Microplastics may be quietly damaging your brain and fueling Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
->ScienceDaily | More on "Microplastics brain damage neurological disease" at BigEarthData.ai | #Microplastic

Microplastics that accumulate in the body may 'clog up' immune cells Microplastics that accumulate in the body can disrupt the immune system by preventing immune cells from gobbling up microbes and clearing dead cells, a new study in mice and lab dishes shows. Although it's still unclear how this might play out in the human body, experts say the study has potential implications for human health. Microplastics are tiny particles that break off of plastic products, like water bottles, food storage containers and freezer bags. Although these undigestible particles accumulate in the body, scientists remain unsure how they contribute to illness. The new study revealed that these tiny particles can clog up and disrupt the function of macrophages, cells that engulf and destroy potentially harmful viruses, bacteria or fungi, as well as dead cells. Microplastics contaminate air, soil and water; are abundant in food and drinks; and have been detected in various human tissues and fluids, including blood, breast milk, the brain, the liver and reproductive organs. Eliseo Castillo, who researches how microplastics affect health at the University of Mexico but was not involved with the study, told Live Science in an email that "because plastic production continues to increase and these materials slowly fragment over time, microplastic pollution is expected...

Microplastics that accumulate in the body may 'clog up' immune cells
->Live Science | More on "Microplastics disrupting immune cell function" at BigEarthData.ai | #Microplastic

Reheating plastic food containers: what science says about microplastics and chemicals in ready meals How often do you eat takeaway food? What about pre-prepared ready meals? Or maybe just microwaving some leftovers you had in the fridge? In any of these cases, there’s a pretty good chance the container was made out of plastic. Considering that they can be an extremely affordable option, are there any potential downsides we need to be aware of? Greenpeace decided to investigate Scientific research increasingly shows that heating food in plastic packaging can release microplastics and plastic chemicals into the food we eat. A new Greenpeace International review of peer-reviewed studies finds that microwaving plastic food containers significantly increases this release, raising concerns about long-term human health impacts. This article summarises what the science says, what remains uncertain, and what needs to change. There’s no shortage of research showing how microplastics and nanoplastics have made their way throughout the environment, from snowy mountaintops and Arctic ice, into the beetles, slugs, snails and earthworms at the bottom of the food chain. It’s a similar story with humans, with microplastics found in blood, placenta, lungs, liver and plenty of other places. On top of this, there’s some 16,000 chemicals known to be either present or used in plastic, with a...

Reheating plastic food containers: what science says about microplastics and chemicals in ready meals
->Greenpeace Australia | More on "Microplastics leaching from heated containers" at BigEarthData.ai | #Science #Food #Microplastic

Highly informative from the @theguardian.com
and see our own ICB's article on #microplastic from our archives.
Environmentally Accurate Microplastic Levels and Their Absence from Exposure Studies
Eoghan M Cunningham , Julia D Sigwart
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

Sometimes I think about how wild it is that people used to drink irradiated water or get X-rays for shoe-sizing. Then I remember in the early 2000s, my favorite body wash had "microbeads" in it. I.E. I used to WASH myself with MICROPLASTICS. #microplastic #History #microbeads #radiation

Most Fijians could be carrying microplastics, warns Environment Chief
->Fiji Sun | More on "Fijians microplastics health environment warning" at BigEarthData.ai | #Microplastic #Environment

🚨 Email Congress: Speak Up for Plastic Pellet-Free Waters 👇

act.abcbirds.org/a/take-actio...

#Politics #USPolitics #Congress #Climate #Environment #ClimateCrisis #Animals #Wildlife #Plastic #PlasticPollution #MicroPlastic #Nurdles #Water #CleanWater #TakeAction #EmailYourSenators #EmailYourRep

Microplastics are creating tiny microbial battlegrounds in farm soil Microplastics are usually discussed as an ocean problem. But they are also building up in farmland soils, and a new scientific review argues that their impact goes beyond physical pollution. A team of researchers led by Jiangsu University focuses on what happens at the microscopic level on the surface of plastic particles, where microbes meet, compete, and trade genes. These interactions, they say, could influence soil fertility, ecosystem recovery, and the long-term sustainability of agriculture. Microplastics are plastic fragments smaller than five millimeters. In agricultural settings, they can arrive through plastic mulch, sewage sludge, irrigation water, and the breakdown of larger plastic waste. Once in the soil, they can change soil structure, interfere with nutrient cycling, and affect the organisms that keep soil ecosystems working. The review highlights an overlooked detail: each microplastic particle can become its own tiny habitat. A new micro-habitat in dirt Researchers describe microplastics as creating unique micro-environments in soil called plastispheres. These are biofilm communities where microorganisms attach to plastic surfaces, forming dense, active networks. Because microbes cluster on the plastic, interactions can become more intense than they are in the surrounding soil. The review argues that these plastispheres don’t just collect microbes. They can...

