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Breathing air pollution could change our brain. A study shows that car fumes can change how parts of our brain connect with other parts. The research is from a university in Canada. It found that car fumes can change our brain's connectivity in two hours. Professor Chris Carlsten was surprised at what he found in his research. He said: "For many decades, scientists thought the brain may be protected from the harmful effects of air pollution." He added: "This study…provides fresh evidence supporting a connection between air pollution and [thinking]."
The pollution study was on 25 adults. Researchers asked adults to breathe car fumes in a laboratory. The team took brain scans of the adults for two hours. The scans showed that networks in the brain that we use for thinking changed. There were fewer connections between the networks. Another professor was worried when she saw how traffic pollution interrupted networks in the brain. She wants more research to see how car fumes change our brain. She said people should close car windows when in traffic. The brains of the 25 people returned to normal after they breathed clean air.
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