42 Scientific American, May 2020THE ROLE OF
AIR POLLUTION
Ellen Ruppel Shell
is a journalist and
professor of journal-
ism focused on science,
economics and soci-
ety. Her most recent
book is The Job:
Work and Its Future
in a Time of Radical
Change (Crown, 2018).
She wrote “Obesity
on the Brain” in our
October 2019 issue.Airborne particles spewed by car exhausts and other sources
are now strongly linked to Alzheimer’s. Recent research shows
how they can travel from the lungs and nose to the brain
By Ellen Ruppel Shell
THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE
A NEW ERA FOR ALZHEIMER’S