Microplastic

A new study shows that lettuce readily takes up particles produced from rubber car tires as they roll along our roadways. The research is part of a growing body of evidence that materials we use everyday are flowing back into our food supply.

Microplastics are a growing environmental problem, but now researchers in Korea have developed a new water purification system that can filter out these tiny fragments, as well as other pollutants, very quickly and with high efficiency.

A new study documenting the accumulation of microplastic particles on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea has shed some new light on plastic pollution, finding that concentrations of this material on the floor of the Med has tripled since 2000.

Researchers in Auckland have used advanced chemical analysis to calculate the amount of microplastic particles falling from the sky over the city, equating it to three million plastic bottles each year.

While the purification of wastewater once just involved the removal of traditional pollutants, it now also entails the removal of microplastics. A new powder reportedly does the job much quicker and more thoroughly than has previously been possible.

As microplastics pollution and potable water scarcity both worsen, it's becoming increasingly important to find efficient ways of filtering and desalinating seawater. A new aerogel definitely holds some promise, and it's made from egg whites.

Scientists at Stanford University have analyzed microplastic concentrations and the foraging habits of whales off the coast of California, and found that blue whales take in an estimated 10 million pieces of plastic each day.

Imagine if there were a robotic fish that filtered microplastic particles out of the water as it swam. Well, now there is one, and it's the physical version of the winning concept in the first-ever Natural Robotics Contest.

A large percentage of microplastic pollution takes the form of synthetic microfibers, shed by our clothes as they're being washed. Gulp lets homeowners filter those fibers out of their wash water, keeping them from reaching rivers or the sea.

The latest findings around the impacts of plastic on the human body center on liver and lung cells, which lab research has shown can ingest nano-scale plastic particles and undergo metabolic changes as a result.

Tiny fragments of plastic are now strewn across the entire globe and are beginning to show up in different parts of the human body. But what are the health risks associated with ingesting and inhaling this now omnipresent synthetic material?

Microplastics are a major environmental problem, but a new study could help cut out a decent chunk of them. Silk could be a biodegradable replacement for microbeads and particles that are often added to cosmetics, paints and other products.