OUTLAW PALM OIL

Indonesia’s forest-zone oil palm dilemma needs more than stricter laws, Hasanuddin study finds

Analysis shows that effective restoration must balance forest protection with smallholder livelihoods, land rights, and economic interests

Hasanuddin University

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A policy analysis by researchers from Hasanuddin University along with other institutes in Indonesia finds that neither gradual rehabilitation nor stricter state enforcement fully addresses the challenges created by oil palm cultivation in forest zones, underscoring the need for more integrated forest governance.

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Credit: "Palm oil plantations" by europeanspaceagency via Flickr Image source link: https://openverse.org/image/09da85bc-774d-4d7e-a764-bc20dd0ecaa9

A policy analysis by Hasanuddin University finds that Indonesia's shift from gradual rehabilitation to stricter enforcement has not fully addressed the underlying drivers of oil palm expansion in state forest zones and has created new uncertainties for smallholder farmers. The study argues how sustainable forest restoration can only be achieved when environmental protection is pursued alongside social equity, secure livelihoods, and effective governance. These findings were made available online on June 13, 2026, and was published in Volume 189 of the journal Forest Policy and Economics on August 1, 2026.

To put these findings into context, Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer, with an estimated 3.4 million hectares of oil palm cultivated within state forest zones. As international pressure for sustainable palm oil sourcing increased, the Indonesian government has introduced policies to address oil palm cultivation in these areas.

One such approach was Strategi Jangka Benah (SJB) or “Rehabilitation Period Strategy,” introduced in 2020–2021. Rather than immediately removing oil palm plantations, SJB allowed existing cultivation to continue for a transitional period while farmers gradually transformed monoculture plantations into mixed agroforestry systems. In early 2025, the government shifted toward stricter enforcement with Presidential Regulation No. 5/2025 (Perpres 5/2025), which introduced administrative penalties, potential criminal enforcement against violations, and state reclamation of forest land.

Shining light on these approaches, the research team led by Professor Muhammad Alif K. Sahide at the Forest and Society Research Group (FSRG) of Faculty of Forestry Hasanuddin University, Indonesia, examined how both approaches have struggled to reconcile forest restoration with the economic realities of smallholder farmers. They find that SJB faced implementation challenges because oil palm was deeply embedded in smallholder livelihoods, while the newer enforcement-oriented approach could create further uncertainty over land and livelihoods.

By engaging with stakeholders in Central Kalimantan and West Sulawesi, two regions where SJB was implemented, the researchers found a fundamental disconnect between the policy’s ecological objectives and the economic realities facing smallholders. SJB promoted a gradual shift from monoculture oil palm to agroforestry but offered few economic incentives for farmers to make the transition. With palm oil remaining profitable and alternative livelihoods being limited, replacing productive plantations with slower-growing timber or food crops was economically difficult.

Similarly, Perpres 5/2025 frames forest reclamation primarily through law enforcement and territorial control, while leaving the implications for smallholder livelihoods uncertain. The researchers warn that reclaimed land could potentially become concentrated among state-owned companies or other actors with greater political, bureaucratic, or financial influence, potentially marginalizing smallholders further.

The researchers argue that SJB and Perpres 5/2025 reflect a fragmented approach to forest governance. SJB prioritized gradual rehabilitation and social inclusion, while Perpres 5/2025 places greater emphasis on law enforcement and state control. Neither policy, however, addresses the underlying drivers of forest conversion.

To break this cycle, the researchers call for a more integrated approach that protects forests while also addressing farmer’s livelihoods, land rights, and economic needs. This would include clarifying who has legal rights to the land before imposing penalties, using social forestry programs to give smallholder farmers more secure land rights, involving local communities in forest restoration planning, and ensuring that they share in the benefits of restored land. The researchers also call for better coordination between the agriculture, forestry, and energy ministries so that policies on farming, palm oil, biodiesel, and forest protection work toward the same goals.

Overall, the study suggests that forest restoration cannot be separated from the livelihoods and land rights of the communities that depend on these landscapes. Without addressing land rights and economic needs, new regulations could create uncertainty without resolving the underlying challenges.

