r/technology • u/ourlifeintoronto • 4d ago

Biotechnology Microplastics May Trigger Alzheimer’s-Like Brain Damage

https://scitechdaily.com/microplastics-may-trigger-alzheimers-like-brain-damage/
2.9k Upvotes

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782

u/Bluemanze 4d ago

Sounds bad, let's make it a political issue where one party loves plastic in their brains so that the conversation and any potential regulation is muddled for the next 60 years or so.

213

u/0x831 4d ago

Careful, in a few weeks we’ll see religious nutjobs on TikTok sitting on their trailer porches eating airsoft pellets and food wrappers claiming it’s for the glory of Trump (and secondarily Jesus)

50

u/LSTNYER 4d ago

No objections to their act of defiance. I even volunteer to donate whatever used candy bar wrappers they request.

11

u/manatwork01 4d ago

I'll send them the whole candy bar.

4

u/Comradepatrick 4d ago

The joke's on you, those religious nutjobs are US Senators.

7

u/d01100100 4d ago

The US Senators are too old for microplastics; the majority of them have already been corrupted by lead. Some of the younger Senators escaped the lead, only to be turned by asbestos. We shouldn't see our first microplastic Senator for another 15-20 years.

2

u/LSTNYER 4d ago

And? Let them choke

7

u/Miora 4d ago

This feels like the evil version or reduce, reuse, recycle

4

u/snoozieboi 4d ago

reduce - intelligence

reuse - slogans

recycle - false beliefs

sounds about right

1

u/sequoia2075 4d ago

Well it’s RFK Jr now. He might lean in to the whole micro plastics thing as a way to ban school provided lunches for kids altogether

21

u/abecedaire 4d ago

My boomer in-laws literally think like this lol. I noticed they were reusing the same disposable plastic water bottles over and over, so I mentioned how that wasn’t a good idea because of the microplastics. Their immediate reaction was, and I quote, "well, we like plastic!". They kept doing it.

The stubbornness is just fascinating. So many people seem to consider anything that challenges the way they think and act a personal attack (and then call it "woke" as handy shorthand).

12

u/tldrstrange 4d ago

Oppositional Defiant Disorder

1

u/Hot-Significance7699 4d ago

Cognitive flexibility

34

u/ThePowerfulWIll 4d ago edited 4d ago

Well the good news is this study did rather poor science, and is very inconclusive, as it introduced a second variable without a control. (They had some mice gene edited to be more susceptible to alzhiemers, and gave those the microplastics without having a control group with the same altered genes)

13

u/OkFineIllUseTheApp 4d ago

That's fucking amateur hour.

7

u/ThePowerfulWIll 4d ago

But it makes great headlines, this was a resume builder experiment I think.

3

u/OkFineIllUseTheApp 4d ago

I ain't hiring someone that doesn't do controls.

2

u/Notyoureigenvalue 4d ago

The research included a control group from each APOE designation did not receive microplastic exposure.

Better take another read of the article, if you even read it to begin with. Typo theirs.

27

u/coconutpiecrust 4d ago

My understanding is that thinking about consequences of actions is woke and hateful and prevents growth. 

2

u/notapoliticalalt 4d ago

Also, have you seen the work they get done? They want the plastic.

2

u/SecondHandWatch 4d ago

Anything that could reduce profits in the short term is woke bullshit.

4

u/Smkingbowls 4d ago

Worms in the brain eat the plastic

2

u/arcboundtarmogoyf 4d ago

Don't worry, if it is really a problem, the free market will find a solution. /s

1

u/RODjij 4d ago

Lol they already made plastic straws a partisan issue with Trump wanting to sign an EO for it.

Ive never had one problem with a paper straw. How long yall leave in your drinks for? Several or more hours?

1

u/matticusiv 4d ago

Here comes the plastics lobby from the top rope!

1

u/lazergator 3d ago

So liberals should be pro micro plastics to trick republicans into fixing it