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Installing air filters in classrooms has large educational benefits?
- montecarl 7y agoIs there any known mechanism through which air quality affects cognitive performance? The article does not suggest or refer to any research on the subject.
- toomuchtodo 7y agohttps://www.npr.org/2018/08/27/642321572/scientists-link-air-pollution-exposure-to-cognitive-decline https://www.npr.org/2018/08/27/642321572/scientists-link-air...
- montecarl 7y agoThe referenced article there explicitly does not give a mechanism: Changes in the brain chemistry or composition are likely more plausible channels between air pollution and cognition. It is beyond the scope of this paper to test the exact mechanism, so we leave it as agenda for future research.
- voxic11 7y agoArticle says > It's not clear precisely how pollution impacts cognitive decline, though Chen suggests that pollution may have a negative effect on the brain's white matter, which could vary between men and women. As NPR has reported, "the brain's white matter coordinates communication among brain regions." > James Hendrix, the director of Global Science Initiatives at the Alzheimer's Association, was skeptical of the claim that pollution impacts white matter. "I think that's speculation. I think we don't have a direct cause and effect that can be proven," he said.
- pbhjpbhj 7y agoRe the second quote, what about lead levels (in air or water pollution), I thought they'd been linked pretty effectively with cognition issues.
- voxic11 7y agoBut there are many different ways cognition can be effected, white matter isn't the only brain matter. Also this study wasn't specifically about lead.
- MS90 7y agohttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6138768/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6138768/ https://www.pnas.org/content/115/37/9193 https://www.pnas.org/content/115/37/9193 https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/smog https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/smog
- voxic11 7y agoYour first link says the mechanism is unknown right in the beginning. Third link doesn't mention mechanisms at all. Only the second link attempts some guesses. But it still concludes that "It is beyond the scope of this paper to test the exact mechanism, so we leave it as agenda for future research."
- tlb 7y agoTypically, knowing the mechanism comes long after solid evidence of the effect. The mechanisms by which cigarettes cause lung cancer are surprisingly complex and weren't fully understood for a long time, but it's obvious that some kind of mechanism is plausible. So usually the bar for taking something seriously is: statistical evidence of a significant harmful effect, and at least one plausible hypothesis for a mechanism. But you don't have to be sure of the mechanism.
- montecarl 7y agoThe apa article seems to have the best info. This is from a study of genetically identical mice: To find out more about the underlying cause of those behavioral changes, Nelson compared the brains of mice that had been exposed to dirty air with brains of mice that hadn't. He found a number of striking differences. For starters, mice exposed to particulate matter had increased levels of cytokines in the brain. (Cytokines are cell-signaling molecules that regulate the body's inflammatory response.) That wasn't entirely surprising, since previous studies investigating the cardiovascular effects of air pollution on mice had found widespread bodily inflammation in mice exposed to the pollution. More surprisingly, Nelson also discovered physical changes to the nerve cells in the mouse hippocampus, a region known to play a role in spatial memory. Exposed mice had fewer spines on the tips of the neurons in this brain region. "Those [spines] form the connections to other cells," Nelson says. "So you have less dendritic complexity, and that's usually correlated with a poorer memory." The changes are alarming and surprising, he says. "I never thought we'd actually see changes in brain structure."
- AngryData 7y agoIncreased CO2 levels in the air will reduce mental performance. I mean it isn't a ton unless you are seriously sealed up, and I don't know about particulates and other pollution. But a poorly ventilated room can have CO2 level rise double that of a well ventilated room and has been measured both in actual rooms and building CO2 levels and with subjects being tested for mental performance under experimental conditions with controlled CO2 levels.
- xylia 7y agoThis book has some good info: Norwegian Secrets for Bringing Natural Air and Light into Your Home and Office to Dramatically Improve Health and Happiness https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062896223/skogluft/ https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062896223/skogluft/
- bobcostas55 7y agoAndrew Gelman: "No, I don’t think that this study offers good evidence that installing air filters in classrooms has surprisingly large educational benefits." https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/01/09/no-i-dont-think-that-this-study-offers-good-evidence-that-installing-air-filters-in-classrooms-has-surprisingly-large-educational-benefits/ https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/01/09/no-i-dont-...
- Luc 7y agoThis is so good! Gelman's comments on the study are a better HN post than this article. This is important stuff - you can already see people researching air filters in other comments, taking the supposed results of this study as settled truth.
- Someone1234 7y agoI'd just like to say, before the mods change the thread link, that the original article is important to understand the context of why air filters were installed. Even if the Vox article is potentially flawed you need to read both to grasp the full picture.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- dang 7y agoA thread on Gelman's article is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22006595 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22006595. Normally we'd merge these submissions but the topics are sufficiently different that I think that might add confusion. I've moved most of the comments from this subthread to that one, though. All: if you want to comment on the Gelman article, please do so in the other thread, where your comment will feel more at home and get more attention.
