microplastics

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Blame for World's Plastic 'Deluge' Lands Squarely on US

We're the biggest contributor to the waste problem, per new NAS analysis commissioned by Congress

(Newser) - There's a "deluge" of plastic mucking up the Earth's oceans, with the United States serving as the biggest contributor to it. That's according to a new National Academy of Sciences report ordered by Congress that's imploring the US to come up with a plan to...

Garbage Falls in Italy, but There's All That PPE

UN, environmental groups warn of danger to seas from microplastics

(Newser) - Italy produced 10% less garbage during its coronavirus lockdown, but environmentalists warn that increased reliance on disposable masks and packaging is imperiling efforts to curb single-use plastics that end up in oceans and seas. Researchers estimate that during the peak months of Italy's lockdown in March and April, the...

Scientists Learn How &#39;Snot Palaces&#39; Are Made
Scientists Turn Up
Stunning 'Snot Palaces'
new study
Jun 6, 2020 2:30 PM CDT

Scientists Turn Up Stunning 'Snot Palaces'

They do more with 4 inches than you'd expect

(Newser) - Master builders of the sea construct the equivalent of a complex five-story house that protects them from predators and funnels and filters food for them—all from snot coming out of their heads. And when these delicate mucus homes get clogged, the tadpole-looking critters—called giant larvaceans—build a new...

Microplastics Found in One of World's Remotest Places

96 particles found in sample of Antarctic sea ice

(Newser) - Grim news from one of the remotest places on Earth: Microplastics have been found for the first time in a sample of Antarctic sea ice. Researchers say they found 96 tiny plastic particles in an ice-core sample that had been stored in Tasmania since it was taken in 2009, the...

Exhibit on Ocean Pollution Leads to Big Shock for One Woman

German woman spots mixtape she lost 25 years ago—and it still works

(Newser) - If you're in your late 30s or older, you likely remember the unique joy that accompanied creating what we olds call a "mixtape." A German woman is now reliving that elation after she stumbled upon a mixtape she lost 25 years ago while on vacation in Spain....

Study Has Jarring News for Drinkers of Premium Tea
Study Has Jarring News
for Drinkers of Premium Tea
new study
Sep 27, 2019 8:57 AM CDT

Study Has Jarring News for Drinkers of Premium Tea

Those fancy plastic bags deposit billions of microplastics into the cup, say researchers

(Newser) - What do you take in your tea? A little cream, a little sugar, and ... billions of microscopic pieces of plastic? That's the takeaway from a new study at Canada's McGill University, reports the BBC . The study involves only tea that comes in plastic tea bags, generally of the...

Microplastics in Lake Tahoe Leads to New Research

Team will present findings in December

(Newser) - Scientists at Lake Tahoe have detected microplastics at several locations around the lake for this first time. Microplastics is the term for tiny pieces of plastic that come from everything from water bottles to synthetic fleece sweaters. Experts said they are ubiquitous around the world, the AP reports, so it'...

UN: Microplastics in Water Not a Major Health Worry

'Just because we're ingesting them doesn't mean we have a risk to human health'

(Newser) - The World Health Organization says the levels of microplastics in drinking water don't appear to be risky, but that research has been spotty and more is needed into their effects on the environment and health, the AP reports. Microplastics are created when man-made materials break down into tiny particles...

Microplastics Abound in Arctic Snow
Microplastics
Abound in
Arctic Snow
new study
Aug 15, 2019 4:06 AM CDT

Microplastics Abound in Arctic Snow

Scientists say air is carrying particles to remotest corners of the world

(Newser) - Scientists say they've found an abundance of tiny plastic particles in Arctic snow, indicating that so-called microplastics are being sucked into the atmosphere and carried long distances to some of the remotest corners of the planet. The researchers examined snow collected from sites in the Arctic, northern Germany, the...

Australia's 'Last Unspoilt Paradise' Is Anything But

Researchers find 414M pieces of plastic debris on remote islands

(Newser) - Study after study has illustrated the insane amount of plastic clogging up our planet. But a new one focusing on Australia's Cocos Islands suggests we still may have greatly underestimated the problem. Researchers surveyed 88% of the total landmass of the remote islands considered "Australia's last...

