I’m guessing he was trying to boil water in a aluminium pan and forgot about it? I’m also guessing said roommate must have left, because a burning non-stick coating would be rather noticeable.
I mean, I did something kinda like that as a kid, I forgot a aluminium bottomed steel pan once and managed to melt the base (thankfully with no non-stick coating fumes).
Really old research found aluminum in the plaques once, it was actually from contamination in the water they used to wash the brains for the staining agent.
There’s no solid evidence either way.
IMO the biggest problems with aluminum is
- a low melting point :)
and
- It’s reactive to high ph, so you have to be careful what you cook in it.
That is an untruth. There has never been medical proof of this. It was a citation that was read out of context of one random study on Alzheimer. And the internet misinformationed it to the max. Have you heard that you should buy Baking Soda without Aluminum in it? Lie! Baking Soda has NEVER had Aluminum in it. But people constantly repeat this ridiculous myth. Just another fact to ponder, In many Asian nations, aluminum sauce pans have been used for decades (Japan is a great example), and the level of Alzheimer’s is no different than the rest of the world.
Aluminum vapours are toxic and deadly. Apparently they used to make tanks with aluminum, but then tankies who survived a direct hit inhaled some containing it and died from that instead.
It’s also an incredibly soft metal that is stupidly easy to make holes in.