Something in the Air

Inhale. Now exhale. Notice anything different? Our response to the virus is changing the air in unexpected ways. A pandemic-driven pause on travel has produced clear skies and a world-wide air quality experiment. And a new study reveals that hundreds of tons of microplastics are raining down on us each day. 

But we can improve the quality of the breaths we do take; engineers have devised a high-tech mask that may kill coronavirus on contact. Plus, although you do it 25,000 times a day, you may not be breathing properly. Nose-breathing vs mouth breathing: getting the ins-and-outs of respiration.

Guests:

• Janice Brahney - Environmental biogeochemist at Utah State University
• Sally Ng - Atmospheric scientist, chemical engineer at Georgia Tech.
• Chandan Sen - Professor, department of surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine.
• James Nestor - Author of “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art.”

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