Using social media to measure air pollution’s psychological toll

People are less happy on days when the air is more polluted, according to an analysis of 210 million posts on the Chinese social media site Sina Weibo. Researchers have suspected air pollution takes a psychological toll generally, and dirty air due to industrialization, coal burning, and motor vehicles has become a drag on well-being for Chinese city dwellers. But these effects are difficult to measure. That’s where Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, comes in. An international team of researchers analyzed posts made between March 1 and November 30, 2014 and geotagged in 144 different Chinese cities. They used specialized…

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