This topic emerged through a screening of emerging issues in science, technology and society in the context of the FET CSA OBSERVE.

http://www.horizon-observatory.eu/radar-en/index.php

The big picture

Air pollution is a key topic in current futures debates. Aspects are monitoring and combating air pollution as well as better understanding its evolution and effects.

The following OBSERVE findings relate to clean air:

Research front: Atmospheric aerosol nucleation and growth

The formation and growth of new atmospheric aerosol particles has become an important research area in geosciences in recent years. Source: Thomson Reuters Research Fronts 2014;

Carbon nanofibres made from CO2 in the air

Scientists in the US have found a way to take carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and make carbon nanofibres. The team says it can be "scaled up" and could have an impact on CO2 emissions, but other researchers are unsure. Source: Motherboard/American Chemical Society;

Moss walls for air cleaning

To clean and filter the air from nitric oxide and fine dust within cities, moss walls are tested in Oslo (Norway). The so called “city trees” transform the pollution to biomass. Source: Trends der Zukunft/CITYTREE;

Bio-sensors: Using plants as environmental sensors and connecting them to sensor networks Plants can be used as sensors to monitor environmental parameters, such as temperature, humidity, air quality, etc. In the future, the sensing information of plants may be accessed by a technical device and the signal will be transferred over a wireless network. This way, many new applications become possible as data will be available to monitor any environment of interest. Source: FET Projects;

Particle pollution may be the main cause for brain degenerative diseases

Scientists have collected evidence that particle pollution may be the main cause for brain degenerative diseases. A recent study in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health and Technology estimated that we could avoid two million deaths globally by cleaning up the world's air. Source:Mother Jones;