smog

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Elon Musk's Supercomputer in Memphis Worries Locals

NPR looks at how the energy-hungry plant caught even government officials by surprise

(Newser) - Stored in a building the size of 13 football fields, a supercomputer built to propel Elon Musk's artificial-intelligence enterprise dubbed xAI has flipped the "on" switch in South Memphis, Tennessee. But residents, environmental agencies, and some City Council members say they didn't know it was coming. "...

This Was Beijing on Friday
This Was Beijing on Friday
Mar 10, 2023 11:30 AM CST

This Was Beijing on Friday

Chinese capital all but disappears amid a dust storm and heavy pollution

(Newser) - Skyscrapers in Beijing disappeared into the haze and air quality plummeted as China’s capital was enveloped in a dust storm and heavy pollution on Friday. Concentrations of the tiny PM2.5 particles that can reach deep into the lungs and bloodstream entered a dangerous range on air quality monitoring...

A Funny Thing Happened When LA Reduced Smog
A Funny Thing Happened
When LA Reduced Smog
new study
May 23, 2019 12:28 PM CDT

A Funny Thing Happened When LA Reduced Smog

Children's asthma rates declined by 'substantial' amounts, say researchers

(Newser) - Clean up the smog, reduce kids' asthma cases. It might seem like a logical one-two, but now researchers at USC have put some hard data behind it, reports NPR . In the study published in JAMA , the scientists looked at how asthma rates have changed as air quality has improved in...

Breathing San Fran Air Like Smoking 11 Cigarettes: Researchers

Smog from wildfires has given San Francisco, Stockton, Sacramento worst pollution in the world

(Newser) - The smoke in some parts of California from the wildfires has been "overwhelming," and now the air in some cities there has earned a new descriptor: the world's worst. CNN reports on a sobering chart from the Berkeley Earth nonprofit , which pulls together stats from sites that...

Cheap Chinese Insulation May Answer Ozone Mystery

Banned chemical still in wide use, says new report

(Newser) - Earlier this year, scientists could not figure out why an illegal, ozone-killing chemical had suddenly resurfaced in a big way. Now, a report released Monday by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency has identified the culprit: cheap insulation made in China. The EIA found that lots of Chinese manufacturers are adding...

This Is What the Air in India's Capital Looks Like

Air pollution hit 'severe' level on air quality index in New Delhi

(Newser) - Over the past two years, New Delhi has earned the dubious distinction of being one of the world's most polluted cities, and that reputation doesn't seem to be changing. A thick gray haze enveloped India's capital on Tuesday as air pollution hit hazardous levels, prompting local officials...

A Tower That Fights Smog Is Waging a Battle in China

Smog Free Tower cleans up air within 65 feet of it

(Newser) - With pollution levels in pockets of India and China reaching deadly levels , innovators around the world are designing and engineering ways to fight the war on smog. One device, a 23-foot-tall wind-powered air purifier called the Smog Free Tower, sucks in air from its surroundings and filters out tiny pollution...

China Has Deadliest Air Pollution? Maybe Not
China Has Deadliest
Air Pollution? Maybe Not
NEW STUDY
Feb 14, 2017 4:15 PM CST

China Has Deadliest Air Pollution? Maybe Not

India's air pollution is just as bad: study

(Newser) - China has long been the world's worst when it comes to air pollution, but a new study suggests that India's trouble is now on par with China's and poised to exceed it. The study from the Health Effects Institute and Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation finds...

These New Delhi Selfies Are Raising Eyebrows

Residents are documenting intense smog

(Newser) - It is tough to breathe in New Delhi these days, and people are protesting the dangerous air with what Mashable calls "smog selfies." Residents are posing with landmarks behind them—except that the landmarks are obscured by smog. Another dig: Members of a visiting cricket team whose game...

Smog Is Bad for Your Blood Pressure, Too


 Smog Is Bad for Your 
 Blood Pressure, Too 
NEW STUDY
Jun 1, 2016 9:47 AM CDT

Smog Is Bad for Your Blood Pressure, Too

Stay inside on smoggy days, scientist suggests

(Newser) - You probably don't need another reason to dislike smog, but here goes anyway: It can raise your blood pressure. "We discovered a significant risk of developing high blood pressure due to exposure to air pollution," such as coal burning, vehicle exhaust, and dirt and dust in the...

