• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, August 2, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Plastic planet: Tracking pervasive microplastics across the globe

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
April 12, 2021
in Science News
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: Janice Brahney/S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University.

Really big systems, like ocean currents and weather, work on really big scales. And so too does your plastic waste, according to new research from Janice Brahney from the Department of Watershed Sciences. The plastic straw you discarded in 1980 hasn’t disappeared; it has fragmented into pieces too small to see, and is cycling through the atmosphere, infiltrating soil, ocean waters and air. Microplastics are so pervasive that they now affect how plants grow, waft through the air we breathe, and permeate distant ecosystems. They can be found in places as varied as the human bloodstream to the guts of insects in Antarctica.

Understanding how microplastics move through global systems is essential to fixing the problem, said Brahney. Her new research focuses on how these invisible pieces of plastic get into the atmosphere, how long they stay aloft, and where in our global system we can expect to find hotspots of microplastic deposition.

Plastics enter the atmosphere … not directly from garbage cans or landfills as you might expect … but from old, broken-down waste that makes its way into large-scale atmospheric patterns. Roads are a big source of atmospheric plastics, where vehicle tires churn and launch skyward the tiny pieces through strong vehicle-created turbulence. Ocean waves, too, are full of insoluble plastic particles that used to be food wrappers, soda bottles, and plastic bags. These “legacy plastic” particles bob to the top layer of water and are churned by waves and wind, and catapulted into the air.

Another important source for the re-emission of plastics is dust produced from agricultural fields. Plastics are introduced to the soil when fertilizers from waste treatments operations are used (virtually all microplastics that are flushed with wastewater remain with the biowaste after the treatment process). Wind can also be a factor near population centers, whisking broken-down plastic particles into the air.

Once in the atmosphere, plastics could remain airborne for up to 6.5 days–enough time to cross a continent, said Natalie Mahowald, coauthor on the paper. The most likely place for plastic deposition from the atmosphere is over (and into) the Pacific and Mediterranean oceans, but continents actually receive more net plastics from polluted ocean sources than they send to them, according to the models. The U.S., Europe, Middle East, India and Eastern Asia are also hotspots for land-based plastic deposition. Along the coasts, ocean sources of airborne plastic become more prominent, including America’s west coast, the Mediterranean and southern Australia. Dust and agriculture sources for airborne plastics factor more prominently in northern Africa and Eurasia, while road-produced sources had a big impact in heavily populated regions the world over.

This study is important, said Brahney, but it is just the beginning. Much more work is needed on this pressing problem to understand how different environments might influence the process … wet climates versus dry ones, mountainous regions versus flatlands. The world hasn’t slowed its production or use of plastic, she said, so these questions become more pressing every passing year.

###

Media Contact
Janice Brahney
[email protected]

Tags: Atmospheric ScienceAtomic/Molecular/Particle PhysicsClimate ChangeEcology/EnvironmentFood/Food ScienceHydrology/Water ResourcesPlant SciencesPollution/Remediation
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Iberian Horse Genomes Trace Post-Ice Age History

August 2, 2025
Predicting Lung Infections After Brain Hemorrhage

Predicting Lung Infections After Brain Hemorrhage

August 2, 2025

Impact of Morphology and Location on Aneurysms

August 2, 2025

Unraveling EMT’s Role in Colorectal Cancer Spread

August 2, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    41 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • Study Reveals Beta-HPV Directly Causes Skin Cancer in Immunocompromised Individuals

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Iberian Horse Genomes Trace Post-Ice Age History

Predicting Lung Infections After Brain Hemorrhage

Impact of Morphology and Location on Aneurysms

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.