The global effort to reduce plastic production and waste often focuses on the use of specific items – straws, single-use grocery bags – or on the challenge of recycling or how to clean up the mess. It’s rare to see researchers offer a holistic view of how plastic is directly …
Waste plastic is choking the Earth’s oceans and poisoning its wildlife. That’s why researchers at Purdue University are excited about a new chemical technique that turns waste plastic back into useful polymers — or even clean fuel. The new technique works on polypropelene, according to a new paper published in …
Microplastics are being widely ingested by Britain’s marine mammals, scientists say, with samples found in every animal examined in a study. The research on 50 stranded creatures including porpoises, dolphins, grey seals and a pygmy sperm whale is the most comprehensive analysis of microplastics in the digestive tracts of both …
Tiny pieces of plastic measuring less than five millimeters in length—or roughly the size of a sesame seed—have become a nearly ubiquitous presence in our world. Scientists have found the particles, better known as microplastics, everywhere from the oceans, the air to tap and bottled water as well as beer, …
A year after researchers at a New York university discovered microplastics present in sea salt thanks to widespread plastic pollution, researchers in South Korea set out to find out how pervasive the problem is—and found that 90 percent of salt brands commonly used in homes around the world contain the tiny pieces of …
Microplastics, which get gobbled up by whales, deep-sea fish and plankton, have also turned up in the bodies of mosquitoes, scientists have revealed. The research, published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters, is the first to show that bits of plastic can be transferred between a mosquito’s life stages that …
Plastic bags are often stamped with an all-caps warning: This bag is not a toy. Unfortunately, polar bear moms don’t have much control over their kids’ playthings. British wildlife photographer Kevin Morgans recently spotted this polar bear and her boisterous cubs while sailing through Liefdefjorden, a fjord in Norway’s Svalbard …