Italian Town Fights Smog With ... Pizza Ban?

San Vitaliano bans most wood-burning pizzerias

(Newser) - Few things are more Italian than baking pizza in a perfectly smoldering wood-fired stove, so San Vitaliano's move to ban the beloved practice comes as a surprise. The town of 6,000 north of Naples has some of the worst air pollution in Italy— Il Mattino says its air...

Beijing Smog Triggers 2nd Red Alert

Levels will reach 20 times what the WHO considers safe

(Newser) - Beijing issued its second smog red alert of the month on Friday, triggering vehicle restrictions and forcing schools to close. A wave of smog is due to settle over the city of 22.5 million from Saturday to Tuesday. Levels of PM2.5, the smallest and deadliest airborne particles, are...

Beijing Issues First-Ever Red Alert for Smog

Factories, traffic to be restricted; schools may close

(Newser) - Beijing issued its first-ever red alert for smog on Monday, urging schools to close and invoking restrictions on factories and traffic that will keep half of the city's vehicles off the roads. The red alert—the most serious warning on a four-tier system adopted a little over two years...

EPA Changing Emissions Tests So It Can't Be Duped Again

Volkswagen scandal spurs change

(Newser) - The US Environmental Protection Agency said today that it will launch sweeping changes to the way it tests for diesel emissions after getting duped by clandestine software in Volkswagen cars for seven years. In a letter to car manufacturers, the EPA said it will add on-road testing to its regimen,...

Volkswagen Is Cheating on Smog Tests: EPA

482K cars ordered recalled

(Newser) - If you drive a Volkswagen diesel model, your car might be getting recalled—though not for safety reasons. The Obama administration has ordered the carmaker to recall about 482,000 cars because, it claims, Volkswagen put illegal software in those cars designed to get around environmental standards, the New York ...

Paris Bans Half of All Vehicles
 Paris Bans Half of All Vehicles 
Mar 22, 2015 3:55 PM CDT

Paris Bans Half of All Vehicles

Air pollution so bad, it nearly obscured the Eiffel Tower

(Newser) - Think LA smog is bad? Air pollution got so nasty in Paris that authorities are cutting the city's traffic by half and reducing speed limits to roughly 12 miles per hour, Mashable reports. Starting tomorrow, personal vehicles with odd-number and even-number license plates will be banned on alternating days....

China Tries to Ax New Year's Fireworks —Over Smog

Beijing advises against them as several cities ban them outright

(Newser) - Setting off fireworks to celebrate Chinese New Year may be a centuries-old tradition, but the country's authorities are urging people to light fewer of them this week as cities fight a losing battle against relentless, toxic air pollution. Dozens of cites in China have outright banned lighting fireworks today...

To Search for Aliens, Look for ... Air Pollution?

Air pollution could signal intelligent life on other planets: researchers

(Newser) - Astrobiologists look for extraterrestrial life by searching for gases (i.e. methane and oxygen) that suggest the possibility of life, or for radio or laser signals in the hopes of communicating with distant alien life forms. But now a team of astronomers at Harvard is suggesting we also look for...

6M Cars Being Yanked From Road to Ease Pollution

Beijing restarts effort to clean up 'extremely grim' situation

(Newser) - China's government plans to take 6 million older, polluting vehicles off the road this year in an effort to revive stalled progress toward cleaning up smog-choked cities. The plan also calls for filling stations in Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities to switch to selling only the cleanest grades...

Saharan Dust Chokes London
 Saharan Dust Chokes London 
Apr 2, 2014 9:07 AM CDT

Saharan Dust Chokes London

Of course, industrial pollution is also to blame

(Newser) - London is exceptionally smoggy right now, and at least some of the air pollution can be blamed on dust that traveled all the way from the Sahara. "We usually see this happen several times a year when big dust storms in the Sahara coincide with southerly winds to bring...

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