The fog along the coast of California is depositing a neurotoxin called monomethyl mercury in San Franciso — at a concentration about 20 times that of rain — thought to come from burning coal and other fossil fuels, according to SFGate.com.

"Understanding the mechanism — a process that reaches into the ocean, pulls out a neurotoxin, then shuttles it ashore in fog — is very important," said Kenneth Coale of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. "This is a completely new pathway."

"We're seeing that there's mercury along the coast at every level in the plants, in the herbivores, in the carnivores," Peter Weiss-Penzias, an atmospheric chemist at UC Santa Cruz, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The Sentinel reports that, "Mercury poisoning can damage the brain and nervous system and impair reproductive functions."