Microplastics are creating tiny microbial battlegrounds in farm soil
->Earth.com | More on "Microplastics soil microbial farming impact" at BigEarthData.ai | #Soil #Microplastic

Unveiling Hidden Viral Networks in Soil Microplastics: A New Frontier for Sustainable Agriculture
->Bioengineer | More on "Microplastics soil microbial viral networks" at BigEarthData.ai | #Microplastic #SustainableAgriculture #Soil

Soil Microplastic Viral Networks Key to Sustainable Farming
->Mirage News | More on "Microplastics soil microbes farming health" at BigEarthData.ai | #SustainableFarming #Microplastic #Soil

Microplastics Are Already in Our Bodies. What Can We Actually Do Now?
->Los Angeles Times | More on "Microplastics health risks practical solutions" at BigEarthData.ai | #Microplastic

Microplastics May Be Fueling Parkinson's Disease, Scientists Warn Plastic pollution is seeping into the Earth, into wildlife, and into our bodies, and a new research review suggests tiny microplastics and nanoplastics could be disrupting some of the brain processes associated with Parkinson's. While Parkinson's disease is associated with a wide range of risk factors, the rise we're seeing in the number of people being diagnosed – its prevalence has doubled in the last 25 years – could be at least partly down to a rise in pollutants in the environment. For this recent review, a team from Gannan Medical University and Guangzhou Medical University in China referenced more than 100 previous studies, including animal studies, laboratory experiments, and computational models, to build a compelling case linking plastics to Parkinson's. While it's not yet clear that microplastics are directly responsible, the researchers are calling for the association to be investigated further: more data is badly needed on how these ubiquitous particles may accumulate in the body and harm human health. "With the intensification of global plastic pollution, the potential threats posed by micro- and nanoplastics (MPs/NPs) to human health have become a major concern," write the researchers in their published paper. "MPs/NPs enter the organism through ingestion, inhalation, and...

Microplastics May Be Fueling Parkinson's Disease, Scientists Warn
->ScienceAlert | More on "Microplastics linked to Parkinson's disease" at BigEarthData.ai | #Disease #Science #Microplastic #Health

did YOU know about this
(hormone altering #microplastic additives) ??

if the answer is no

then he must be doing a a brilliant job ??

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Scientists track microplastics inside the body in real time You can see shelves full of plastics, bottles, wrappers, and containers in any grocery store. You can’t see the tiny pieces that break off over time and float into our food, water, and even the air we breathe. These microplastics (MPs) are among the most common forms of pollution in the environment. They can be as small as a few millimeters (<5 mm) or as big as a few nanometers. For decades, scientists have warned about their spread. But one question has remained stubbornly unanswered: what happens when these particles enter the body? Even though reports of human exposure to microplastics are increasing, how these particles behave inside the body remains obscure. At Tokyo University of Science, a team led by Associate Professor Masakazu Umezawa aimed to observe the in vivo dynamics of microplastics. They loaded microplastics with a fluorescent dye that glows in the near-infrared (NIR-II) spectrum, to track the particles in real time as they move through living tissue. Now, clouds have no silver lining, but microplastics Exposure to microplastics can occur through ingestion or inhalation. Estimates suggest that adults may swallow about 107–142 particles per day, and in extreme cases, as much as 5 grams a week...