As Professor Alif puts it, “The challenge, then, is not merely to design better policies, but to build governance architectures that can navigate the inherent trade-offs between economic, social, and ecological goals in a transparent, accountable, and equitable manner.”

 

Reference
Title of original paper: Policy forum: Between incorporation and reappropriation – The unresolved dilemma of oil palm in Indonesia's forest zones
Journal: Forest Policy and Economics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2026.103835

About Hasanuddin University, Indonesia
Hasanuddin University (Universitas Hasanuddin or Unhas) is one of Indonesia’s largest autonomous universities, located in Makassar. Established on September 10, 1956, and named after Sultan Hasanuddin of the Gowa Kingdom, the university has grown into a major center for higher education with 18 faculties, including medicine, engineering, law, agriculture, and natural sciences. Its origins date back to 1947 with an economics faculty linked to the University of Indonesia. Today, Unhas focuses on advancing science, technology, arts, and culture, with a strong emphasis on the Indonesian Maritime Continent, aiming to develop innovative and globally competitive graduates.
Learn more, here: https://www.unhas.ac.id/about/

About Professor Muhammad Alif K. Sahide from Hasanuddin University, Indonesia  
Muhammad Alif K. Sahide is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Hasanuddin, and leads the Forest and Society Research Group. His research focuses on forest and land-use governance, community forestry, institutions, international environmental regimes, and bureaucratic politics in Indonesia. He actively contributes to forest policy and education across Southeast Asia through the ASEAN Social Forestry Network and national policy committees. Prof. Alif is also a founding and chief editor of Forest and Society and regularly supports research and writing capacity-building initiatives for young researchers and local organizations across Southeast Asia.

Funding information
Hasanuddin University

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Journal

Forest Policy and Economics

DOI

10.1016/j.forpol.2026.103835 

Method of Research

Commentary/editorial

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Policy forum: Between incorporation and reappropriation – The unresolved dilemma of oil palm in Indonesia's forest zones

Article Publication Date

 

A surprising twist in the quantum world

Paul Scherrer Institute

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Table tennis professionals are true masters at redirecting fast-moving projectiles. Putting a targeted spin on a serve can make the little white ball fly straight towards the edge of the table but then, at the last moment, take a sharp curve into the left corner. The physical phenomenon behind this sporting trick is known as the Magnus effect. It acts on balls of all sizes and has helped decide more than a few football matches.

An international research collaboration at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI has now taken the leap from ball to atom, experimentally demonstrating the so-called optical Magnus effect for the first time. In this case, however, there is no atom flying along a curved trajectory. Instead, the researchers direct a tightly focused laser beam at a single ion and observe the resulting interaction.

With this they were able to show that the point of maximum interaction is shifted sideways – an important finding for the development of quantum computers in which laser light is used to precisely control qubits. The researchers report their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters.

When the centre is suddenly off-centre

With a tightly focused laser beam directed at an ion, one would expect the strongest interaction to occur where the laser beam is most intense: at its centre. However, tightly focusing the laser also changes the spatial structure of its electromagnetic field. As a result, the interaction with the ion is strongest not exactly at the centre of the laser beam, but slightly to one side. This sideways shift is the optical counterpart of the Magnus effect seen in the flight of a table tennis ball.

And just as an unexpected deviation in sports can mean losing the ball, in quantum computers it can mean the loss of control. There laser light is used to selectively change the state of qubits. The optical Magnus effect could interfere with this precise control and contribute to errors if it is not taken into account.

At the same time, the effect also presents an opportunity: “The forces it generates could be used to couple qubits to one another, enabling more complex computations,” explains first author Philip Leindecker from the PSI Center for Photon Science and the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich.

A map of laser light

To make the optical Magnus effect visible, the researchers used a single calcium ion as a tiny and extremely sensitive probe. The electrically charged atom is held almost motionless at a fixed position in a so-called ion trap using electromagnetic fields. Such trapped ions are also used in quantum computers, where they can serve as qubits whose quantum states can be precisely manipulated using laser light.

