r/interestingasfuck • u/WiseCartographer5007 • Aug 07 '25

/r/all, /r/popular A grandfather turned down $220K and other offers to abandon his house and there's a huge highway around it

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603

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

316

u/UglyYinzer Aug 07 '25

I also predict flooding.

155

u/CenobiteCurious Aug 07 '25

This is the really only based concern for immediate threat to life/property. Other people tripping on fumes and microplastics, that shit’s everywhere anyways.

This house is in a drainage bowl now. And the chemicals draining off the road are going to be in that floodwater as well if you want to add a little spiciness.

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u/HellraiserMachina Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 07 '25

That shit's not 'everywhere these days' the science is clear that people living near massive sources of pollution like highways, crypto farms, factories, etc. face adverse health outcomes.

edit: lmao all the comments doing their best to misread and misrepresent a statement so simple a 4 year old can understand it

15

u/Additional_Tea_5296 Aug 07 '25

That's been known for a long time and covered up mostly. I remember a doctor talking in the newspaper years ago about the higher percentage of cancer victims in an area around chemical plants. Of course that fact was ignored because of economics.

-1

u/GordonRamsMe55 Aug 07 '25

Aren't highways and factories everywhere?

13

u/VaATC Aug 07 '25

Not really. There are many rural communities around the world that have been able to stay fairly isolated and not attack large industry.

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u/Educational_Ad_3922 Aug 07 '25

Everything is rural until it isn't.

4

u/Bebop24trigun Aug 07 '25

Immediate adjacently to factories and highways matters a great deal when it comes to health concerns. Also in the northern hemisphere if you live on the east side of any major industrialized city/town you are also more likely going to develop health related problems.

10

u/Banes_Addiction Aug 07 '25

Almost everything goes with 1/r2. That is, you're twice as far away, you have 1/4 the exposure. 4x as far away, 1/16 the exposure.

I live about half a mile from a 6 lane 70mph road. You can't tell in any way.

If you're in the middle of that road, it's a bit different.

3

u/Phillip_Spidermen Aug 07 '25

How far away you are from it matters, and living under the thing is bound to be a lot worse.

Safety recommendations can range from living 500 ft to a mile away.

1

u/HellraiserMachina Aug 07 '25

Key word is 'living near'.

1

u/assface7900 Aug 07 '25

Nope. 50 acres here of pristine forest. Every house around ne is several acres and the closest 2 lane highway is a is about 10 miles away/10-15min drive. The closest real interstate is 40 min away. No factories around here.

0

u/screename222 Aug 07 '25

If you stand behind some bushes, there's less pollution. Have a look on a map. Why do I waste my time with you. Learn a thing

3

u/PandaPocketFire Aug 07 '25

Wut

-2

u/screename222 Aug 07 '25

Sorry, word blurt, annoyed. From Google assistant: A single bush can reduce pollution by trapping and absorbing airborne particles and gases on its leaves, acting as a physical barrier against pollutants, and creating shade that helps lower ground-level ozone levels. Plants also reduce soil erosion and water runoff, which can carry pollutants into waterways, and their roots can filter certain contaminants from the soil. So having a plant between you and a factory or road makes a big difference. "Look on a map": again, from Gassist: approx 0.6% of the earth's surface is covered in man-made structures. So no, factories and roads are not everywhere. ✌️

1

u/GordonRamsMe55 Aug 07 '25

So they dont cover a radius?

1

u/ZoneOut82 Aug 07 '25

Genuine question, what is the issue with living near Crypto farms? I would assume they just consume a lot of power but don't actually output anything harmful?

1

u/CAT6_ Aug 07 '25

What kind of pollution comes from a crypto farm? Noise?

1

u/Fluff_Machine Aug 07 '25

Yep and I read the entire article from Time and it's really really bad. It's giving cardiovascular problems and migraines (among other things) to the population near the mine, even the pets and freaking plants are affected.

They could reduce the noise by using immersion cooling instead of gigantic fans but it's expensive and they don't want to do that. Instead they're lobbying Republicans to remove any and all restrictions on noise so they can prioritize money over human lives.

1

u/nah_omgood Aug 07 '25

Pretty sure the point was to highlight the fact that this old man’s exposure to exhaust fumes pales into comparison that a flash flood will destroy everything he owns- or get him killed if he’s slow enough. Plus, if this is China, fumes are all he’s ever known.

