No simple answers

I believe there’s a basic human drive to answer questions, solve problems, and develop new technologies to make life better.

Sometimes the solutions are what scientists call “elegant.” That’s when a problem lends itself to a simple, straightforward solution.

Unfortunately, life tends to be complicated, and sometimes we fail to predict the full impact of our solutions. Other times, we may find that people come up with workarounds — or sometimes, even improvements — that exacerbate the original problem.

tribute to smog and acid rain and can cause respiratory problems.

Of even more concern is “particulate matter” — especially the very tiny particles that can be breathed deep into our lungs and even enter our bloodstreams, as well as wash into the soil and pollute the water supply.

gases, for example, are converted into safer forms.

Unfortunately, researchers and engineers have more recently become aware of another, possibly even worse, source of dangerous pollutants from our cars: tires and brakes.

It turns out that the wearing down of tires and brake pads over time produces — you guessed it — fine particulate matter!

From The Publisher

By Stuart P. Rosenthal

I learned recently about an example of this that made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

It starts with the fact that our automobiles (until the recent introduction of all-electric vehicles, or EVs) use internal combustion engines that burn gasoline and produce exhaust containing a variety of pollutants.

Among the byproducts of combustion are dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nitrogen oxides that con-