For their experiment, the researchers investigated how strongly the calcium ion interacts with the light from a tightly focused laser at different positions. “Our ion acts like a tiny sensor that we can use to feel out the structure of the laser light,” Leindecker explains. “This makes it possible to measure a shift of just a few hundred nanometres.” The experiment also revealed a surprising characteristic of the effect: the magnitude of the shift depends solely on the wavelength of the light, not on how tightly the laser is focused.

Researchers at the University of Amsterdam had theoretically predicted the optical Magnus effect several years earlier. Now, using the trapped calcium ion, the team has succeeded in observing the effect for the first time and characterising it more precisely.

Text: Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Benjamin A. Senn

 

About PSI

The Paul Scherrer Institute PSI develops, builds and operates large, complex research facilities and makes them available to the national and international research community. The institute's own key research priorities are in the fields of future technologies, energy and climate, health innovation and fundamentals of nature. PSI is committed to the training of future generations. Therefore about one quarter of our staff are post-docs, post-graduates or apprentices. Altogether PSI employs 2300 people, thus being the largest research institute in Switzerland. The annual budget amounts to approximately CHF 450 million. PSI is part of the ETH Domain, with the other members being the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne, as well as Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology), Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) and WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research). 

 

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Journal

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/kj5p-qqs5 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Direct Observation of the Optical Magnus Effect with a Trapped Ion

Article Publication Date

6-Aug-2026

US shoppers urged not to panic buy toilet paper amid Canada tariff row

29.08.2026, dpa

Photo: Daniel Karmann/dpa

A US trade association has urged consumers to exercise restraint when buying toilet paper during the escalating trade dispute with Canada, which threatens to push up prices for this and other household essentials.

"It is important that families and households understand there is no need to panic buy," a spokeswoman for the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), the trade association for US manufacturers of toilet paper and other paper products, recently told dpa.

"US tissue supply chains are designed to be predictable and efficient, and sudden spikes in demand can place unnecessary strain on a system built to reliably meet normal household needs," the spokeswoman added.

Canada has announced retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of products from September 8 in response to US punitive tariffs.

According to the government in Ottawa, as well as affecting kitchenware, packing materials, cosmetics, shampoos and many other items, the tariffs will also apply to 25-50% of toilet roll and paper products used for toilet roll.

World champion consumer of loo roll

The association subsequently stated that the retaliatory tariffs would risk adding uncertainty and cost for manufacturers, workers, customers and communities on both sides of the border.

"At the same time, escalating tariff disputes between the US and Canada will disrupt the cross-border supply chains that help mills and manufacturers invest, compete and deliver essential products people depend on every day."

Currently, a roll of toilet paper costs around $1 in the US, where citizens are considered to be particularly keen users.

According to calculations by the statistics platform Statista in 2018, consumption averaged 141 rolls per person per year - more than in any other country surveyed at the time.

• Canadian government list of affected products
• AF&PA statement

(c) 2026 dpa Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH

Algeria mourns wildfire victims as firefighters battle deadly blazes

Algeria entered a second day of national mourning on Friday as firefighters continued to battle wildfires in the north of the country that have killed at least 12 people and injured dozens.


Issued on: 28/08/2026 - RFI

A man walks along a road bordering a forest scorched by a wildfire in Jijel, northeast Algeria, 27 August, 2026. © AP

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared three days of national mourning on Thursday and cancelled all cultural events and sporting competitions.

“With a heavy heart and a soul in mourning at the tragedy of the loss of our fellow citizens,” Tebboune said in a statement announcing the mourning period.

Five people died in Jijel province, four in Bejaia and three in Tizi Ouzou, Interior Minister Said Sayoud said on Wednesday. Another 54 people were being treated in hospital for burns, including six in a serious condition.

Fires still burning

Algeria’s civil protection service said on Thursday morning that 46 fires were still burning out of 193 recorded over the previous 24 hours.

Videos shared online overnight on Wednesday showed fires engulfing large areas as residents were trapped by the flames. AFP was not immediately able to verify the footage.

Three major roads connecting regions in eastern Algeria were closed because of forest fires near the cities of Bejaia, Jijel and Setif, the gendarmerie said.