Scientists track microplastics inside the body in real time
->Tech Explorist | More on "Microplastics tracking inside human body" at BigEarthData.ai | #Microplastic #Science

How worried should you be about microplastics? Let’s start off with a fact: you do not, no matter what you’ve heard, eat a credit card’s worth of microplastics each week. At least, not in the course of a normal human diet. But this popular claim has raised alarm, especially as it has been followed by a flurry of studies that have found microplastics accumulating everywhere – even on the highest mountains, in the deepest ocean trenches and in the most remote polar regions – as well as in human heart tissue, livers, kidneys, breast milk and the bloodstream. If they are all over the place, and we can show in some scientific studies that they can lead to some sort of harm, that’s cause for major concern, right? Well, no, not necessarily. The reason microplastics are effectively everywhere is that plastic is truly a marvel. The advent of the first plastic, Bakelite, in the early 20th century ushered in an age of materials manufactured on demand instead of being harvested from nature. As plastics became thinner and cheaper, they spread far and wide, revolutionising food packaging, electronics and medical devices, to name just a few things. But their durability has a downside. Tiny particles have been shedding...

How worried should you be about microplastics?
->New Scientist | More on "Microplastics health risks and concerns" at BigEarthData.ai | #Microplastic

Can Biology Fight Back? Emerging Strategies to Protect Animals From Microplastic Damage
->Newswise | More on "Microplastic damage mitigation in animals" at BigEarthData.ai | #Science #Microplastic #Biology

Atmospheric deposition as a pathway for microplastic transport to the marine environment: Temporal variation and environmental factors Although understanding microplastic transport from terrestrial to marine environments presents a significant challenge, studies on their temporal vari…

🌧️New study finds an average deposition rate of #microplastic was 75.4±29.2 n/m2/day, projecting that as much as 1.94 trillion particles could fall out into Masan Bay (South Kora) every year. There was a positive correlation with fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Microplastics and nanoplastics in urban air originate mainly from tire abrasion, research reveals Although plastic particles in the air are increasingly coming into focus, knowledge about their distribution and effects is still limited. Chemical analyses from Leipzig now provide details from Germa...

Microplastics and nanoplastics in urban air originate mainly from tire abrasion, research reveals

#AirPollution #microplastic #health phys.org/news/2026-03...

In Engineering Environment, the study systematically examines how algae interact with microplastics in aquatic systems, detailing mechanisms such as surface adsorption, embedment, and cellular internalization.
#Microplastic pollution #Algae
Details: doi.org/10.1007/s117...

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our #OSM26 exhibition booth this week. We enjoyed meeting you all and learning about your exciting projects. If you didn't get the chance but are interested in exploring #microplastic and #eDNA monitoring technologies, send us a message and let’s meet up! 👍

Impacts of microplastics on terrestrial soil carbon dynamics Lal, R., Monger, C., Nave, L. & Smith, P. The role of soil in regulation of climate. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 376, 20210084 (2021). Zhang, Z. R., Xia, X. H. & Yang, Z. F. Soil organic carbon changes in city areas of China over the past three decades: implications for achieving carbon neutrality. Engineering 28, 11–15 (2023). Rillig, M. C., Leifheit, E. & Lehmann, J. Microplastic effects on carbon cycling processes in soils. PLoS Biol. 19, 9e3001130 (2021). Huang, W. & Xia, X. H. Element cycling with micro(nano)plastics. Science 385, 933–935 (2024). De Souza Machado, A. A., Kloas, W., Zarfl, C., Hempel, S. & Rillig, M. C. Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems. Global Change Biol. 24, 1405–1416 (2018). Chen, Y. L., Leng, Y. F., Liu, X. N. & Wang, J. Microplastic pollution in vegetable farmlands of suburb Wuhan, central China. Environ. Pollut. 257, 113449 (2020). Fuller, S. & Gautam, A. A procedure for measuring microplastics using pressurized fluid extraction. Environ. Sci. Technol. 50, 5774–5780 (2016). Wang, J. et al. Microplastic-derived dissolved organic matter regulates soil carbon respiration via microbial ecophysiological controls. Environ. Sci. Technol. 59, 17334–17348 (2025). Su, P. J. et al. Stimulated soil...

Impacts of microplastics on terrestrial soil carbon dynamics
->Nature | More on "Microplastics disrupting soil carbon storage" at BigEarthData.ai | #Soil #Microplastic

Scientist’s confession: The more I learned about it, the scarier it got...

