New Atlas

Around The Home Audio available

Ikea is set to release air-purifying curtains

Ben Coxworth February 22, 2019

We all know that houseplants help purify the air inside a home. If you don't have a green thumb, though, you may still be in luck – Ikea has developed curtains that are claimed to clean indoor air, utilizing a process similar to that which occurs in plants.

Ikea's Gunrid curtains will be commercially available in 2020

Science Audio available

Modified ivy uses synthetic rabbit gene to clean the air

Ben Coxworth December 19, 2018

While plants do help clean the air within a home, it is estimated that over 20 per room would be required to make a difference. That likely wouldn't be the case with a new genetically-modified ivy, however, which has proven to be highly effective at removing chloroform and benzene from the air.

The research team, from left to right: Ryan Routsong, Long Zhang and Stuart Strand

Around The Home

Wynd's Halo and Home Purifier get serious about cleaning the air in your home

Rich Haridy December 9, 2018

Two new products from Wynd are suggested to be the ultimate in home air purification – Halo, an app-controlled sensor that can monitor specific pollutants in the air, and the Home Purifier, a massive air cleaner that can quickly clear contaminants from large spaces.

The Halo and Home Purifier can communicate with each other, via an app, and both monitor ...

Environment

Pollution-sucking Smog Free Tower makes its way to Poland

Nick Lavars January 29, 2018

First installed in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and then moving onto Beijing in 2016, the pollution-sucking Smog Free Tower is now headed for a park in Poland. Part of a wider project aimed to highlight the need for cleaner air in urban centers, the tower will be put to work in Kraków.

Billed as the world's first smog vacuum cleaner, Studio Roosegaard's Smog Free Tower was dreamt up ...

Science

Turning pollution into power

Nick Lavars May 10, 2017

Although only at the proof-of-concept stage right now, scientists in Belgium have come up with a way of capturing polluted air and converting it into power in the form of hydrogen gas, a technology that could prove a two-pronged environmental panacea.

The device consists of two chambers separated by membrane and uses chemical reactions to turn volatile ...

Around The Home

Dyson's new bladeless fan keeps air hot, cold and clean

Stu Robarts August 23, 2016

Dyson has rolled its air purification, heating and cooling products into one all-powerful air-manipulator. The Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Link can purify the air in rooms and keep them at a comfortable temperature year round, without the need for separate devices.

The Pure Hot+Cool Link uses Dyson's 360-degree Glass HEPA filter to filter the air

Health & Wellbeing

Wynd takes portable approach to air purification

Nick Lavars June 6, 2016

It is in the more portable air purifying arena that startup Wynd is looking to make an impact, with a personal filter designed to keep you breathing easy when you're on the move.

Wynd is a portable air purifier that is about the size of a regular water bottle

Environment

Air-purifying filter made from peanut shells

Ben Coxworth January 8, 2016

Peanut shells are generally considered to be a worthless agricultural byproduct. That could be about to change, however, as scientists have developed an air-purifying filter that utilizes the shells.

These things may be good for more than just compost

Around The Home

Toaster-sized Evapolar cools, humidifies and purifies the air

Aaron Heinrich October 13, 2015

Most so-called portable air conditioners stretch the definition of "portable," but the Evapolar isn't one of them. In a form factor about the same size and weight as a small toaster, the unit packs an evaporative cooling system to cool, humidify and purify the air.

The Evapolar is an evaporative air conditioner that you can take with you

Good Thinking

Electrolux Design Lab 2015 semi-finalists announced

Colin Jeffrey June 24, 2015

Every year since 2003, the Electrolux Design Lab competition has challenged budding stylists and inventors to produce home appliance concepts that may emerge in the not-too-distant future. The 2015 competition is now down to just 35 semi-finalists.

The theme for the 2015 Electrolux Design Lab competition is "Healthy Happy Kids"