Weather conditions were complicating firefighting operations, the interior ministry said.

“Adverse weather conditions, rising temperatures, strong and intense winds, and high concentrations of smoke prevented the continued deployment of aircraft in the fire-fighting operations,” Sayoud said on Thursday.
Extreme heat

Three Algerian cities were at the top of a global list of the highest temperatures, with Bouchegouf reaching 49.8C, the latest data published by international weather portal Eldorado Weather showed.

Forest fires occur regularly in northern Algeria during the summer, but climate change is amplifying their impact by causing increasingly frequent droughts and intense heat.

More than 30 people were killed in July 2023 when fires tore through thousands of hectares of forests and farmland, as well as hundreds of homes, in the area around Bejaia.

Authorities recorded nearly 2,000 fires nationwide in July this year.

Neighbouring Morocco is also living through an intense heatwave, with temperatures reaching 49C.

(with newswires)

Eroding coastlines unearth and destroy slave graves in French Caribbean

Rising seas and coastal erosion are exposing the graves of enslaved people on beaches in the French Caribbean departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe, bringing long-buried remains back into view. Archaeologists say the retreating coastline is revealing new information about people who were enslaved centuries ago, but also destroying sites of historical and cultural importance.


Issued on: 22/08/2026 -  RFI

Archaeologists excavate the Anse-Bellay slave cemetery in Martinique in 2019. Coastal erosion is exposing former slave burial grounds across the French Caribbean while threatening to erase valuable historical evidence. © Thomas Romon / Inrap

In Saint-François, a town on the eastern tip of Guadeloupe, human remains have been appearing for several years on Raisins-Clairs, one of the island's best-known beaches.

The popular tourist destination is also home to a cemetery for enslaved people.

France's National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research, Inrap, identified 48 graves there during excavations in 2013 and 2014. Researchers believe the cemetery may still contain hundreds more, dating from roughly the 17th to the 19th centuries.

But the cemetery was probably much larger in the past before parts of it were lost to the sea.

“On aerial photographs from the 1950s, you can see that the cemetery was in the forest. Now it is disappearing into the sea. We are seeing a very significant retreat,” Jérôme Rouquet, an archaeo-anthropologist at Inrap, told RFI.

“We struggle to estimate how many graves have already been lost.”

Accelerating erosion

As waves eat away at the coastline, long-hidden burial sites are gradually exposed and destroyed.

“The sea creates a small ledge that cuts into the buried graves,” explained Patrice Courtaud, a retired archaeo-anthropologist and scientific adviser to the documentary Buried Memories.

“If erosion comes from the east, the feet are carried away first, then it moves up towards the skull.”

Each grave lost to the sea takes with it evidence that could help researchers better understand the lives of enslaved people and how they were buried.

But the loss is not only archaeological. These sites are also places of remembrance.

“For local communities, this goes beyond archaeology because it touches on the memory of the people buried here,” said Inrap archaeologist Thomas Romon. “There are archaeological concerns, but there are memorial ones too.

In many cases, the same forces now threatening these cemeteries were also responsible for revealing them. Storms and cyclones exposed human remains that had lain hidden for centuries.

Courtaud began working on slave cemeteries in the late 1990s, after Hurricane Luis uncovered bones and possible graves at Anse Sainte-Marguerite, a coastal site near the town of Le Moule in Guadeloupe.

The Anse-Bellay cemetery in Martinique was discovered in 2007 after Hurricane Dean.

Similar discoveries have been made elsewhere in France's overseas territories. On Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, Cyclone Gamède exposed human remains on the coast near the town of Saint-Paul in 2007.

Excavations later linked the remains to a former slave cemetery near Saint-Paul that has also been weakened by waves and storms.

Pressure on these burial grounds is not new, but it is increasing.

“This acceleration of coastal erosion is leading to the irreversible destruction of all these sites,” Rouquet explained.

Rising sea levels and increasingly violent tropical storms are contributing to the erosion, pushing coastlines back at “a frightening speed”.

Data from coastal observatories points in the same direction.

