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

The new research adds context to a long-standing debate about the role lead pollution and poisoning may have played in the collapse of the Roman Empire. Some historians have argued that Roman ...

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.

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

Silver fueled the rise of the Roman Empire. But the ancient process of mining and extracting silver was also making the air thick with lead, scientists found.

"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." ...

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

Mining and smelting minerals like iron represented technological highs at the Roman Empire’s peak. But those activities also produced enough lead pollution to impair its citizens’ IQs, according to a ...

It then declined sharply during the 1st century BCE, during the crisis of the Roman Republic, before increasing around 15 BCE following the rise of the Roman Empire. Lead pollution remained high ...

stability and prosperity across the Roman Empire, beginning with the rule of the first emperor Augustus in 27 B.C. and lasting until around A.D. 180. The atmospheric lead pollution levels seen ...

The Romans invented concrete, aqueducts, and the basis of the modern calendar. But their achievements could have been even greater had their brains not been addled by lead poisoning, a study suggests.

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.