No cameras, no microphones
It reads the air in a room, not the people in it. There is nothing to see and nothing to hear.
For grandparents
Your family is preparing for a baby, right down to the air.
Someone close to you shared this page so you can see what they are getting ready for. Here is the short version: what the first 1,000 days means, what ALEX does, and what it does not do.
Nothing is wrong. This is preparation, not a problem.
If someone has sent you this page, it is because they are getting ready carefully, in the same way they will read about car seats, cots and prams. Air is one more thing worth understanding before a baby arrives, and until recently it was almost impossible to see.
Nothing here asks anything of you. If you would like to do something practical, there is a short note about that at the end.
The first 1,000 days, briefly.
It is the window when a child's lungs, brain and immune system develop fastest: roughly from before conception through to their second birthday. Researchers use it because what surrounds a child during those months tends to matter for far longer than it seems at the time.
Preconception
Optimising the home environment. Air quality shapes cellular health before conception even begins.
Pregnancy
What you breathe, your baby breathes. Every VOC spike, every CO₂ rise reaches them too.
Early childhood
A newborn breathes 40 to 60 times per minute. Their lungs are still developing. The nursery must be a sanctuary.
One quiet object, and nine things it measures.
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Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) How stuffy a room has become, long before anyone notices.
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Particulate Matter (PM) Fine dust, far too small to see.
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Air Pressure Changes with the weather, and with how a room is aired.
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Humidity Too dry or too damp are both hard work to breathe.
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Formaldehyde Given off by some new furniture, flooring and paint.
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Temperature Warm enough to settle, cool enough to sleep well.
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Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) Drifts in from traffic, and from cooking on gas.
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Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Everyday fumes from paint, cleaning products and furnishings.
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Carbon Monoxide (CO) The one with no colour and no smell.
ALEX does not clean the air. It says what is in it, so that a small change (opening a window, moving a cot, leaving a freshly painted room a day longer) can be made on purpose rather than guessed at.
Just as important: what it does not do.
No constant alerts
Over the first couple of weeks it learns what normal looks like in that home, then stays quiet unless something is genuinely worth knowing.
Nothing to install
Touch a phone to the top for a quick reading, or open the fuller view in an ordinary web browser. There is nothing to download and nothing to keep updated.
Not a medical device
It does not diagnose anything, and it does not replace a midwife, health visitor or GP. It measures air, and that is all.
Questions people usually ask.
Is there something wrong with their home?
Almost certainly not. Most homes are unremarkable, and that is usually exactly what a reading shows. Knowing it, rather than assuming it, is the point.
Will it make them worry more?
It is built to do the opposite. No daily notifications, no score to chase, no lights blinking in a dark nursery. It speaks up rarely, and only about something that can be acted on.
Do they need a smartphone?
A phone is handy: holding one against the top of ALEX gives an instant reading. The fuller view opens in a normal web browser on any computer or tablet, so no particular phone is required.
Where does the evidence come from?
From published research on air quality in pregnancy and early childhood. Most of that work looks at outdoor air, so we are writing up honestly how it carries across to the air indoors. That summary is being prepared for our Science page.
Is it expensive to run?
It charges like a phone and can be unplugged and carried between rooms. There is nothing else to buy to keep it working.
Can I buy one?
Not yet. ALEX is still in development, there is no price to pay today, and nothing can be ordered. The note below explains how to be told when that changes.
Something else you would like to ask? Write to hello@airplus.uk and a person will reply.
If you would like to be part of it.
ALEX is not on sale yet, so there is nothing to buy today. Two things are useful, if you want them.
We believe every breath matters. Not just the ones you notice, but the thousands you do not, every single day, in the home a child grows up in.
That is the whole idea, and it is why someone in your family thought you might like to know about it.