In the new study, mice were exposed to either filtered air or polluted air for six hours a day, five days a week for 10 months -- nearly half the lifespan of the mice.
The polluted air contained fine particulate matter, the kind of pollution created by cars, factories and natural dust. The fine particulates are tiny -- about 2.5 micrometers in diameter, or about 1/30th of the average width of a human hair. These particles can reach deep areas of the lungs and other organs of the body.
The concentration of particulate matter that the mice were exposed to was equivalent to what people may be exposed to in some polluted urban areas, according to the researchers.
After 10 months of exposure to the polluted or filtered air, the researchers performed a variety of behavioral tests on the animals.
In a learning and memory test, mice were placed in the middle of a brightly lit arena and given two minutes to find an escape hole leading to a dark box where they feel more comfortable. They were given five days of training to locate the escape hole, but the mice who breathed the polluted air took longer to learn where the escape hole was located. The mice exposed to polluted air also were less likely to remember where the escape hole was when tested later.
D - we have already had a coupla smog alert days locally.
Once again, it may be that air pollution is not cost effective to tolerate.
A general lowering of mental performance has an economic cost.
I reiterate that pollution - including CO2 - is an URBAN problem, forming a bubble around a city.
