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I like it when things are simple. Also, 7 other things.

Sometimes, things are simple. I like simple.

So this is a story about a simple solution to an obvious problem. It comes from researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who wanted to find out if there's a connection between air quality in offices and the cognitive function of the people who work there.

Short answer? Yes.

Not only is there such a connection, but there are some easy ways to improve air quality and, as a result, measurably improve the focus and response times that people demonstrate at work.

Lead author Jose Guillermo Cedeno Laurent and colleagues say they recruited 302 office workers between ages 18 and 65 for their experiment, who lived and worked in six countries including the United States.

They outfitted the subjects with sensors to record the temperature and humidity in their offices, along with the amount of carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter in the air.

Then they followed them for a full year, from 2019 until just before the pandemic in M…