In Guadeloupe, significant stretches of beaches and low-lying sandy coastlines are retreating by several tens of centimetres each year, with some storms causing losses of three to five metres.

Not all of Martinique's coastline is affected, but on 40 percent of monitored beaches the shoreline is retreating by more than 50 centimetres a year.

Loss and discovery

For many years, beaches in the French Antilles were viewed mainly as tourist destinations. Now, archaeological research shows that slave owners also used them as burial grounds.

“Beaches were land that could not be farmed. That is why some enslaved people were buried there,” Courtaud said.

“There was no historical evidence showing that enslaved people were buried on beaches. Archaeology following marine erosion is what allowed us to establish that.”

Despite saltwater, wave action and disturbance from living organisms, many graves continue to provide valuable information.

“We found coffin remains. The wood and the nails were preserved on graves that may be between 250 and 300 years old,” Rouquet said.

The human remains were also relatively well preserved, allowing researchers to document burial practices and learn more about the individuals themselves.

Genetic and isotopic analyses currently under way could provide further insight into where they came from and the conditions in which they lived on plantations.

Protecting the graves

Several measures are being considered to preserve what remains of these archaeological sites.

Since May, the Saint-François town hall has installed markers to inform visitors and prevent people from walking over graves.

“These markers allow anyone arriving at the site to understand that they are entering a protected archaeological area,” deputy mayor Barbara Camier told Guadeloupe La 1ère, a regional broadcaster.

At the same time, projects such as sea walls are being considered to reduce the impact of the waves.

A different solution has already been implemented at Anse-Bellay in Martinique, put forward by a citizens' group called Kolektif Anse-Bellay.

“These were people who came to observe the excavations, realised the true memorial value of the archaeological remains and demanded that the site be made a sanctuary,” Romon said.

After excavations were completed, the remains were transferred to the group with authorisation from the prefecture, the French state's regional authority, so they could be reburied in a memorial monument in 2023.

The site now serves as a place of remembrance for enslaved people whose traces had been deliberately erased by colonists.

Saint-François is only one example of a much wider challenge facing archaeologists in Guadeloupe.

Speaking at a conference in 2024, Jean-François Modat, the regional curator of archaeology, warned that 160 archaeological sites across the territory are under threat.

“About 15 of them are already disappearing into the sea,” he said. Some may be protected through local initiatives, but not all of them.

“We know we will not be able to protect everything and that we will have to choose what we save, what we study and what we allow to disappear.”

This story has been adapted from the original version in French by Yann Le Ny.

INTERVIEW

Climate change is ‘very visible from space’, France's Sophie Adenot tells RFI

In an exclusive interview with RFI and sister TV channel France 24 from the International Space Station, French astronaut Sophie Adenot described the signs of climate change she can see from orbit and how she overcame major technical problems during her second spacewalk earlier this week.

Issued on: 27/08/2026 - RFI

Sophie Adenot answered questions from RFI's Baptiste Coulon and France 24's Sylvain Rousseau from the ISS on 26 August. © RFI

For her second spacewalk, Adenot and her American crew mate Anil Menon installed the new Space to Ground Antenna (SGANT) on Tuesday, in an operation lasting six and a half hours.

This antenna allows the International Space Station (ISS) to communicate with mission control in Houston, Texas.

Nasa has announced a third spacewalk before 1 September, this time involving Adenot and her Swedish-American crew mate Jessica Meir.

Adenot spoke to France 24's Sylvain Rousseau and RFI's Baptiste Coulon, from 400 kilometres above the Earth.


Sylvain Rousseau: You carried out two spacewalks in the past week for maintenance operations. We know that this is very physically demanding. How are you feeling?

Sophie Adenot: Psychologically and mentally, I feel great. It’s mission accomplished. We managed to repair that antenna despite all the issues we ran into with the electrical connectors, the screws, and so on. Honestly, we faced it all – every mechanical glitch imaginable, we had them. And yet, we succeeded in completing the mission. The new antenna is installed.

The teams have already begun the initial tests; we are awaiting the final results soon and hope the testing proves fruitful. But for now, everything seems to be going well. So, psychologically and mentally, it is a major victory.

