What is in the Air We Breathe?

New research shows there's an entire invisible ecosystem, and a growing amount of plastic.

Hiya!

So, in Curious Adventure, I told you researchers have now learned how to capture animal DNA in the air around zoos. No doubt it’s super cool, but it’s only one of the research articles I’ve noticed recently about what’s in our air.

Because of the pandemic, I’m paying more attention to what I’m breathing on a daily basis. When I look out my window or walk outside, the air feels and looks clean and clear. But viruses aside, the truth is, there are entire ecosystems within each and every breath... along with a growing amount of plastic. 

Planetary Airflow

A few weeks ago, someone told me that their friend, and the friend’s daughter, went to a restaurant for lunch. Both are fully vaccinated, spent the last two years staying home as much as possible, and they always wear masks when they do go out. But they decided to go to lunch and dine in for the first time since the pandemic hit, naturally removing their masks to do so. A couple of days later, one of them tested positive for Covid, but the other hasn’t. 

This isn’t an unusual story. In fact, similar situations are reported around the world, and there are a couple of reasons it happens. One has to do with individual immunity, but another is because of airflow and ventilation. Basically, air will carry the virus along whichever path it’s traveling, potentially infecting any unfortunate or vulnerable person in its way. 

This may be of new interest to us, given the pandemic, but the director of the Singapore Center for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Stephen C. Schuster, has been curious about the airflow for years. He’s even published two studies — one in 2020 and one in 2022 — about what he’s discovered. 

Invisible Ecosystems Exist All Around Us

For years, scientists have explored micro-ecosystems within the soil, water, and our even own bodies. But only recently have experts like Schuster turned their attention to ecosystems in the air.