Scientists are increasingly looking at air, light and other elements of indoor environmental factors, which they can affect personal health and work performance. The Wall Street Journal reports that specially outfitted building are being turned into laboratories to determine optimum air-ventilation rates, room temperatures, types of sounds and other features, and even whether these should change during the year.

A study published  in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, for example, found that doubling the normal rate of air ventilation in a research building at Syracuse University in New York led to sharply higher scores by employees on a series of cognitive performance tests.

More details here.