This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. Los Angeles this month marked an ...

In “Smog and Sunshine,” UCLA’s Ann Carlson tells of the scientists, lawyers, government officials and community members ...

Picture it: July 8, 1943, Los Angeles, California. You go outside and are inundated by a mysterious brown haze in the air that smells gaseous. This is unprecedented, and nobody knows what could be ...

The major breakthrough in understanding L.A.'s deadly smog came from a surprising place. The major breakthrough in understanding L.A.'s deadly smog came from a surprising place. Corporate sponsorship ...

In the smog battle a Los Angeles commuter wears an only slightly satiric gas mask on Oct. 2, 1966. (Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo Collection / Los Angeles Public Library) It’s late July in 1943.

A.J. Haagen-Smit, a Dutch-born chemist at Caltech, shows how smog is produced when hydrocarbons like rubber are oxidized or burned. In this 1950 demonstration the balloon exploded when ozone, an ...

The summer inversion layer means air pollution stays put in Southern California. We look at the history of smog and what it can teach about the future of global warming. Also, California is starting ...

This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. It’s late July in 1943. Over the radio, Bing Crosby is crooning, Bob Hope is joking, and news of the war — against ...