Anecdotal evidence: I grew up in Australia and I had reasonably severe asthma when I was a kid, when I got older I only got wheezy when I got a cold. Moved to the UK for 8 years and immediately started getting regular asthma attacks after moving over and had to go on a preventer. Lived in London for the three quarters and Guildford for the last quarter. Moved home post COVID and a couple months after arriving home my asthma went back to only being an issue when sick. I'm confident it was pollution related.

It's amazing how much it can help when you stop poisoning people.

One day humans will look back on living next to roads with ICE vehicles similar to how we look back on people throwing shit buckets out their front window.

my headache is much better after you stopped hitting me with that hammer.

I really dislike the reaction to research where people say, "of course".

Firstly, unexpected results happen all the time. We don't know until we check!

Secondly, a study like this in particular is important because we didn't know that children's lungs would get better necessarily, or how quickly. It wouldn't have surprised me to find that there was lifelong damage.

Thirdly, research that confirms what we know or expect is very important. Reproduction is at the heart of science! One study means little.

yah, who'd a thunk?

The surprising bit is the speed, not that it happened. Knowing about the speed helps with policy proposals, because you can say "with X reduction, you will see Y improvements"

Scientists say they have been "stunned" by how quickly young children's lungs began to recover and grow after pollution restrictions were brought in where they lived.

but wont someone think of the minor inconvenience to motorists?

Are these petroleum scientists? Last I checked , polution was a leading factor in lung challenges medically, yet we just keep adding cars to the roads....