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No, you do not have to worry about new popcorn ceilings having asbestos. All residential building materials used since the mid-1980s stopped including asbestos, so new popcorn ceilings have no risk of asbestos. You can still create a textured drywall ceiling with a popcorn texture if you like, but new techniques have no risk of adding asbestos. 

If you own a stereo microscope, you should be able to see the fibers. The stereo microscope often can perform magnification up to 50x. But unless you have experience viewing asbestos fibers, you may not know exactly what you are seeing. Some fibers are curly, while others are long and straight. Blue, brown, white, and gray colored fibers are all possible.

When asbestos fibers become airborne, they enter a person's respiratory system. These fibers scar and damage the lungs and often lead to serious cancers like mesothelioma. Like many dangers in the house, asbestos isn’t easy to see when it could be causing serious damage. The amount of time exposed, combined with the person’s tolerance for asbestos inhalation and the amount inhaled, will all contribute to health problems.

No, but it’s common that they do. Gravity furnaces weren’t terribly efficient so wrapping either the ductwork in asbestos, the furnace itself, or both, was something done regularly. This allowed the system to retain more heat. At the time, this greatly enhanced the efficiency of the furnaces but it wasn’t until later that we became aware of just how carcinogenic and dangerous asbestos could be.