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Air pollution linked to “huge” reduction in intelligence
- asaph 8y agoIn case anyone else wanted to quantify "huge": > “Polluted air can cause everyone to reduce their level of education by one year, which is huge,” Yale School of Public Health's Professor Xi Chen, one of the report's authors, said in an interview published in The Guardian.[0] [0] https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/air-pollution-linked-huge-reduction-intelligence https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/air-pol...
- tw1010 8y agoMy experience with some PhDs would suggest too much schooling might have the opposite effect...
- Bartweiss 8y agoI'm glad Chen attempted to give an intelligible quantity, but I'm not really sure what to make of the metric. "Years of education" don't seem like an intuitive metric for cognitive impairment. Checking the abstract gets us: > Cutting annual mean concentration of particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) in China to the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard (50 μg/m3) would move people from the median to the 63rd percentile (verbal test scores) and the 58th percentile (math test scores), respectively. For reference, another study in China found that top-decile levels of lead poisoning (>10 micrograms per deciliter) cost children about two points of IQ on both math and verbal scales. That's not trivially convertible to percentile performance, and I don't know whether air pollution has long-tail effects anything like the horrible long-tail on lead poisoning. But it does suggest that particulate pollution has effects on the same general scale as childhood lead poisoning, which is pretty striking. Underlying study is here: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/08/21/1809474115 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/08/21/1809474115 Lead study is here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3667072/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3667072/
- r00fus 8y agoI'd say that a "year of education" is a lot more quantifiable to your average person than "2 points of IQ". IQ isn't used for anything meaningful in terms of ability or qualifications, especially since it's age-adjusted and historically has been biased against minorities/foreigners. A year of development however, is a graspable (if shocking) measure of lost opportunity/capability.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y agoI hope it's a year of my art degree. 2nd year didn't teach me a lot.
- aero142 8y agoYes, but I'm confused about the truthfulness of the statement. Is it true that an additional year of education is equivalent to 2 points of IQ?
- jcranmer 8y agoThe original IQ tests were used to gauge what was termed "mental age", what age you were functionally acting at, and was a ratio of your mental age over your chronological age times 100--a ten year old working at an eleven-year old's level had an IQ of 110. That said, modern IQ doesn't use that definition, and all of the material you can easily find on the matter pretends that it does. Instead, IQ is a normalized bell curve, every 15 points is another standard deviation on the bell curve. Given that definition, a year's worth of education is probably guesstimated at roughly one standard deviation of IQ. This comes with the massive caveat that IQ and educational achievement can't be compared in that manner (since one is an absolute scale and the other is definitionally a statistical artifact).
- pavelrub 8y agoI disagree. "A year of education" is mostly about gaining knowledge. It's obvious that air pullution can't possibly make you forget one year of such knowledge, and I have no idea in what other intuitive way this can be interpreted that makes any sense to the average person. If it's meaningfull to someone then it's only because he understood it wrongly.
- Bartweiss 8y agoAnd to quantify pollution: the study looks at reducing 10 micron particulate pollution in China down to the EPA-approved limits, which almost all US cities are already below, and which Chinese cities are often 2-3 times above. I tried to take a serious stab at "what does this mean for air in the US?", and my best conclusion is "probably almost nothing". The full notes are here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18231784 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18231784
- Reason077 8y agoElectrification of surface transport is the most obvious way to improve air quality in dense cities. This needs to be a priority.
- michaelbuckbee 8y agoChina is putting ~10k electric buses a month on the road: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/04/china-is-adding-a-london-sized-electric-bus-fleet-every-five-weeks/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/04/china-is-adding-a-lon...
- baud147258 8y agoAnd they are still using coal to produce electricity.
- radium3d 8y agoThis World Resources Institute graph^1 shows intense growth in solar electricity generation in China so they are at least moving away from fossil fuel electricity generation at a rapid pace and fossil fuel electricity generation is plateauing^0 [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_China#/media/File:Electricity_Production_in_China.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_China#/m... [1] https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/08/distributed-solar-pv-china-growth-and-challenges https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/08/distributed-solar-pv-china-...