It wasn't easy, but we succeeded as a team – working with the Houston teams guiding us, the internal Station teams here, and Jack and Jessica, who operated the robotic arm and helped us get ready in the morning and out of our gear in the evening. And, of course, there was the partnership with Anil; we were truly in sync and managed to work in a highly coordinated way to accomplish what we needed to do.

Physically, I’m a bit sore right now – but then again, I think that’s normal the day after a spacewalk. The spacesuit is a beast to tame – it’s huge and heavy, really heavy. Every movement is exhausting, every movement of the arm or hand. Just holding an object takes an incredible amount of energy. So yes, to be honest, I am a little sore, but it’s no big deal, it’ll pass.

French astronaut Sophie Adenot has been using her Instagram account to share her experiences on the ISS. © Instagram / Sophie Adenot / Screen grab by Nina Carel / RFI

French astronaut Adenot takes giant leap with historic spacewalk

Baptiste Coulon: Tell us about the moment the door opened and you took your first steps into space. What does it feel like? Was this consistent with what you had anticipated?

SA: Yes and no. Because, in fact, everyone experiences it in their own way. I had prepared myself precisely by gathering accounts from various people to get a sense of what their experiences were like. As for what happened between the first and second spacewalks – I experienced them a bit differently.

The first extravehicular activity was a moment of intense joy – a real "wow" feeling: "This is it, the airlock is opening, here I am." But at the same time, there was a bit of apprehension because, inevitably, it’s a giant leap into the unknown, so to speak. So it was a mix of joy and a touch of apprehension.

As for the second spacewalk – since it was a continuation of the first, and we’d run into so many technical issues during that initial outing – there was a certain amount of pressure. We really wanted to succeed in installing that new antenna.

Sometimes the mechanical aspects play tricks on you, which creates a certain amount of pressure. To deal with that, I relied on advice from Claudie [Haigneré, France's first female astronaut to go into space]. She sent me an email the day before telling me: "Sophie, have faith – trust the teams, trust everything you’ve learned, trust the procedures, trust the tethers connecting you to the station, and trust the tethers connecting your tools to your suit." So, I really held on to that advice and I sincerely thank her for it.

Sylvain Rousseau: Did you feel any sense of frustration as an astronaut about having finished this mission in two spacewalks instead of just one as was originally planned?

SA: No frustration at all because really, given all the technical glitches we ran into, it’s a miracle we managed to get through it in just two outings. We had every problem imaginable – electrical connectors, bolts, you name it. The teams were prepared; we had about 30 pages listing every possible non-conformance scenario, and we encountered almost all of them. So, ultimately, I think it was a pretty good achievement to pull this off in two outings and end up with equipment that actually works. So, I’m going to stay positive.

Who is Sophie Adenot, the French engineer destined for space?

Baptiste Coulon: We are wrapping up a summer marked by extreme heat and massive wildfires. To what extent can you see the consequences of climate change from where you are?

SA: You can certainly see this climate change, or at least the hot, dry summers – it’s glaringly obvious. What struck me most was the difference in colours. We had left in February, when France was green – or generally green, anyway. But since the summer, everything has been grey and yellow, like a field of harvested wheat. The difference in the colour of France as a whole was really striking. That’s the first thing.

The second thing is that you can see the fires, but what really stands out is the smoke – specifically, the clouds of smoke rising from them. When there’s wind, you can see the long trail of smoke being carried away, that’s quite striking.

Regarding climate change, you can also see lakes drying up – the most glaring example being the Aral Sea, which is visibly shrinking very rapidly. Furthermore, in the areas where the water has receded, you can see the land transforming into forest. That is really interesting to observe.

I also saw something that really struck me the first time I saw it, I hadn't expected to see that from up there: submerged islands where you could see just a thin layer of water covering the atoll. I realised that right underneath there had been an island, probably just a few years ago. So yes, the consequences of climate change are very visible from space.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet describes devastating climate change from space station

Sylvain Rousseau: Has spending time at this vantage point changed your perspective? Do you feel a greater sense of purpose?