- derefr 7y agoHalf of the reason I enjoy working from home, is that my office has horrible stagnant air. I think far better anywhere (home, coffee shops, the park) that isn't my office.
- jschwartzi 7y agoI've actually purchased a couple of indoor plants, a snake plant and a peace lily, to help generate oxygen indoors. I noticed the air "tasted" better about a week after I put them in the room. And I also noticed the air in my office feels better than the air in my apartment which has no plants. Whether that's something measurable I don't know, but while having these plants here I feel like I perform better.
- lkbm 7y agohttps://www.gardenmyths.com/houseplants-increase-oxygen-levels/ https://www.gardenmyths.com/houseplants-increase-oxygen-leve... did some looking into this possibility. The TL;DR is that you're not likely to have enough plants to make a significant difference in terms of CO2/oxygen. Doesn't mean there's no positive effect, but it's probably not due to oxygen levels.
- hanniabu 7y ago> Photosynthesis converts CO2 to O2, but plants also respire. During respiration they convert sugar and oxygen into CO2 and water. This is the reverse of photosynthesis, and it happens in all cells, all of the time, day and night. Interesting, I wonder how that'll contribute to the snowball effect of global warming since as it gets hotter I'm sure they'll perspire more.
- vkou 7y agoPlants solve prespiration by bringing water from their roots, up to their leaves. They burn sugars for energy they need to live, not for water they need to stay cool. Sugars are difficult to make, water can just be pulled directly from their environment. So, it won't be a noticeable effect.
- ajra 7y agoAssuming the filters do what the article supposes they do, what would be the cheapest and easiest way to test the air quality in my home and workplace?
- sundvor 7y agoYou could build your own with a Raspberry Pie and an sds011 sensor. Edit: Example @ https://aqicn.org/sensor/sds011/ https://aqicn.org/sensor/sds011/
- ajra 7y agoThanks! I have an unused Pi lying around so it's a great suggestion for me.
- sundvor 7y agoNice! Cheers, I've ordered my own sensor and will be buying my own Pie as well. Will be a fun learning experience for me. I realised I pasted the wrong link above, although still of interest. Anyway, here's a Pie specific article: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/monitor-air-quality-with-a-raspberry-pi/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/monitor-air-quality-with-a-...
- sundvor 7y agoGreat article. It would be interesting if we could monitor productivity in the major Australian CBDs these days. A lot of the big office buildings don't have the capability to filter the unhealthy / toxic bushfire smoke, and the workers get to suffer. And on that, good luck trying to find any purifiers, anywhere in Australian stores.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoFor the yankees, that's Central Business District (CBD), not something marijuana related. I'm in Canada and have had days of smoke from the Fort Mac fires roll through -- it's rough.
- burfog 7y agoAt home it matters too. I recover faster from chest colds when I remember to keep the HEPA filter running. (instead of a simple speed knob, it boots up to a multilingual color display that I can't even dim, and of course the filter defaults to "off") Here is a common air quality problem. Anybody have ideas? My house is in a hot and humid area, so I run the air conditioning most of the year. The duct work appears to be made of bare fiberglass pressed into sheets, with foil on the outside. This is cheap, quiet, and thermally insulating. It does however have a soft highly porous surface that collects black mold. It doesn't appear possible to do anything about the mold. Thanks to the soft porous surface, scrubbing would tear up the ducts and be ineffective. Ideally the ducts would have a polished bare silver surface, sturdy enough to scrub. Well, nobody has that, it would be expensive, and I'd have to rip out the drywall of nearly every room in order to install something like that. What do I do?
- im3w1l 7y agoI don't have any experience in this, but my intuition would be to seal it, mold and bare fibers both.
- proee 7y agoRemove the material with mold from the space. Duct work is a terrible idea in humid climates. It's better to get those individual wall AC units per room. Mold is nasty stuff that will cause long term health problems.
- toomuchtodo 7y ago> It's better to get those individual wall AC units per room. Ductless mini split units.
- t34543 7y agoMini splits still need to be cleaned and evaporator coils collect mold/mildew/contaminates just the same. Regardless of what you have periodic maintenance is what makes a difference.
- specialist 7y ago
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- BurningFrog 7y agoA reminder that while most studies are decent, the ones that go viral with surprising and important results are almost always wrong!
- protomyth 7y agoWhen we ran a daycare we were specifically told NOT to install air filters because there was research that suggested it would cause the children to develop problems and have a reduced resistance. I would guess for older kids it's fine, but you might want to consider that if you have or will have kids when talking about the home, or come up with some mitigation strategies.
- tibbydudeza 7y agoI would install air conditioners in our district schools rather ... dunno how kids can concentrate or function during those balmy summer days.