Air pollution and economic mobility

Air pollution and economic mobility

Author: PNAS November 25, 2024 Duration: 10:36

Air pollution and upward mobility

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, Luca Merlo and Francesca Dominici explore whether childhood exposure to air pollution can impact economic upward mobility as an adult.

In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[01:01] Statistician Luca Merlo talks about the background of the study.
•[02:15] Merlo describes measurement of upward mobility in the study.
•[03:36] Statistician Francesca Dominici explains the results.
•[04:15] Dominici explores the variation in results across US counties.
•[07:08] Merlo talks about the caveats and limitations of the study.
•[08:14] Dominici lists the implications for policymakers.
•[10:20] Conclusion.

About Our Guests:
Luca Merlo
Researcher
European University of Rome

Francesca Dominici
Professor
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2401882121

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Tune into PNAS Science Sessions for a direct line to the people shaping modern science. Produced by PNAS, this podcast offers more than just summaries of published research; it’s where you hear the candid, often personal stories behind the headlines. Each episode features concise conversations with the researchers themselves-from emerging voices to established Academy members-alongside the policymakers whose decisions are informed by this work. You’ll get a genuine sense of the questions that drive these experts, the unexpected hurdles they face in their labs and field studies, and why their findings matter right now. The scope is deliberately wide, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of science itself, covering discoveries that range from microscopic processes to planetary-scale phenomena. This isn't about dry lectures, but about capturing the human endeavor of investigation. For anyone curious about how science actually unfolds and wants to understand the context of breakthroughs as they happen, this podcast serves as an essential, engaging resource. It connects the dots between a published paper in a prestigious journal and the real-world implications that ripple out from it.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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