ABOVE: Researchers are investigating the effects of pollution in cities such as Barcelona (pictured) on the health of pregnant people and their children.
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For two days in June 2020 and another two days that October, environmental epidemiologist Ioar Rivas wore a special backpack whenever she left her home. As she rode her motorbike to the lab, or picked out fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, an air pump on one shoulder strap hummed quietly, while a tube on the other passively sampled the environment. “People look at you like you are carrying something weird [that is] making some noises,” she recalls of the experience. “They don’t understand what is going on.”
Rivas was (and still is) taking part in a research study aiming to measure how much air pollution pregnant people are exposed to, and to identify associations between those pollutant levels and the neurodevelopmental outcomes of ...
