What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

The EPFL team's findings have been published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

It all began when Dusan Licina, a tenure-track assistant professor at EPFL, and his group drew up an apparently unremarkable shopping list: roll-on deodorant, spray deodorant, hand lotion, perfume and dry shampoo hair spray—all produced by leading brands and available in major stores across Europe and elsewhere.

Licina leads EPFL's Human-Oriented Built Environment Lab (HOBEL) at the Smart Living Lab in Fribourg, home to environmental chambers—unique experimental facilities resembling real indoor spaces that enable precise control and monitoring of indoor air quality.

The research project, led by Licina's former postdoc Tianren Wu, worked in association with researchers from Germany and Sweden to mimic the use of these personal care products in an indoor environment. In one test, the researchers applied the products under typical conditions, while the air quality was carefully monitored. In another test, they did the same thing but also injected ozone, a reactive outdoor gas that occurs in European latitudes during the summer months.

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