(POPULARMECHANICS) — Scientists who studied the fog along the coast of California found that it deposits a neurotoxin called monomethyl mercury — at a concentration about 20 times that of rain — as it sweeps across the city.
The scientists said the finding reveals a new pathway to land of a compound that comes largely from burning coal and other fossil fuels.
"On a relative scale, the levels of mercury are quite low and of no health concern," said Peter Weiss-Penzias, a professor at UC Santa Cruz. "But it does bioaccumulate," or build up in organisms.
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