She remained there for her graduate studies, earning a PhD in environmental geophysics for research on the origins and transformations of magnetic minerals in soils.
[4] After completing her PhD, Maher was made a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Fellow at the Department of Geophysics, University of Edinburgh.
[18] Silver birch trees are covered in tiny hairs, which can trap the particulate matter whilst allowing clean air to circulate.
[23][24][25][26] By studying the nanoparticles using an electron microscope, Maher found they were small and round, some with surface crystallites, indicating that they had been formed at high temperatures, rather than in the brain itself.
[27] The nanoparticles comprise a mix of iron-rich, strongly magnetic particles associated with other metals, including platinum, cobalt, aluminium and titanium.
As the nanoparticles have diameters that are less than 200 nm, they can enter the brain via the lungs and blood circulation, via ingestion and transport through the neuroenteric system, and through the olfactory nerve.