Researchers examined cognitively normal human brain samples gathered at autopsy in early 2024 and found that tiny plastic shards were higher than just eight years earlier. The cadaver brains contained up to 30 times more microplastics than kidneys and liver, roughly equivalent to the amount found in an entire plastic spoon. “The concentrations we saw in the brain tissue of normal individuals, who had an average age of around 45 or 50 years old, were 4,800 micrograms per gram, or 0.48% by weight,” said co-lead study author Matthew Campen, Regents’ professor