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...
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...
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...
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...
Another day, another sign of the reach of the global ocean plastics crisis. A Greenpeace expedition to Antarctica turned up microplastics in more than half of ocean water samples taken in the...
On the eighth-floor isolation ward of London’s University College Hospital, nurses have two lines of defence against the spread of life-threatening diseases. First are the airtight double lobbies in every room. Second...
Many organic fertilisers being applied to gardens and farms contain tiny fragments of plastic, according to a new study.
Widely considered a problem affecting the oceans, this work suggests microplastics may actually be...
An enormous area of rubbish floating in the Pacific Ocean is teeming with far more debris than previously thought, heightening alarm that the world’s oceans are being increasingly choked by trillions of...
The first phase of the UK ban on plastic microbeads will come into effect today, as the government moves to strengthen its crack down on marine plastic pollution.
The ban on the manufacture...
Plastic trash can really be found on all corners of the Earth—even in the stomachs of deep-sea organisms, according to a new study from Newcastle University in England.
Led by Dr. Alan Jamieson,...