SA: Absolutely. It really is a transformative experience, and I hope many people get the chance to live something like it. The way you see Earth changes. I haven't actually returned to Earth yet, so I’ll see when I get back – but it’s clear that the experience has been truly transformational.

I’d really like to share the perspective of what you see from up here and engage with people. And if this can spark dialogue, ideas, or encourage progress in certain areas regarding caring for the Earth, then I consider that to be part of my mission when I return.

Baptiste Coulon: You are expected back on Earth in about a month's time. What conclusions can you draw from your first foray into space?

SA: I think things have gone very well so far. We’ve managed to carry out almost all the scientific experiments we planned. We’ve succeeded in ticking every box regarding the mission objectives. There are still a few left to complete before the return to Earth, plus the spacewalks. [Plus there's] the fact that we’ve managed to share the experience with France and other countries who were interested in listening, but the French people in particular. My experience could potentially inspire others to pursue this path.

 

Scented cleaning products create invisible air pollution

Surface cleaners remove germs and grime, but their fragrances react with indoor ozone to form nanoparticles at levels rivaling that of city traffic

American Chemical Society

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This “tiny house lab,” which sits outside Purdue’s Delon and Elizabeth Hampton Hall of Civil Engineering, allows researchers to study indoor air quality more comprehensively than has been possible in other settings.

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Credit: Purdue University photo/Kelsey Lefever

CHICAGO, Aug. 27, 2026 — What does a clean room smell like? Many people say citrus, pine, or flowers because these fragrances are common in cleaning products. A research team led by Brandon Boor found that scent compounds in cleaning products — conventional and botanical essential oil-based — quickly react in the air, forming nanoparticles that can travel deep into the lungs if inhaled. To reduce exposure to this invisible pollution, the team suggests using unscented products, running exhaust fans, and avoiding ozone-generating devices while cleaning.

The researchers will present their results at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) during the “Healthy Indoor Spaces: Bridging the Microbiome and Chemistry” symposium in McCormick Place. ACS Fall 2026 is being held August 23-27.

“Importantly, cleaning removes viruses and bacteria from surfaces, but it can also generate invisible air pollution. There's no visible dust or smoke in the air, but these particles are forming.” — Brandon Boor

“We showed that indoor ozone reactions with fragrances from cleaning produce nanoparticles that carry a respiratory dose comparable to, or greater than, what you would experience from standing outside along a busy road,” says Boor, an Assistant Professor of Civil and Construction Engineering at Purdue University who studies indoor air quality. “The particles are different in terms of their composition, but the total dose can be higher. You're not seeing smoke, dust, or haze in the air. Instead, you think the air smells great so it must be clean.”

Boor and his colleague Nusrat Jung, a Purdue Assistant Professor of Civil and Construction Engineering, started studying the impact of cleaning products and chemical disinfectants on indoor environments during the COVID-19 pandemic. In that work, they observed that many of these products are heavily scented. “That's often to create a pleasant smellscape in the indoor space,” says Boor. “But clean air should not smell like highly concentrated citrus fruit. It should not really smell of anything.”

Atmospheric chemists previously established that terpenes emitted by plants, such as pinene from pine trees, react with ozone to create airborne nanoparticles. The nanoparticles aggregate and eventually grow large enough to seed clouds. But in forests, terpene levels are relatively low, so particle formation occurs slowly.

Using scented products indoors releases terpenes as the fragrance compounds evaporate from surfaces or spray droplets. Common terpenes in cleaning liquids include pinene, limonene (lemon), thymol (thyme), and linalool (lavender), and at concentrations much higher than are found naturally outdoors. As a result, airborne terpene levels during cleaning can reach tens to hundreds of times those found in a forest, says Boor.

To study what happens in the process of routine cleaning, the researchers tested scented conventional liquid products and botanical-containing disinfectant sprays and wipes in a model house on Purdue’s campus. The tiny house has a working kitchen, wood flooring, and a bathroom. They found that the same chemistry that forms nanoparticles outside occurs inside at faster and at higher concentrations, which has important implications for human health.

