Did lead poisoning contribute to the fall of the Roman Empire? It’s a question historians have long debated, since the Romans sweetened their wine with lead acetate and sipped tap water that flowed ...

Silver fueled the rise of the Roman Empire. But the ancient process of mining and extracting silver was also making the air ...

Exposure to lead from mining probably lowered I.Q. levels in the empire, research has found. It might be the world’s first ...

Scientists are exploring the role of lead pollution in the decline of the Roman Empire, proposing that chronic lead exposure ...

Grass-covered mounds mark the site of the Roman-era lead mine at Charterhouse on Mendip in the United Kingdom (Credit: Andrew Wilson) It’s perhaps historically appropriate that the word “ironic” ...

The Industrial Revolution was undeniably a major turning point in history. Beginning in the late 1700’s, human environmental impacts reached previously impossible new heights. Yet pollution wasn ...

Arctic ice cores uncover how Roman lead pollution led to widespread IQ declines over 2,000 years ago, revealing impacts on ...

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.

"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." ...

The presence of lead in things like gasoline and paint up until the 1970s presented a bevy of problems for Americans, not the ...