Dolphin Washes Up After Eating Plastic Hose

It's the second time in a month trash was found in a postmortem exam

(Newser) - A male bottlenose dolphin that stranded this month on a Florida beach had eaten a 2-foot plastic shower hose, including a nozzle and metal radiator clamp. The hose appears to be from a camping rig, the News-Press reports. A female rough-toothed dolphin calf that washed up last month in Fort...

This Is a Photo of the Pyrenees. And, Apparently, Microplastic

Researchers find it in the air there, 4K feet up

(Newser) - It's a memorable scene in American Beauty: film of a plastic bag floating in the wind. A researcher with Scotland's University of Strathclyde started wondering about bags like that, and where they go when they leave our sight. "We thought that maybe it just doesn't disappear,...

'People Would Be Outraged' by Teen's Find Off Calif. Coast

Alex Weber has pulled out more than 50K golf balls over the last two years

(Newser) - Two years ago, a central California teen began what NPR calls a "Sisyphean task"—hauling hundreds of pounds of golf balls off the ocean floor, only to have them reenter the sea as golfers from five nearby golf courses (including Pebble Beach) hit them right back in. Alex...

'First Evidence for Microplastics Inside Humans' Emerges

Plastic found in stool samples from people in 8 countries

(Newser) - It was only a matter of time. Scientists, following up research showing tiny particles of plastic in everything from bottled water to salt , say they've found "the first evidence for microplastics inside humans." All stool samples taken from eight participants of a small study by Environment Agency...

When You Sprinkle Salt, You're Getting More Than Salt

Microplastics infiltrate 90% of it, especially the stuff from Asia, say researchers

(Newser) - Just like with bottled water , over 90% of the world's table salt contains microplastics—enough that the average human ingests 2,000 pieces each year from salt alone, according to new research. It's been known for years that microplastics are present in salt, per Quartz , but the surprise...

You Might Want to Stop Flushing Your Old Contacts
You Might Want to Stop
Flushing Your Old Contacts
new study
Aug 19, 2018 2:03 PM CDT

You Might Want to Stop Flushing Your Old Contacts

Arizona State researchers see a surprisingly large environmental toll

(Newser) - If you're one of the approximately 45 million Americans who wear contact lenses, researchers at Arizona State University have a request based on their new study: Stop flushing them down the sink or toilet. The researchers concluded that disposing of lenses this way—and they estimate that up to...

Microplastics Found in More Than 90% of Bottled Water

WHO says it is investigating risks

(Newser) - Bottled water isn't just surrounded by plastic, it's permeated with it, according to a new study. Researchers at the State University of New York tested 259 bottles of water bought in nine countries, including the US, and found that 93% of them were contaminated with tiny plastic particles,...

Now With Your Tap Water, a Side of Plastic
Now With Your Tap Water,
a Side of Plastic
NEW STUDY
Sep 7, 2017 9:20 AM CDT

Now With Your Tap Water, a Side of Plastic

Researchers warn that we're ingesting microparticles

(Newser) - Perhaps we'd best hope we are what we eat, because if we are what we drink then we are getting pretty plastic. Researchers who tested samples of tap water from around the world say there are microplastics in much of it, with the highest contamination rate in the US,...

Eating Plastic Is Making Young Fish Stupid

Microplastics linked to smaller, slower perch

(Newser) - Fish are getting hooked on plastic that's making them "smaller, slower, and more stupid," say researchers behind a new study at Science . Scientists have long suspected that microplastics are dangerous , but "that has been very hard to determine until now, and that's why this is...

Our Discarded Plastic May Doom Oysters
 Our Discarded Plastic  
 May Doom Oysters 
study says
Feb 2, 2016 12:32 PM CST

Our Discarded Plastic May Doom Oysters

Ingested particles quickly damage their ability to produce, says study

(Newser) - Oysters may have a new No. 1 menace in the sea: plastic. A troubling new study finds that oysters feeding on microplastics quickly develop serious reproduction problems, scientists report at Phys.org . In their study, researchers grew Pacific oysters in a lab and exposed them to the type of microplastic...

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