Microplastics – News and Features

How far microplastics travel in the atmosphere depends crucially on particle shape. While spherical particles settle quickly, microplastic fibers might travel as far as the stratosphere.

For the first time, researchers have been able to count and identify nanoplastics – plastic particles measuring less than one micrometer in size – in samples taken from bottled water.

Explore how advances in food cultivation techniques make safer food alternatives possible while allowing marine wildlife to remain in the ocean to restore and replenish their populations.

Seabirds in the Pacific Ocean are eating plastic and feeding it to their chicks. But we know precious little about why the birds are doing this.

Technology Networks caught up with Aidan Charron, director of the End Plastic Initiatives at Earth Day, not long after he arrived back from Nairobi to hear how negotiations on an international plastics treat went.

The Hawaiian apple snail has inspired the design of a robot prototype that may one day scoop up ocean microplastics.

Researchers have now developed an innovative analytical method that combines different specialized techniques, including flow cytometry, to characterize and count microplastics.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely used and persist in the environment and the human body for extended periods. Technology Networks invited Dr. Carol Kwiatkowski to an Ask Me Anything session to answer your questions about PFAS and their impact on human health.

Researchers from ICIQ describe a circular process to recycle polycarbonates, a specific polymer often used in plastic applications, using less chemicals and user-friendly conditions.

The way in which nanoplastics and a specific brain protein, α-synuclein, interact could create changes in the body that give rise to Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other related dementias, a new study suggests.