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Could microplastics be eroding empathy in human brains?
(sh.itjust.works)
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this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2024
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ShowerThoughts
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Sometimes we have those little epiphanies in the shower.. sometimes they come from other places. This is a home for those epiphanies.
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The impact of micro plastics cannot be studied because there is no control group. Hard to say what microplastics do to the human brain when the researchers might find it hard to form a group without brain plastic
Couldn't you still study populations with more or less plastic, even if "zero plastic" cant be found? Or is the amount of it more or less even across groups?
Throwing in my $0.02, a correlation study is technically an option, where you look at differences as microplastics increase in concentration. But. my instinct is you would see some really unfortunate covariance - that is, another variable that increases (or decreases) at the same time as microplastics and is known to impact your variable of interest, e.g. socioeconomic status.
Would have to use historical samples
The stressors and demands on people a single generation separate are so vastly different that it would not work.
Wouldn't work in a serious scientific study, no. You're absolutely correct. But since we're setting the bar of inquiry at Kennedy levels...?
I'm just trying to put aside my despair for a few minutes.
I am having to admit that human kindness and empathy only extends to one and theirs and to all others only competition and hate, that is the hallmark of humanity. The greatest trick ever performed was convincing anyone that it was ever not thus.