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Received yesterday β€” 12 December 2025

Air passengers exposed to extremely high levels of ultrafine particle pollution, study finds

12 December 2025 at 01:00

Levels during boarding and taxiing were far above those defined as high by the World Health Organization

A study has revealed the concentrations of ultrafine particles breathed in by airline passengers.

A team of French researchers, including those from UniversitΓ© Paris CitΓ©, built a pack of instruments that was flown alongside passengers from Paris Charles de Gaulle to European destinations. The machinery was placed on an empty seat in the front rows or in the galley.

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Β© Photograph: Frank Armstrong/Getty Images

Β© Photograph: Frank Armstrong/Getty Images

Β© Photograph: Frank Armstrong/Getty Images

Received before yesterday

Sean Duffy wants β€˜civility’ in air travel … so why is he doing pull-ups at the airport? | Arwa Mahdawi

10 December 2025 at 17:07

Transport infrastructure in the US is a hot mess – and the guy in charge thinks β€˜wellness spaces’ are going to solve the problem

Sean β€œDog” Duffy is a legend in the lumberjack world: a three-time world champion in the 90ft lumberjack speed climb who is renowned for his prowess in mounting and rolling big bits of wood. Not just a lumberjack, Duffy also made waves on late-90s reality TV shows The Real World: Boston and Road Rules: All Stars. And now Duffy is parlaying his experience on Road Rules into his role as US transportation secretary.

Duffy has got a lot on his big lumberjack hands: transport infrastructure in the US is, to use the technical term, a hot mess. More than a third of the country’s bridges need major repair work or replacement. There has been little historical investment in railways and the country lags behind the rest of the industrialized world when it comes to high-speed trains. Meanwhile, there’s a chronic air-traffic-controller shortage, which was exacerbated by the recent government shutdown when a number of controllers, fed up with the dysfunctional system, took early retirement.

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Β© Photograph: Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Β© Photograph: Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Β© Photograph: Heather Diehl/Getty Images

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