- adventured 8y agoChina is in fact not moving away from fossil fuels, they're aggressively expanding their fossil fuel use. They're adding a minority of renewable energy into the mix of their new energy demand, while building a very large number of new coal plants. They're very openly lying about their environmental efforts. They're also aggressively using their state companies to build coal plants external of their borders. This is the same tactic they use on trade. They're hyper protectionist about access to their economy, and then claim they're free traders. "China's leading role in financing a wave of new coal plants across Asia is drawing fresh scrutiny as the world’s top climate scientists weigh calling for much deeper cuts in emissions. China, India, Japan and the Philippines rank among the biggest investors in the 1,380 coal plants under construction or development worldwide, according to a study by the German pressure group Urgewald released Thursday." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-04/china-s-funding-for-coal-draws-scrutiny-as-climate-concern-grows https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-04/china-s-f... "The research, carried out by green campaigners CoalSwarm, suggests that 259 gigawatts of new capacity are under development in China. The authors say this is the same capacity to produce electricity as the entire US coal fleet. The report says that at present China has 993 gigawatts of coal power capacity, but the approved new plants would increase this by 25%." https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45640706 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45640706 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/climate/china-energy-companies-coal-plants-climate-change.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/climate/china-energy-comp... https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/6/6/17427030/coal-plants-map-china-india-us-eu https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/6/6/17427030... https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/china-is-massively-betting-on-coal-outside-its-shores--even-as-investment-falls-globally.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/china-is-massively-betting-o...
- 19h 8y agoThe actual study [1] isn't as much clickbait: > We find that long-term exposure to air pollution impedes cognitive performance in verbal and math tests. > We provide evidence that the effect of air pollution on verbal tests becomes more pronounced as people age, especially for men and the less educated. > The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions. [1] http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/08/21/1809474115 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/08/21/1809474115
- titzer 8y agoThe actual study is linked early in the article here: (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/08/21/1809474115 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/08/21/1809474115) Quoting: > ... Cutting annual mean concentration of particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) in China to the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard (50 μg/m3) would move people from the median to the 63rd percentile (verbal test scores) and the 58th percentile (math test scores), respectively. The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions.
- Proven 8y agoUnpossible. First, it likely depends what kind of pollution Second, this title or the research is likely hyping up the results Can't even be bothered to click on the link...
- peacetreefrog 8y agoI'd be interested in how reading more about how they're controlling for non-air pollution factors, particularly since they say the effects are most pronounced among the non educated.
- peacetreefrog 8y agoFor example: assume in China that people in cities generally have more opportunities to get educated. That'd mean if you live in a city and have not had much education, it might be because you are less intelligent (on average). While if you're in a rural area, a lack of education might not mean anything, because you have less opportunity to get educated in general, regardless of intelligence. If you did a simple regression in this case with years of education and air pollution (more common in cities) in the model, I think you'd find that -- controlling for education -- air pollution would be correlated with a reduction of intelligence, even if the air pollution itself wasn't causal. There are ways of controlling for this, and I'm not at all saying the study didn't take this into account, but it'd be useful to know more. There are a lot of ways (as in any model) the relationship could be correlated without being causal.
- flybrand 8y agoThis is a major issue in many pollution studies. High pollution tends to correlate with low income, low education and less access to healthcare worldwide. One of the biggest sources of indoor air quality (IAQ) pollution is indoor fires - which are rare in many big cities.
- yorwba 8y agoPrevious discussion of the same topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17867085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17867085
- chadlavi 8y agoI think that correlation works in both directions!
- jeffdavis 8y agoWhat's with the use of the word "linked"? Is thay synonymous with "correlated"? I feel like it's just another way to suggest causation without knowing that it is causation.
