholland Drive, you could see it leveled out all over the city like a ground mist.
Prof Jurgita Ovadnevaite stated that no one had considered that less smoke could lead to an increase in ultrafine particles, highlighting the unexpected nature of their findings.
Europe's ageing fleet of nearly 2,000 ferries are a large but overlooked source of foul air in coastal cities. Emissions of sulphurous oxides toxic gases that smell like burnt matches and rotten eggs react to form tiny particles that penetrate the lungs, ride the bloodstream and damage organs throughout the body.
Ahead of the March 10 deadline for state officials to finalize construction plans, we believe it is essential that you hear directly from residents whose health and well-being will be massively impacted by this $900 million project,
The logic behind electric vehicles benefiting public health has long been solid: More EVs means fewer internal combustion engines on the road, and a reduction in harmful tailpipe emissions. But now researchers have confirmed, to the greatest extent yet, that this is indeed what's actually happening on the ground. What's more, they found that even relatively small upticks in EV adoption can have a measurably positive impact on a community.
As Winter Storm Fern swept across the United States in late January 2026, bringing ice, snow and freezing temperatures, it left more than a million people without power, mostly in the Southeast.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Italian scientists documented something interesting: in areas with more trees per capita, the number and severity of COVID-19 cases were lower than in places with fewer trees, even when accounting for differences in human population density. This work is part of a growing body of research around the world investigating whether time spent in forests and nature can provide protection from infections, such as COVID-19 and pneumonia; inflammatory conditions, such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis; and even cancer.
The conventional approach to evaluating the impact of air pollution is to focus on a single exposure during a fixed period of time. But evidence suggests that contaminants work together, magnifying the damage to people's lungs. Conventional studies fail to probe synergistic effects. They also ignore the cumulative effects of lifelong exposures to pollutants, known as the exposome. Researchers need to shift away from single-pollutant studies and towards those involving a broad range of exposures.
For decades, he's lived in Homer City, a southwestern Pennsylvania town that was once home to the largest coal-fired power plant in the state. The plant, which shares its name with the town, closed nearly three years ago after years of financial distress. Dudash, 89, has lived in the shadow of its smokestacks-said to be the tallest in the country before they were demolished-for much of his life.
Ethylene oxide was once considered an unremarkable pollutant. The colorless gas seeped from relatively few industrial facilities and commanded little public attention. All that changed in 2016, when the Environmental Protection Agency completed a study that found the chemical is 30 times more carcinogenic than previously thought. The agency then spent years updating regulations that protect millions of people who are most exposed to the compound.
At 79, he's been a smoker most of his life but quit a decade ago, the day he was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He was struggling to breathe to such an extent it was impacting his ability to work his director of conventions sales job at the local visitors' bureau, unable to show potential clients around venues.
Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The angry rumble of a speeding SUV. The metallic smog of backlogged traffic. The aching heat of sun-dried neighbourhoods baking in an oven of concrete and asphalt. For most people, the mundane threats that plague our environments are likely to annoy more than they spark dread. But for scientists who know just how dangerous our surroundings can be, the burden of knowledge weighs heavy each day.
A 400-mile blanket of fog has socked in California's Central Valley for weeks. Scientists and meteorologists say the conditions for such persistent cloud cover are ripe: an early wet season, cold temperatures and a stable, unmoving high pressure system. But take a stroll through X, Instagram or TikTok, and you'll see not everyone is so sanguine. People are reporting that the fog has a strange consistency and that it's nefariously littered with black and white particles that don't seem normal.
Did you know that most of the U.S. remote workforce is made up of white men-yet research shows that women are the ones who benefit the most from remote work? Or that not going to the office doesn't just shape our daily routines, but can influence things as big as air pollution and climate change? Many of these insights are explored in our State of Remote Work 2026 report, alongside two additional articles
Air pollution in Delhi and its suburbs, which together make up the National Capital Region, has been at its worst levels in weeks. According to government data, the averageAir Quality Index (AQI) in the region on Monday was 471, which among the worst in the world, with any measurement above 300 considered "hazardous" to health. For comparison, any measurement under 50 is considered "good."
New details emerged this week about the massive February fire that erupted at the Martinez Refinery Company and released more than 7,000 gallons of hydrocarbon materials into the air, as officials revealed that oil crews had been using incompatible radio systems that prevented immediate contact with local public safety agencies. While county firefighters arrived on the scene 14 minutes after being notified of a fire at MRC, crews were stalled outside, unable to contact the refinery operators on site - a communication gap that delayed the establishment of a unified command center by nearly two hours.
The agency previously estimated that the higher standards set in 2024 would collectively save Americans $23 billion in fuel costs over the years, or about $600 for each passenger car and light truck owner over the lifetime of their vehicle. The rules were expected to cut down gasoline use by 70 billion gallons through 2050. That would avoid 710 million metric tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide pollution, equivalent to taking more than 165.6 million gas-guzzling passenger vehicles off the road for a year.
Each day, Kiran Kasbe drives a rickshaw taxi through his home neighbourhood of Mahul on Mumbai's eastern seafront, down streets lined with stalls selling tomatoes, bottle gourds and auberginesand, frequently, through thick smog. Earlier this year, doctors found three tumours in his 54-year-old mother's brain. It's not clear exactly what caused her cancer. But people who live near coal plants are much more likely to develop the illness, studies show, and the residents of Mahul live a few hundred metres down the road from one.
Nearly 59,000 Iranians die prematurely due to air pollution in year to March, according to officials. Tehran, Iran Iranians in the capital and many other cities across the country are breathing in toxic fumes as authorities resort to burning dirty fuel to produce electricity and cope with multiple ongoing crises. At 14 power plants, authorities for years have burned mazut, a dark residue of petroleum high in sulphur and other impurities, whenever they run out of natural gas to feed the electricity generators.
Or at least that's what's supposed to happen, as the end result is not really what was suggested in the early concept image sent to other publications. The impression would be of a simmering, partially translucent screen that would be lit from behind. To show off the church through a veil. In fact, it's a painted fabric hung over scaffolding and lit from the outside by a handful of spotlights at the bottom.
The comprehensive analysis, published in the prestigious journal Lancet Neurology and led by Dr. Ray Dorsey of the University of Rochester Medical Center, demands a radical shift in focus from searching for a cure to eliminating the primary causes: pesticides, industrial solvents and air pollution. This groundbreaking work asserts that because these pollutants are introduced by humans, they can be controlled, potentially sparing millions from a debilitating fate.