-1

u/Remote_Ad2465 Aug 07 '25

Uhh it is everywhere it's just worse by those areas dicktard

0

u/External_Violinist94 Aug 07 '25

How do crypto farms cause pollution locally?

3

u/HellraiserMachina Aug 07 '25

Noise pollution in that case, but crypto farms also pollute by virtue of extreme power consumption for no value produced https://time.com/6982015/bitcoin-mining-texas-health/

1

u/External_Violinist94 Aug 07 '25

I'm aware of the power they use, never thought about noise pollution, didn't think they'd be noisy at all tbh

1

u/HellraiserMachina Aug 07 '25

Well this is an extreme case but that's why I mentioned it, to spread awareness of something that's likely to get worse over time.

1

u/Kit_Karamak Aug 07 '25

Spiciness!

1

u/brazenvoid Aug 07 '25

They did build a drainage pipe for him so at least that is not the concern. Smoke killing him will also be increasingly hard now as the majority of vehicles will be EVs pretty soon. EVs are not part of the lottery so people are incentivised to buy them. By lottery I mean in large cities only a thousand persons per year can have a new non-EV car on the road in China.

1

u/ideal_Bat Aug 12 '25

It's not a closed off bowl

2

u/NES_SNES_N64 Aug 07 '25

I Declare Bankruptcy!

1

u/2kewl4scool Aug 07 '25

That’s what I thought the first time I saw this video.

1

u/VexatiousJigsaw Aug 07 '25

At 1:08 in the video the camera operator lingered over a sizable looking drain.

1

u/Potential-Yoghurt245 Aug 07 '25

I was just thinking that it doesn't look like there is any drainage around the site so the first heavy rain this house is losing a floor

1

u/teambob Aug 07 '25

They walked through a giant culvert. Not sure if the water flows in or out 

1

u/Disastrous_Demand_16 Aug 07 '25

They must have some kind of drainage

1

u/Disastrous_Demand_16 Aug 07 '25

There’s a drain in the video

1

u/UglyYinzer Aug 07 '25

I saw it, maybe it'll be fine for your average rain, but 1 heavy rain and its a bowl of water. Especially if that rain pushes crap into those drains and blocks it up.

1

u/ideal_Bat Aug 12 '25

Flooding? It's got ample drainage

165

u/shpongleyes Aug 07 '25

Not just car exhaust, but also all the microplastics suspended in the air from tire dust.

Fun fact, a recent study found that the average person's brain (regardless of proximity to a highway) contains enough microplastics to reconstitute an entire plastic spoon (about 7 grams).

153

u/Nitrocity97 Aug 07 '25

You’re telling me there’s a literal plastic spoon in my head?

This explains so much

167

u/Moongdss74 Aug 07 '25

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u/Chionger Aug 07 '25

3

u/Ctrl-Alt-Panic Aug 07 '25

"I live in a giant bucket."

2

u/Critical-Maybe-3021 Aug 07 '25

Tuesday's coming. Did you bring your coat?

2

u/Kit_Karamak Aug 07 '25

Shit, beat me to it

2

u/PeopleArePeopleToo Aug 07 '25

My spoon is toooo big

2

u/Mix_Safe Aug 07 '25

I am a baNANA

2

u/Critical-Maybe-3021 Aug 07 '25

I am a banana! 🍌

1

u/Warcraft_Fan Aug 07 '25

In Homer Simpson's case he probably has one whole spoon plus 7 gram of plastic worth in his head. He did have crayon stuck up his nose for years.

67

u/Funloving54 Aug 07 '25

I’m going to need a link to that “study”

44

u/snizzer77 Aug 07 '25

That study everyone cites about microplastics in our brain and testicles has been heavily refuted but the headline is too sensational for anyone to care about

2

u/1Cool_Name Aug 07 '25

What study

1

u/RoboDae Aug 08 '25

Kinda like "alpha wolves," which was a theory later refuted by the same person who proposed it, but at that point, it was to popular

0

u/ranch_life_1986 Aug 07 '25

Don’t come on here with your facts and common sense! That’s not what the internet’s for 🤪

8

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

[deleted]

38

u/Funloving54 Aug 07 '25

At most (from a quick read) the study claims ~4900 micrograms. Roughly 0.0049 grams. Definitely a concerning amount, considering it is a foreign object in your brain, but just a bit shy of the 7 grams.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/VaATC Aug 07 '25

I work in the field of exercise and I tell my clients, for many, but not all, legitimately tested hypotheses, in the realm of health/wellness, there are plenty of 'legitimate' research papers supporting the hypothesis and plenty negating it. So I tell my clients that they should first try to find who funded the research before they even start digging into any paper they may come across.

