How Trees Pollute the Air (and Why Your Coworker's Scientific Citations Don't Mean They're Right)

We finally got around to checking our email and found a surprisingly interesting question from a subscriber: are trees bad?

#trees #isoprene #VOCs #VolatileOrganicCompounds #ozone #LD50 #urbanAirPollution #airPollution

Executive Producer:
Matthew Radcliff

Producers:
Andrew Sobey
Elaine Seward
Darren Weaver

Writers:
George Zaidan

Hosts:
George Zaidan

Scientific Consultants:
Róisín Commane, PhD
Andrew Reinmann, PhD

Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell

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© 2024 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

Sources:

[grahamsell]

I’m just commenting for the algorithm because there’s no way this video should only be getting 300 views per hour

[alvinlim]

Best parts of this video
1) 6:36 your mentor's quote: "in science, we find what we are looking for", but that doesn't tell the whole picture and
2) 6:57 your partner's quote: "I annoy you?" - comedic timing and her tone is on-point.

[Aloddff]

I thought why haven’t I ever heard of this chemical, then I realised I had

The old fashioned term for isoprene, similar molecules and derivatives are Terpenes

[mattburland]

0:09 You might find your electric chainsaw works better if you plug it in.

[xenosai]

This is why it’s so important to make sure to have a wide scope when asking questions. Data collection is great, but what’s the bigger picture?

Science is so cool

[jimthechemist]

I recall Ronald Reagan declaring "trees cause air pollution" in the 1980's.

[nickvorobey]

The video turned out interesting! The only thing I didn't understand was why it wasn't emphasized that isoprene protects us from free radicals, which are much worse than ozone...

[Petch]

Algorithm.... Super good video here, maybe show this one to some people. 😂

[andan]

I must say, such an unbiased and well researched content on youtube is balsam to my brain.

[DeRien]

Enjoying the shorts look. The jump cuts are pretty fun too.

Yet another example of, "the dose makes the poison"

[jeremiahlowe]

The thumbnail worked. I thought it was going to be brain-rot, ended up learning something instead.

[guidogaggl]

This is really at the same time one of the most entertaining and best researched science channel out there. Also super cool edits that make it really easy to stay focused. Wonder why nit more people watch this channel. Keep up the good work. Love from austria

[naukowiec]

Thanks for an interesting video, just to be pedantic, we do need to modify our power generation before electrifying everything.

5:28 "Some of the worst emitters of NO and NO2 are auxiliary power plants"
10:14 "The answer is to reduce Nitrogen Oxide emissions(...) or electrifying everything", see the above

[MrMash-mhdy]

Great work as always. Good to know I'm more carcinogenic than a tree.

[cigie]

The host was great and the transitions were great. 2000 views is criminally low

[felpshehe]

Basically we produce more isoprene than a handful of trees LOL thats funny, i love that

[TheDanEdwards]

1:35 The cladogram put up is a bit odd as the monocots get just one line, it's in italics (and has three asterisks after it), while the dicots and non-flowering plants make up the rest of the list. Just to mention that, as the count of orders (about one-third) stated in the video, as those with black lines, is an undercount, as the monocots have a great many species and in some environments make up much of the plant material around you.

[johnford]

I was expecting a move into photochemical smog, but your presentation stayed more directly on addressing the original questions. Very good. Thank you for sharing.

[wqert]

Cool to see the numbers for this stuff and some of the mechanisms involved

[Meme-wqns]

Well this is a hell of a response for Andrew lol.