Activities such as mopping, spraying countertops, and wiping surfaces with scented products formed billions or trillions of particles, depending on the product used. Most of the particles, called nanoparticles or ultrafine particles, were 1–30 nanometers wide, a size range often missed by at-home air quality monitors. By tracking them, the researchers observed that routine cleaning can generate ultrafine particle pollution at levels above those found outdoors. This poses potential health risks because ultrafine particles are small enough to deposit throughout the airways and deep into the lungs. There, they can contribute to respiratory system irritation and inflammation, or they can potentially enter the bloodstream.

Most surprising to the researchers was how fast the particles formed and grew — it took a matter of minutes. “By the time you finish cleaning up an indoor space, you’ve already formed a lot of nanoparticles and inhaled them,” says Boor.

More recently, Boor and Ernest Blatchley, a Professor at Purdue, found that simultaneously disinfecting air with germicidal far-UV (UV-C) lamps and cleaning surfaces with scented products creates an environment ripe for nanoparticle formation. In fact, the lamps interact with oxygen in the air and generate ozone, raising ozone levels in the tiny home to around 20 to 40 parts per billion, comparable to, though somewhat lower than, levels outdoors at the time of the experiments. The combination of elevated ozone and high terpene concentrations drove even more intense particle formation in the tiny house, raising potential inhalation concerns.

Boor wants these findings to inform consumers’ choices, not alarm them, and provides several steps people can take to reduce their exposure while cleaning:

• Choose low-fragrance or fragrance-free products.
• Avoid applying several scented products in the same cleaning session.
• Run exhaust fans or open windows to ventilate the space.
• Do not simultaneously clean surfaces with scented products while using ozone-generating devices, such as far UV-C lamps.

“Importantly, cleaning removes viruses and bacteria from surfaces, but it can also generate invisible air pollution,” says Boor. “There's no visible dust or smoke in the air, but these particles are forming.”

Boor thanks all the graduate students who have worked with him in the tiny house experiments along with the support of undergraduate students.

The research was funded by a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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The inside of Purdue’s tiny house lab has various sensors and equipment to accurately and precisely measure air pollutant emissions from common household activities in real time.

Credit

Purdue University photo/Kelsey Lefever

 

Cleaning the countertop inside a tiny house lab revealed that scented products produced high amounts of airborne nanoparticles within a few minutes.

Credit

Brian Magnuson

Title
Indoor atmospheric nanoparticle formation from scented cleaning products

Abstract
Scented volatile chemical products, including surface cleaning agents and botanical disinfectants, are widely used indoors and represent a major source of reactive organic emissions. These products are routinely applied in homes and workplaces for surface cleaning and disinfection to reduce the presence of viruses and bacteria. However, their role in driving indoor atmospheric chemistry and nanoparticle formation remains poorly constrained. This presentation investigates the impact of scented cleaning product use on airborne nanoparticle nucleation, growth, and human exposure to secondary pollutants in indoor environments. Field and laboratory experiments were conducted in controlled residential and office settings using real-time, high-resolution measurements of volatile organic compounds and nanoparticle size distributions extending to the nanocluster aerosol (1–3 nm) regime. Surface cleaning and disinfection activities produced rapid increases in terpene and terpenoid mixing ratios (10–1,000 ppb), often exceeding levels observed in outdoor forested environments. These compounds reacted with indoor oxidants, particularly ozone, to initiate intense nanoparticle nucleation and growth events. Observed nucleation rates (~105 cm-3 s-1) and condensational growth rates (up to 300 nm h-1) exceeded typical outdoor values by orders of magnitude, resulting in transient indoor nanoparticle number concentrations of 105–108 cm-3. Rapid nanoparticle growth enabled survival to sizes that efficiently deposit throughout the human respiratory system, yielding inhalation dose rates comparable to or exceeding those from primary combustion sources such as traffic emissions. Both conventional and botanical cleaning products generated complex multiphase exposure scenarios involving reactive gases and secondary organic aerosol. These findings identify indoor surface cleaning and disinfection as key drivers of indoor atmospheric nanoparticle formation and highlight the need for improved building ventilation, air cleaning, and product formulation to mitigate exposure to secondary pollutants.