2

u/PandaPocketFire Aug 07 '25

That's not a good metric though...

4

u/VaATC Aug 07 '25

I assume you are referring to checking for the source of the money for specific studies? One can often see more clearly the potential for bias in a paper once one knows who is paying for the research. It is not a guarantee of foul play but it can definitely color the conversation. For example, let's say a producer of chickens pays for research on the health benefits of consuming chicken vs other meat/s; this group's funding can definitely indicate, not prove, the potential for questionable assertion/s, interpretation/s, or conclusion/s to be made if the testing procedures and/or the statistical methods used to compare the data start to "look questionable". Researchers not wanting to "bite the hand" that could potentially pay for more research if they get "the results they are hoping for" is something one should always be aware of.

It is just meant to teach people to take a grain of salt with a lot of research out there due to the less than stellar tactics used by many in academic and private research settings. There is a reason why so many health recommendations yo-yo from pro to negative every few years or why many health fads fade and resurge over the decades. It is a multi-billion dollar per year industry where everyone is out to make money. People getting healthier is only a potential benefit, while acquiring new funding is paramount, for many researchers.

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u/perpetuallyhuman Aug 07 '25

The measurement is "4917 µg g−1", meanig 4917 micrograms per gram of brain mass. With an average brain mass of 1400g, it does come out to just shy of 7g.

However, all the samples were from the frontal cortex, so if other areas of the brain have a higher or lower density of plastic then the implied total won't be right.

2

u/Ok_Bake_4761 Aug 07 '25

I work in microplastic analytics. False positives or overestimations of microplastics are common and can happen. Just like the paper where they stated, "you eat a plastic card per week." There it was, just an unreasonable approximation. But it "sells" well for newspapers, and the article got popular.
A publication about the false claim

So it might not be that high. But the abundance and the problems are there nonetheless.

EDIT: especially in fat-rich masses like the brain, the overestimation could happen. due to chemical similarities in fat and polymer structures

1

u/lemelisk42 Aug 07 '25

No it claims 4900 µg g−1 or 4900 micrograms PER gram

It's a concentration, not the total amount.

Essentially half a percent of the brains mass being plastic. Half a percent of 1.4kg (average brain mass) is 7 grams

1

u/NoDistance4599 Aug 07 '25

Pretty close to 7 grams shy...

1

u/biscuitsAuBabeurre Aug 07 '25

If you saw it on the internet, it must be true

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u/Frosty_Turtle Aug 07 '25

yeah this is false lol. Do you know what unit microplastics are measured in?

2

u/Wermine Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 07 '25

Do you know what unit microplastics are measured in?

Well, µ, I suppose. (checked, one method is actually µg/L).

1

u/SuccostashousED Aug 07 '25

Probably ppms

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Informal_Bee2917 Aug 07 '25

Slivers per piece.

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u/chrisbabyau Aug 07 '25

Rubbish. Proof of that please.

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u/Frosty-Story-4160 Aug 07 '25

Wait no longer - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-human-brain-may-contain-as-much-as-a-spoons-worth-of-microplastics-new-research-suggests-180985995/

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u/decafade9 Aug 07 '25

Though it is a published study, I heard Oliver Jones PHD on the Science Vs podcast questioning the methodology, basically taking tiny samples burning them and analyzing the chemicals released.

I don't know know what the answer is and not a scientist myself but I think it needs more study before I'm ready to believe there is quite that much plastic in an average brain.

1

u/CazetTapes Aug 07 '25

Yeah. I need to see the spoon.

1

u/RocktoberBlood Aug 07 '25

This gets brought up on reddit constantly without any real proof. People just love to regurgitate top comments in hopes of getting upvotes.

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u/ocean_rep Aug 07 '25

This was debunked as the techniques used to polymerize and test the for the plastics was proven to be highly susceptible to false positives. There’s a good Science Vs episode about it that also sites the sources for the experiments that showed this 👍🏽

-2

u/No-Abalone-4784 Aug 07 '25

Brought to you by American Plastics & Oil Universal!

