"A 2 to 3 points lower IQ doesn't sound like much, but when you apply that to the entire European population, it's quite a lot."

Atmospheric lead pollution likely caused cognitive decline among citizens of the Roman Empire, according to research published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers analyzed ice core records for an approximately thousand-year period corresponding roughly with the period from the Roman Republic through the decline of the empire,

Learn how researchers examined lead levels in ice cores dating back to the Roman Empire, and found concentrations high enough to affect IQs.

A study analyzing Arctic ice cores reveals that lead pollution during the Roman Empire's height contributed to an estimated 2-3 point IQ decline across Europe.

The new research adds context to a long-standing debate about the role lead pollution and poisoning may have played in the collapse of the Roman Empire. Some historians have argued that Roman elites and emperors who purportedly displayed odd,

Industrial pollution has been having a negative impact on human health since the Roman Empire, new research shows.

Researchers examined three ice core records to identify lead pollution levels in the Arctic between 500 BC to 600 AD.

Lead records from Arctic glaciers indicate that people all over Europe would have been affected by pollution from metal smelting during the Roman era

Lead exposure is responsible for a range of human health impacts, with even relatively low levels impacting the cognitive development of children. DRI scientists have previously used atmospheric pollu

The Roman Empire's pervasive influence once reached across land, sea, and even sky. During the golden age of Roman imperialism, air pollution grew so inescapable that researchers now suspect it caused widespread neurological damage over much of Europe,