Researchers used a computer model to find where the roughly 16.2 bits of microplastics inhaled by humans a week end up. What they found is troubling.
Humans may be inhaling a credit card’s worth of toxic microplastics every week, and for the first time scientists have worked out where it ends up in your body.
Microplastics are tiny chunks of plastic debris measuring less than 0.2 inch long, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . These broken-down remnants of industrial waste and consumer goods are impossible to avoid; they can be found across the ocean and the atmosphere, inside bottled water and even in human poop.There have been few studies into how toxic microplastics impact human health, especially respiratory health.
The scientists built a computer model to analyze where the tiny chunks tend to travel inside our airways, and where they get deposited. Microplastics can also carry viruses, bacteria and other hazardous chemicals, which hitchhike on the plastic’s microscopic surfaces.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Humans are pumping out so much groundwater that it's changing Earth's tiltAnd it could even affect climate.
Read more »
Humans Aren’t Mentally Ready for an AI-Saturated ‘Post-Truth World’AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E will affect the future of work, the spread of information, and more. A major question that has thus far been almost entirely unexamined is how this AI-dominated future will affect people’s minds.
Read more »
UK river pollution monitoring is 50 years out of date, say researchersLevels of pollutants in the UK's rivers are tested by random sampling, a method that experts say is decades out of date and not thorough enough to tackle the issues facing the waterways
Read more »
Salt from space could explain where Earth got its water, U of A researchers sayFor Star subscribers: A salty discovery by scientists at the University of Arizona could bolster the idea that most, if not all, of the water on Earth was delivered here long ago inside of space rocks.
Read more »
Harvard Researchers Find Dogs Bite People More on Hot DaysRising global temperatures and pollution levels might have one particularly unexpected side effect: dog bites.
Read more »
CWRU researchers work with Cleveland rec centers to address trauma in the communityCase Western Reserve University has been working to transform Cleveland’s 22 recreation centers into trauma-informed Neighborhood Resource and Recreation Centers.
Read more »