
Air pollution can slow down our brains: study
Just two hours of exposure to air pollution may impair human brain function, according to a study. The researchers found that exposure to diesel exhaust for just two hours causes a decrease in the brain's functional connectivity - a measure of how different areas of the brain interact and communicate with each other.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Health, provides the first evidence in humans, from a controlled experiment, of altered brain network connectivity induced.
"For many decades, scientists thought the brain may be protected from the harmful effects of air pollution," said senior study author Chris Carlsten, a professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada.t