Cell 175, 277–291 (2018).

Using data from a wearable device that samples the air, researchers can monitor the organisms and chemicals that an individual equipped with the device is exposed to over the course of weeks or months.

Michael Snyder and colleagues tracked the airborne biological and chemical exposure—the ‘exposome’—of 15 individuals for up to 890 days. The authors find that humans are exposed to thousands of biological species and that the personal exposomes across this set of individuals are highly diverse and are influenced by location and season.

This comprehensive cataloguing of individual environmental exposure to biological and chemical agents opens up a new perspective on the potential impact of the environment on human health.