Plants May Help Make Your Surroundings Quieter

Trying to sleep on a noisy street amidst blaring car alarms and crunching construction machinery is, in a word, terrible. So is trying to work, relax, or spend time with loved ones — which is why the World Health Organization first declared noise to be a pollutant back in 1972. And beyond banning leaf blowers, some researchers have weighed whether shrubs, trees and other greenery can help muffle the noise.