<story><title>Scientist says cleaning indoor air could make us healthier and smarter</title><url>https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/08/scientist-says-cleaning-indoor-air-could-make-us-healthier-and-smarter</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>raxxorrax</author><text>I think air quality is often neglected severely. Best personal solution would probably to move to the countryside.&lt;p&gt;I have no sources at hand, but some said that electric cars don&amp;#x27;t solve the worst pollution because tire wear and breaks causes the worst problems.&lt;p&gt;You find many articles that state it is 1000 times worse, but they aren&amp;#x27;t too credible in my opinion. Still, the pollution is real.&lt;p&gt;Dust can also come from pollen. Aside from allergies, it is probably not as unhealthy as plastic.</text></item><item><author>cenophor</author><text>This reeks like a con-artists rephrasing perfectly normal and mundane observations into scary-sounding situations so that people would buy the air-filter companies that are funding your research.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m all for cleaner air and I don&amp;#x27;t doubt that the &lt;i&gt;already well-established&lt;/i&gt; negative effects of high CO2 or VOC concentrations on us, but can we at least keep any discussion to non-anecdotal, strong scientific evidence? None the articles linked both here show any rigorous statistics that pinpoint cause and effects, it&amp;#x27;s all handwavy conjectures with &amp;quot;common sense&amp;quot; evidence and statistical dressing to show correlation. Correlation doesn&amp;#x27;t even necessarily mean causality. Some of the articles even have *may&amp;quot; in the title, you can be the judge.&lt;p&gt;Probably an unpopular opinion given the large amount of anecdotal science already posted.&lt;p&gt;Dust on carpet is bad and particularly if you don&amp;#x27;t clean it and let stuff grow - we all know that already and we don&amp;#x27;t need a laser pointer to show kids how scary it is. Just because you can see it doesn&amp;#x27;t necessarily mean it&amp;#x27;s worse, and just because you can&amp;#x27;t see it doesn&amp;#x27;t necessarily mean it&amp;#x27;s better.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s just insanity that everyone is suddenly a scientists with a few anecdotes or links to articles that show correlation but not causality.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kieranmaine</author><text>A 2019 UK government report found tyre wear, brake wear and road surface wear to be problematic:&lt;p&gt;From &amp;quot;Report: Non-Exhaust Emissions from Road Traffic&amp;quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;uk-air.defra.gov.uk&amp;#x2F;library&amp;#x2F;reports.php?report_id=992&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;uk-air.defra.gov.uk&amp;#x2F;library&amp;#x2F;reports.php?report_id=99...&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Data  from  the  UK  National  Atmospheric  Emissions  Inventory 
indicate that particles from brake wear, tyre wear and road surface wear currently constitute 
60%  and  73%  (by  mass),  respectively,  of  primary  PM2.5  and  PM10  emissions  from  road 
transport, and will become more dominant in the future. Currently they contribute 7.4% and 
8.5% of all UK primary PM2.5 and PM10 emissions. Therefore to achieve further gains in PM2.5 
and PM10 air quality in relation to road transport sources requires attention to reducing non-
exhaust emissions, not solely a focus on lowering exhaust emissions.&lt;p&gt;The magnitudes of non-exhaust emissions are, however, highly uncertain, particularly when 
compared to data for exhaust emissions.&amp;quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>Scientist says cleaning indoor air could make us healthier and smarter</title><url>https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/08/scientist-says-cleaning-indoor-air-could-make-us-healthier-and-smarter</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>raxxorrax</author><text>I think air quality is often neglected severely. Best personal solution would probably to move to the countryside.&lt;p&gt;I have no sources at hand, but some said that electric cars don&amp;#x27;t solve the worst pollution because tire wear and breaks causes the worst problems.&lt;p&gt;You find many articles that state it is 1000 times worse, but they aren&amp;#x27;t too credible in my opinion. Still, the pollution is real.&lt;p&gt;Dust can also come from pollen. Aside from allergies, it is probably not as unhealthy as plastic.</text></item><item><author>cenophor</author><text>This reeks like a con-artists rephrasing perfectly normal and mundane observations into scary-sounding situations so that people would buy the air-filter companies that are funding your research.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m all for cleaner air and I don&amp;#x27;t doubt that the &lt;i&gt;already well-established&lt;/i&gt; negative effects of high CO2 or VOC concentrations on us, but can we at least keep any discussion to non-anecdotal, strong scientific evidence? None the articles linked both here show any rigorous statistics that pinpoint cause and effects, it&amp;#x27;s all handwavy conjectures with &amp;quot;common sense&amp;quot; evidence and statistical dressing to show correlation. Correlation doesn&amp;#x27;t even necessarily mean causality. Some of the articles even have *may&amp;quot; in the title, you can be the judge.&lt;p&gt;Probably an unpopular opinion given the large amount of anecdotal science already posted.&lt;p&gt;Dust on carpet is bad and particularly if you don&amp;#x27;t clean it and let stuff grow - we all know that already and we don&amp;#x27;t need a laser pointer to show kids how scary it is. Just because you can see it doesn&amp;#x27;t necessarily mean it&amp;#x27;s worse, and just because you can&amp;#x27;t see it doesn&amp;#x27;t necessarily mean it&amp;#x27;s better.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s just insanity that everyone is suddenly a scientists with a few anecdotes or links to articles that show correlation but not causality.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>elric</author><text>Ah yes, the countryside. Not quite sure how we&amp;#x27;re going to be housing 7+billion in the countryside.&lt;p&gt;Doesn&amp;#x27;t seem like a practical solution. Not in the least because moving the countryside will increase car dependence and pollution. But I guess the view might be nicer in the short term.&lt;p&gt;I agree that air quality is probably neglected. Mechanical ventilation (with or without heat&amp;#x2F;enthalpy recovery) with filters seem like a net win in every dwelling. I haven&amp;#x27;t had to open a window since installing mine. Less pollen, way less mosquitos, and constant fresh air. A lot cheaper in the long term than those gimmicky devices which circulate indoor air and filter out a bit. If it&amp;#x27;s in your house, you&amp;#x27;ve already inhaled it.</text></comment>