University of Missouri researchers develop a new tool that puts air quality to the test in daycare centers. Children spend as many as 10 hours per day, five days per week in child-care and preschool centers. Given the significant amount of time spent indoors, researchers at the University of Missouri are working together to determine how harmful volatile organic compounds, which could be released in the air by cleaning products, school supplies, toys and air fresheners, impact children’s health. Until recently, measuring air quality in child-care centers has been difficult and expensive. Now the researchers have created a portable, low-cost measurement tool that can efficiently measure air-quality at child-care centers.