How Does Indoor Air Pollution Stack Up?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

I'm interested in what the scale of the problem is between indoor and outdoor pollution I suppose. If we look at a global scale, the World Health Organization, broadly speaking, it contributes roughly the same number of deaths to insiders as outside. It's sort of three and a bit million to each of those. And so it potentially plays a role in millions of deaths but despite that scientists maybe know very little about it. Why is that? Well we're a long way behind in developing the science and the evidence base to help us take action.

0:46 The mysterious ring in the distant Solar System

Quaoar is a small, rocky object that lies beyond Neptune’s orbit. In an unexpected discovery, researchers have shown that this object has its own orbiting ring, similar to those seen encircling planets like Saturn. However, Quaoar’s ring shouldn’t exist, as it is at a distance far outside the theoretical limit at which rings are thought to be stable, and researchers are trying to figure out why.

Research article: Morgado et al.

News and Views: A planetary ring in a surprising place

07:01 Research Highlights

A repurposed skin-disease drug suppresses alcohol consumption in people with alcohol-use disorder, and how volcanic eruptions may have contributed to social unrest in ancient Egypt.

Research Highlight: Pill for a skin disease also curbs excessive drinking

Research Highlight: Volcanic quartet linked to bad times in ancient Egypt

09:26 Air pollution

Exposure to polluted air has been linked to millions of deaths each year. But while much is known about the sources and impacts of outdoor air pollution, significantly less is understood about the pollution that people are exposed to indoors, despite it causing a significant health burden. In a Comment article for Nature, a group of researchers argue for more research in order to inform future public health initiatives.

Comment: Hidden harms of indoor air pollution — five steps to expose them