- wccrawford 8y agoIt's more of a weasel word than correlated is, even. It suggests that there's a meaningful connection but it could just be coincidence, even moreso than correlation.
- singularity2001 8y agocorrelated is well defined. but can be used by weasels, so yes.
- dest 8y agoI think it is misleading to display a picture of chimneys of nuclear power plants, when the only thing they release is clean water droplets: no SO2, NO2 or PM10. edit: Actually, not 100% sure it's a nuclear power plant. Thanks for your comments
- MichaelApproved 8y agoDo you know for sure that it's a nuclear plant in the picture? I'm asking because those iconic cooling towers are also used for coal plants. > The hyperboloid cooling towers are often associated with nuclear power plants,[1] although they are also used in some coal-fired plants and to some extent in some large chemical and other industrial plants. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_tower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_tower Direct link to the picture from the article https://www.unenvironment.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_billboard_image/public/2018-10/2010-10-Air%20pollution-CHINA-USA-CLIMATE.jpg https://www.unenvironment.org/sites/default/files/styles/art... Example cooling towers from a coal-fired power plant https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-eon-scholven-power-station-coal-fired-power-plant-cooling-towers-gelsenkirchen-89211541.html https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-eon-scholven-power-station...
- maccard 8y agoAnd just to show what a nuclear plant can look like, [0] is a few miles away from me, and looks like [1] [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torness_Nuclear_Power_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torness_Nuclear_Power_Station [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torness_Nuclear_Power_Station#/media/File:Torness_Nuclear_Power_Station_-_April_2016.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torness_Nuclear_Power_Station#...
- rcMgD2BwE72F 8y agoIt also looks like https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Torness_Nuclear_Power_Station_Accident_18th_April_2017.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Torness_Nuclear_Powe... :)
- astrodust 8y ago
- sneak 8y agoReminder: part of Google’s new Project Dragonfly is a feature that allows Beijing to lie about air pollution figures in real-time. https://theintercept.com/2018/09/14/google-china-prototype-links-searches-to-phone-numbers/ https://theintercept.com/2018/09/14/google-china-prototype-l...
- vectorEQ 8y agodo something about education and media - that has an actual HUGE impact...
- strittmatter 8y agohttps://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/air-pollution-worst-us-cities-2018/18/ https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/air-pollution-worst-us-citi... It's pretty interesting to see how a lot of these cities place pretty low when it comes to education. https://wallethub.com/edu/most-and-least-educated-cities/6656/ https://wallethub.com/edu/most-and-least-educated-cities/665...
- m23khan 8y agoWith China and India leading the race in terms of producing intelligent people (in terms of quantity), it is rather hard to believe. Nonetheless, air pollution is a serious topic and needs to be dealt with ASAP.
- lostmsu 8y agoWhat? Are you talking about percentages?
- OnlyRepliesToBS 8y agochoosy mothers choose lead
- randyrand 8y agoindustrial places have less of a demand on higher education
- randyrand 8y agoindustrial places have less of a demand for education
- ataturk 8y agoHaving a hard time with this one--so many variables in play. I mean, maybe overpopulation causes a drop in overall intelligence and air pollution is just a symptom of overpopulation?
- baybal2 8y agoBeijing central district anybody?
- ramijames 8y agoWell that explains Los Angeles.
