Smoooke on the placentaaaa!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
California’s wildfire seasons keep getting worse. More acres burned. More homes lost. But the invisible threat might be the scariest. Could wildfire smoke reach the womb? And cause… AUTISM?!
Enter Karl O’Sharkey and team from the University of California, Los Angeles. They tracked EIGHT MILLION Californian births over nearly two decades! Using satellites and ground monitors, they measured tiny pollution particles. These can reach the womb during brain development!
Results? Babies exposed to severe wildfire smoke showed FIFTY PERCENT higher autism rates! The link was strongest in clean-air communities during intense wildfire exposure.
Baby, we gotta do something about wildfires… before our kids get SMOKED!
Reference: O’Sharkey, K., et al. (2026). Prenatal exposure to wildfire-related PM2.5 and autism spectrum disorder in children born in California between 2001–2019. Environment International, 110131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2026.110131