National Geographic: The state-run air quality monitoring station in Beijing isn't new. It has been operating since 1974. But last year for the first time, it began to make public hourly pollution data across the 6,500 square miles of China that the station covers, readings that often have spelled bad news for the 25 million people in and around the capital. China began releasing data from other cities earlier this year.
Beijing's air quality monitoring station was the first stop Monday for Gina McCarthy, the top...