Microplastics – News and Features

News
First 3D Model of Microplastic Pollution
Scientists have developed the first three-dimensional mass estimate to show where microplastic pollution is collecting in Lake Erie. The study examines nine different types of polymers that are believed to account for 75 percent of the world’s plastic waste.

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Langoustine Digestion Makes Microplastics Even Smaller
Lobsters can eat and break down some microplastic material, releasing even smaller fragments into the water that other deep-sea organisms could ingest.

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LEGO Bricks May Survive in the Sea for up to 1,300 Years
A new study examined the extent to which LEGO items were worn down in the marine environment – and it can be anywhere between 100 and 1,300 years.

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Microplastics Cause Endocrine Disruption and Respiratory Damage in Fish
Chronic exposure to microplastic fibers causes aneurysms, erosion of surface layers and other serious damage to fish gills, and increases egg production in female fish, a sign that chemicals in the fibers may be acting as endocrine disruptors.

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Tracking the Life of a Microplastic Particle
Nanoscale particles of the most commonly used plastics tend to move through the water supply, especially in fresh water, or settle out in wastewater treatment plants, where they end up as sludge, in landfills, and often as fertilizer.

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Major Change Needed To Resolve the Plastic Crisis
Current efforts to resolve the plastics crisis are ineffective and misleading. Policymakers and industry must address conflicts in the whole system, from production to end-of-life, warns a recent report.

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From Poop to Food
With natural reserves of phosphate, an important component of fertilizer, running out, researchers are working on extracting phosphate from sewage sludge to reuse in fertilizers and other applications.

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Fishing Significant Source of Microplastics
Whilst many studies have focused on terrestrial sources of microplastics, researchers have linked microplastics in China’s Beibu Gulf with heavy fishing activities.

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Team Builds the First Living Robots
Scientists have repurposed living cells into millimeter-wide "xenobots" that can move toward a target, potentially pick up a payload and heal themselves after being cut.

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How Do Microplastics Affect Coastal Wildlife?
Researchers have demonstrated the transfer of microplastics through the food chain between microscopic prey and larval fish that live in coastal ecosystems.
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