— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

Fame and fortune can go to your head. Alcohol and nicotine, too. Now, researchers in the US and China have independently discovered that even microplastics can go to your head – and become lodged in your brain.

Plastic particles made of PE or PVC have no place in the brain, where they can clog blood vessels and cause thrombosis – or, as the Chinese researchers were reportedly able to prove in lab mice, microplastics in the brain can even make you depressed. The good news from the studies: microplastics are not a priori toxic. In other words: stroke, yes; poisoning, no.

Not exactly a comforting thought, but we also call to mind our secondary-school science lessons about the brain’s neuroplasticity – its highly adaptive ability to rewire neural connections in response to stimuli like injuries or environmental changes... So, don’t overthink it: our brains have always been plastic.

— Translated by Andru Shively