Watch full film " Nanoplastic. Threat to life|Allatra"https://youtu.be/ml_YXpEt6EE?si=Vdf1RTNe4wlEWnWg

#nanoplastic #microplastic #sciencefilm #health #ecology #environment #plastic #documentary #medicine #science #Allatra

Microplastics found in 90% of prostate cancer tumors, study reveals
->ScienceDaily | More on "Microplastics prostate cancer tumor research" at BigEarthData.ai | #Microplastic

Scientists are pushing back on the health damage microplastics may cause, saying people are obese Scientists have warned for years that microplastics are found in everything: from the food and drinks we consume to the clothes we wear and cleaning supplies we use. These microplastics are building up in our bodies and pose a new risk to our health—or so we’ve been told. But some scientists are now scrubbing that idea, with one researcher even calling studies sounding the alarms as “a joke.” Recent high-profile reports claiming micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) have infiltrated the human brain, arteries, and testes are facing a major scientific backlash. Experts are warning that many of these widely publicized findings may be the result of methodological errors, contamination, and false positives rather than actual plastic ingestion. “The brain microplastic paper is a joke,” wrote Dusan Materic, head of research at Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ). Materic is one of several scientists proclaiming that previous studies regarding the damage microplastics cause the human body are exaggerated. Chemist Roger Kuhlman said the evidence presented in previous studies had more holes than your cutting board, amounting to a “bombshell,” he told the Guardian. “This is really forcing us to reevaluate everything we think we know about microplastics in the body,” Kuhlman, a...

Scientists are pushing back on the health damage microplastics may cause, saying people are obese
->Fortune | More on "Microplastics health risk scientific debate" at BigEarthData.ai | #Health #Microplastic #Science

Reheating plastic food containers: what science says about microplastics and chemicals in ready meals How often do you eat takeaway food? What about pre-prepared ready meals? Or maybe just microwaving some leftovers you had in the fridge? In any of these cases, there’s a pretty good chance the container was made out of plastic. Considering that they can be an extremely affordable option, are there any potential downsides we need to be aware of? We decided to investigate. Scientific research increasingly shows that heating food in plastic packaging can release microplastics and plastic chemicals into the food we eat. A new Greenpeace International review of peer-reviewed studies finds that microwaving plastic food containers significantly increases this release, raising concerns about long-term human health impacts. This article summarises what the science says, what remains uncertain, and what needs to change. There’s no shortage of research showing how microplastics and nanoplastics have made their way throughout the environment, from snowy mountaintops and Arctic ice, into the beetles, slugs, snails and earthworms at the bottom of the food chain. It’s a similar story with humans, with microplastics found in blood, placenta, lungs, liver and plenty of other places. On top of this, there’s some 16,000 chemicals known to be either present or used in plastic, with a...

Reheating plastic food containers: what science says about microplastics and chemicals in ready meals
->Greenpeace | More on "Microplastics leaching from heated containers" at BigEarthData.ai | #Food #Microplastic #Science

"Are We Cooked?": New Greenpeace report warns of ready meals flooded with microplastics and toxic chemicals Amsterdam – Heating plastic-packaged ready meals and takeaways in the microwave or oven can release hundreds of thousands of micro- and nanoplastic particles along with a cocktail of toxic chemicals directly into food, according to a new Greenpeace International analysis of peer-reviewed science. The report, Are We Cooked? The Hidden Health Risks of Plastic-Packaged Ready Meals, reviewed 24 recent scientific studies and finds that convenience food items marketed as “safe-to heat” are in fact potentially exposing millions of people to invisible contaminants every day. Graham Forbes, Global Plastics Campaign Lead from Greenpeace USA, said: “People think they’re making a harmless choice when they buy and heat a meal packaged in plastic. In reality, we are being exposed to a cocktail of microplastics and hazardous chemicals that should never be in or near our food. Governments have let the petrochemicals and plastics industries turn our kitchens into testing labs. This report shows that corporate claims of “microwave-safe” are no more than wishful thinking. ” Key findings are: Microwaving plastic containers can release hundreds of thousands of micro- and nanoplastics in minutes. One study found 326,000 to 534,000 particles leaching into food simulants after just five minutes of microwave heating, up to...

"Are We Cooked?": New Greenpeace report warns of ready meals flooded with microplastics and toxic chemicals
->Greenpeace | More on "Microplastics toxic chemicals ready meals" at BigEarthData.ai | #Toxic #Microplastic

In just minutes of heating, #plastic containers can release hundreds of thousands of #microplastic & nanoplastic particles to your food! 🥣😬

This is just one of the shocking findings in @greenpeace.org's new report on plastic-packaged meals.

#PlasticsTreaty #BreakFreeFromPlastic