- elektor 8y agoIf you're curious about your own exposure to air pollutants, I'd recommend Plume Labs. They also have a handheld device that I preordered and hope to take around my town to see where the hotspots are. https://air.plumelabs.com/en/ https://air.plumelabs.com/en/
- ct520 8y agochina number 1
- dcx 8y agoI don't think this has been mentioned on this thread yet: If you live in a place where air pollution is a concern, one solution to this issue is to buy a HEPA air filter. These filters are designed to trap a significant quantity of precisely the types of particles that air quality studies examine (2.5-10µm coarse dust particles and <2.5µm fine particles). > "To qualify as HEPA by industry standards, an air filter must remove (from the air that passes through) 99.97% of particles that have a size greater-than-or-equal-to 0.3 µm." [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEPA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEPA
- amluto 8y agoThat’s only helpful while you’re at home. Also, the obsession with HEPA and its 99.7% reduction of the relevant particles seems silly to me. For a filter that recirculates air, the relevant figure of merit is the rate at which dirty air is replaced with clean air, which is roughly the air flow through the filter times the efficiency. So a 90% efficient filter with 50% more airflow is better. For a stand-alone unit, the “clean air delivery rate” is a more sophisticated measurement. You can do very well by upgrading your HVAC filter to MERV 13 or better and running the fan for a few hours a day. But check with an HVAC contractor before you change filter types — it may affect the overall performance of the system. For an outside air intake, the efficiency does matter, and HEPA is a good idea.
- ryeguy_24 8y agoI’ve always beleived that measuring intelligence is extremely ignorant. I find it funny that we try to take the insanely complex, multi-dimensional organ of the brain and try to map it to a one dimensional score (e.g. IQ, verbal, math tests).
- robynsmith 8y agoIs there a way to counteract the effects? Especially if you live in a large city?
- QasimK 8y agoI’m going to hazard a guess and say exercise - yes, even outside in the pollution (though you should probably favour a park over a main road).
- aaron695 8y agoYes. You buy air filters (ie HEPA) and an air quality (ie PM) detection device. Even skipping intelligence, it's important to stop cancer. Start googling. Normally you're talking about reducing PM10 and PM2.5 If you're talking fixing damage once done to the body, currently there's no known way.
- meesterdude 8y agoI know a certain framework creator that will be all over this - and has been vocal on twitter about it. I went looking, this seems like a pretty good air quality monitor: https://www.amazon.com/AirVisual-Quality-Monitor-Accuracy-Particle/dp/B01MF6X1YK https://www.amazon.com/AirVisual-Quality-Monitor-Accuracy-Pa... (~$400) There are cheaper ones too; but do your research, as accuracy (and ideas about what constitutes accurate) can vary from manuf. to manuf. https://medium.com/@dhh/air-quality-matters-but-dont-trust-foobot-on-it-e2df4234a776 https://medium.com/@dhh/air-quality-matters-but-dont-trust-f... also apparently, a box fan + filter ain't so bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5APw_SLUU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5APw_SLUU
- throwawaymanbot 8y agoLead made people more likely to commit crimes, so why wouldnt other pollutants affect us in different ways? And to think the GOP still want to make the air dirtier, and have legislated for it so.
- tzs 8y agoMeanwhile, the EPA is kicking academic scientists off advisory panels in this area, and replacing the panels with a small group consisting entirely of industry scientists and government officials from conservative state and local governments. https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/10/14/epa-scraps-pair-air-pollution-science-panels/?utm_term=.143dd8b161c8 https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/10/14...
- eneveu 8y agoI recently learned that the parisian subway and suburban trains contain a lot of particulate pollution (e.g. PM10), caused by braking (electrical brakes would reduce this) and rail grinding (maintenance done to reduce squealing in curves). The small particulate pollution is actually worse than what you find in traffic jams in the city center... I'm looking into buying an anti-pollution mask. It will probably look weird, since nobody wears masks there... People will probably think I'm sick or something. Maybe I should buy some techwear clothing to complete the "goth-ninja" look, but I'm not sure how that will fly at work. I have an air purifier at home since 3 years (Philips AC4072/11). I think it's a good investment, since I spend around 50% of the time at home. It also seems to have helped with my allergies, but that might be placebo.
- apta 8y agoFor what it's worth, I wear a respirator[1] when I take the subway. Some people may look at you, but I don't really care. That being said, I recall reading an article where they said studied long term subway commuters and did not find health issues due to commuting. Furthermore, you can apparently build an air filter for the fraction of the cost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q45CkwKiOvw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q45CkwKiOvw [1] like the "3M Aura Particulate Respirator". There are also filter with activated charcoal