Research shows that more and more small pieces of plastic are entering our brains

Human brain samples collected during an autopsy in early 2024 contained more tiny bits of plastic than samples collected eight years earlier, according to a preprint posted online in May. A preprint is a study that has not yet been peer-reviewed and published in a journal.

"The concentrations we saw in the brain tissue of normal individuals, who had an average age of about 45 or 50 years old, were 4,800 micrograms per gram, or 0.5% by weight," said lead researcher Matthew Campen, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

"Compared to autopsy brain ...