Climbers on a new high

The final holds are being installed on what its creators say will be UK’s highest manmade outdoor climbing wall.

Roktface has been built at Brighouse, West Yorkshire, on the side of an old grain silo, with routes up to 118ft high. Microscopic specks of soot from vehicle exhausts can enter the bloodstream through the lungs and sow seeds of disease in arteries, research suggests.

The carbon nanoparticles, a 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, are coated with powerful toxins which increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to scientists. Air pollution is estimated to cause between 29,000 and 52,000 deaths per year in the UK.

The new study, reported in the journal ACS Nano, shows for the first time how the smallest particles pass through the lungs and gather in the most vulnerable areas of blood vessels.

It suggests people who already suffer from artery damage are likely to be hit hardest by inhaled traffic pollution.

The scientists used nonreactive and harmless gold nanoparticles.

A series of trials in which volunteers were asked to inhale the gold dust showed within 24 hours they migrated from the lungs to the bloodstream, and were still detectable three months later.