Everyday beach walkers in my condo community scour the incoming tide and wrack line for litter. The amount of debris they pick up can depend on the direction of the current or a recent storm at sea. Tourist season, which runs from January through April in Florida, definitely increases human-made … [continued]
Why is the full lifecycle of plastics — including production — so important? Plastic degrades into microplastics, pieces less than 5 millimeters long. Nanoplastics, which measure less than 1 micrometer, are the smallest of these and the most likely to get into our blood and tissues. World Environment Day, which … [continued]
Researchers in Japan have created paper-based alternatives to single use plastic that will break down fully in the ocean.
Supramolecular chemistry, also known as “chemistry beyond the molecule,” focuses on the study of molecular recognition and high-order assemblies formed by noncovalent interactions. It’s in the news lately due to a study that focuses on solving the problem of plastic degradation into microplastics. Supramolecular plastics — polymers with structures held … [continued]
What’s this? Microplastics entering human brains? Yup. The results of a new study published in Nature Medicine point out that tiny fragments of plastic are passing the blood-brain barrier and entering into human brains. Moreover, the amount of microplastics in the brain appears to be increasing over time. “There are … [continued]
The newest Taylor Sheridan series is The Landman. Billy Bob Thornton plays a field executive for a mid-sized oil company in West Texas. Protagonist Tommy describes the oil industry as a complicated, problematic, filthy, dangerous, and necessary business that feeds most of our lifestyles. He lectures about how much we … [continued]
California has passed a new amendment that adds to its original plastic bag ban. The state banned single-use plastic bags beginning in 2016 but allowed thicker “reusable” plastic bags to be sold for a 10 cent fee. Officials there thought that the original legislative design, with a few caveats, would … [continued]
It’s very nice that the Biden-Harris administration has decided that the US federal government will phase out purchases of single-use plastics. After all, the feds purchase more consumer goods than any other buyers in the world, and plastics seem to be in most consumer goods today. But will the feds … [continued]
The average human inhales a credit-card-sized amount of plastic every week, according to new research. New research proves the plastic we breathe in, stays in.
An expert in biogeochemistry explains that tiny plastics are showing up in crops and can be uptaken by plants into their tissues. What’s the next stop? Human digestive systems.
