Culture
NASA Satellite Image Shows Beijing Drowning in a Lake of Smog
Air pollution has been particularly bad in China this week, with levels nine times above what the U.S. considers "unsafe."
Even from the remote reaches of space, you can almost feel your bronchial trees heaving and dying when looking at this view of China's enduring air pollution. Taken on Sunday by the Suomi NPP satellite, the image above shows a titanic cloak of smog that has settled over the country, turning streetscapes into ghostly gray-outs of choking particulate matter.
Pollution from cars and coal plants are simply not going anywhere, thanks to windless cold weather that's slammed an atmospheric lid onto eastern China. The result has been escalating levels of teeny particles in the air that can infiltrate human airways and even the blood supply with disastrous results for health.