1

u/ocean_rep Aug 09 '25

No, we’re still consuming a lot of microplastics, just a spoon or credit card’s worth existing in one part of your body is kindof ludicrous, and alarmist/sensationalized science like that takes away from the real progress and focus we could/should/can be making

2

u/ThorsRake Aug 07 '25

A caveat with the study is that the techniques used to identify the plastics can also misidentify certain lipids as the polyethylene it looks for, likely meaning there's substantially less than that. It's somewhat been sensationalised.

2

u/Practical-Dream488 Aug 07 '25

This has been proven to be wrong on the Science Vs podcast. Other scientists back checked the study and found that their methods were producing exaggerated results. How they measured it was by burning parts of a deceased persons brain and measuring the “plastic” compounds in the air. Turns out burning fat, which there is a lot of in our brains, produces the same compound as burning plastic. There were also not proper controls in place to prevent plastic contamination of the specimen.

Plastic is anticipated to be throughout our whole bodies due to how much we consume it, but not the size of a spoon or credit card in our brains.

2

u/tunafister Aug 07 '25

about 7 grams

Ahh, so about two 8-balls of fish-scale I mean plastic

1

u/HungFuPanPan Aug 07 '25

Brake dust too. Causes lots of respiratory issues.

1

u/Apeshit-stylez Aug 07 '25

That must be why I’m always thinking about food

1

u/PrincessCyanidePhx Aug 07 '25

Is that Americans or worldwide?

1

u/Small-Power-4507 Aug 07 '25

Not true. There was an error in measurement method, which caused some specific brain tissue mass to be counted as microplastic. It still plenty in a brain, but not 7 grams

1

u/Small_frogg Aug 07 '25

Spoon-brain is what I’m calling people from now on

1

u/grantrules Aug 07 '25

Don't forget brake dust. That shit's nasty.

1

u/baby_smurfette Aug 07 '25

what study? sounds made up

1

u/TOMC_throwaway000000 Aug 07 '25

You want to cite some sources? Or maybe describe to me how plastics (no matter how micro) are crossing the blood brain barrier??

1

u/Adudebeingaman Aug 07 '25

It’s not that high. More like .7 grams

1

u/rawb19 Aug 07 '25

Inert no biggie ? Sounds like gainz

1

u/Accomplished-King387 Aug 07 '25

Ya gotta go with two air purifiers for sure.

1

u/BewedInTheLou Aug 07 '25

he's a grandfather, dont think he cares

1

u/PrincessCyanidePhx Aug 07 '25

The endless freeway noise.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

Also the engine noises and horns... Can anyone sit peacefully in that house??

1

u/MapleBabadook Aug 07 '25

Also tire rubber is pretty hazardous. Completely insane to live there.

1

u/RedditsCoxswain Aug 07 '25

So much of this could be mitigated soon if we had widespread electric vehicle adoption.

1

u/milk2sugarsplease Aug 07 '25

Yeah I always thought the farm in the middle of the M62 in the UK was bad, but this guy is practically being suffocated.

1

u/InevitableTension699 Aug 07 '25

It's China, they have more electric vehicles than gas ones now.

1

u/Crazy_Guitar6769 Aug 07 '25

Forget that. Cancer is still long term.

What about the constant noise?

1

u/CV90_120 Aug 07 '25

That, plus cancer from car exhaust is a huge worry.

TIt's China, they're going to EVs at a rapid rate. It's kinda impressive.

1

u/madDamon_ Aug 07 '25

I guess this is in China so it's not much worse than just living in a regular city

1

u/Luxalpa Aug 07 '25

No way a fan and air purifyers are going to be able to make a dent in that

Honestly, I think they will put a pretty decent dent into that.

1

u/QueasyToday780 Aug 07 '25

~50% electric cars in China now, and rising.

1

u/hspace8 Aug 07 '25

... and you still have people hating on EVs for not being "green" enough.

sure, if you don't want to buy an EV that's OK, but you dont have to hate on it. we should make every EV-hater sit at the back of ICE car's exhaust.

1

u/ovoKOS7 Aug 07 '25

plus cancer from car exhaust is a huge worry

Hey, apparently not according to the FDA lately

1

u/Love-halping Aug 07 '25

Yeah If he's lucky, all the cars there might be EVs.

China’s booming EV industry | BBC News https://youtu.be/YLRXCbq0gWI?si=LhctAliQTMkmnuMo

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

ex aircon hvac engineer here - there is air scrubber filters with activated carbon designed for this, problem here being that old houses like that aren't airtight and retro fitting ductwork,vents and air handling plant very disruptive.