This Is Your Brain on Pollution (Update)

As the Trump administration rolls back environmental regulations, we revisit a 2022 episode that explored the hidden cost of an invisible threat: air pollution.

SOURCES: •

Angela Duckworth • , psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Greenstone • , economist at the University of Chicago, director of the Energy Policy Institute, co-director of the Climate Impact Lab.

Stephan Heblich • , economist at the University of Toronto.

Andrea La Nauze • , economist at Deakin University.

Steve Levitt • , professor emeritus of economics at the University of Chicago.

Edson Severnini • , economist at Boston College.

RESOURCES: •

• " Most Polluted Cities • ," (American Lung Association, • 2026).

• " Air Pollution and Adult Cognition: Evidence from Brain Training • ," by Andrea La Nauze and Edson Severnini (Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, • 2025).

• " Air Pollution and Student Performance in the U.S. • ," by Michael Gilraine and Angela Zheng ( NBER Working Papers, • 2022).

• " Billions of people still breathe unhealthy air: new WHO data • ," (World Health Organization, • 2022).

• " Evolution of the Clean Air Act • ," by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2020).

• " The Death of U.K. Coal in Five Charts • ," by Hannah Ritchie ( Our World in Data, • 2019).

• " The Colour of Pollution • ," ( The Economist, • 2014).

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