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42Air pollution impacts human health and costs lives. Scientists have been trying to solve this grave challenge, but before they can do this, they must fully understand how different pollutants behave. An air research team from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, including Prof. Tao WANG, Ir Prof. Hai GUO, Prof. Shun-cheng LEE, Ir Prof. Xiangdong LI and Dr Nathanael Ling JIN, have developed advanced mathematical models, leveraged nanotechnologies, and conducted large-scale studies seeking to understand how different chemicals contribute to the formation of major air pollutants. This knowledge will help improve urban air quality by providing a scientific and technical foundation for the formulation of air-pollution control policies.The good, the bad and the uglyIn 1985, scientists discovered a hole in the earth%u2019s ozone layer over Antarctica. By the 1990s, this expanding hole had become a pressing environmental issue. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) %u2013 synthetic compounds then commonly used as refrigerants and coolants in refrigerators and air conditioners %u2013 were found to be the culprits. CFCs were leaking into the atmosphere, where they were broken down by strong ultraviolet rays, releasing chlorine atoms that reacted with ozone. This ozone in the upper atmosphere, far from the earth%u2019s surface, is known as %u2018good ozone%u2019 because it absorbs almost all the TAKE A DEEP BREATH