- cross-posted to:
- science@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- science@beehaw.org
Researchers in Japan have confirmed that microplastics are present in clouds, where they are likely affecting the climate in ways that are not yet fully understood.
In a study published in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters, Japanese scientists climbed Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama in order to collect water from the mists that shroud the peaks, then applied advanced imaging techniques to the samples to determine their physical and chemical properties.
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The team identified nine different types of polymers and one type of rubber in the airborne microplastics, which ranged in size from 7.1 to 94.6 micrometres.
Each litre (0.26 gallon) of cloud water tested contained between 6.7 to 13.9 pieces of the plastics.
“If the issue of ‘plastic air pollution’ is not addressed proactively, climate change and ecological risks may become a reality, causing irreversible and serious environmental damage in the future,” lead author of the research, Hiroshi Okochi of Waseda University, warned in a statement on Wednesday.
When microplastics reach the upper atmosphere and are exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, they degrade, contributing to greenhouse gasses, Okochi said.
Microplastics – which are defined as plastic particles under 5 millimetres that come from industrial effluent, textiles, synthetic car tires, personal care products and other sources – have already been discovered inside fish, peppering Arctic sea ice, and in the snows on the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.
However, the mechanisms of their transport to such varied locations had remained unclear, with research on airborne microplastic transport in particular being limited.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on airborne microplastics in cloud water,” the authors wrote in their paper.
Waseda University said in a statement on Wednesday that research shows that “microplastics are ingested or inhaled by humans and animals alike and have been detected in multiple organs such as lung, heart, blood, placenta, and faeces”.
“Ten million tons of these plastic bits end up in the ocean, released with the ocean spray, and find their way into the atmosphere. This implies that microplastics may have become an essential component of clouds, contaminating nearly everything we eat and drink via ‘plastic rainfall’”, the university said in announcing the new research findings.
Emerging evidence has linked microplastics to a range of effects on heart and lung health, as well as cancers, in addition to widespread environmental harm.
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They are everywhere. I’m a microplastic and think its too much.
Mikeroplastic?
Mike Rowe-Plastic
So you do want a Series S or X?
Edit: What? Nobody remembers MikeRoweSoft.com? The guy agreed to Microsoft to take down his website in exchange for an Xbox 360.
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This would be a great plot for a movie. The organisms thrive on our pollution but in a sad twist of fate produce gas that we are unable to tolerate and all die off
It was mentioned in the novel “Ringworld” which was written in 1970. (Spoilers for a 53 year old book) One of the characters postulates that a bacteria could have evolved to eat room-temperature superconductors on the Ringworld. Another charachter replies that something similar had taken place on Earth, where a bacteria evolved to eat polystyrene.
Microbes are incredibly versatile. If it’s even remotely possible to extract energy or nutrients from something, there’s a species for it. Too much salt for you? No problem for halophiles. Not enough air? No problem for the anaerobes. Too hot or too cold? Thermophiles and psychrophiles can handle it. Not enough nitrogen? Just pull it from the air! Oh, you need carbon too? Who needs glucose, when there’s CO2 in the air. Some even pull their energy from the oxidation reactions of arsene, sulfur or pretty much any element you can find on earth.
That’s impressive foresight/imagination, I’ll have to check it out. ty
There are three books that pertain directly to the Ringworld itself, and a couple others that mention it or use it as a sort of background plot device. The ringworld trilogy would be “Ringworld”, folkowed by “Ringworld Engineers” and “Ringworld’s Children” all written by Larry Niven. The idea is probably better than the books, I didn’t think they were the best Known Space books.
Isn’t that kinda already the case? We are going to die if we keep accumilating plastic in our bodies
If evolution has taught me anything there will be probably be a section of the population who will become tolerant to microplastics. Perhaps already started. Also, perhaps those who are accumulating the most, who will come to evolve with it, are showing signs of low IQ /cognitive decline. As a result, they reinforce the accumulation of microplastics via lifestyle/decisions, further propagating the cycle. Hmm, perhaps this explains Trump and his supporters. Sorry, hate to make this political, but I couldn’t help myself. This would explain though our continued decline into Idiocracy.
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Fingers crossed. If they were able to eat plastic as thick as a water bottle that would be a game changer.
We already have bacteria that eat plastic
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Inshallah
Lol, I’ve never heard the opinion “God willing, the worms will eat my steering wheel,” before.
More like, “god willing, may this era of microplastics end”.
Microplastics seem to be in everything. When they’re doing these studies, do you think they have adjust for some measure of microplastics that exist on the equipment?
They found them in the Mariana Trench of all places, I think I recall them being found on Everest too but the plastic clad corpses of dumbasses who thought it would be an adventurous jaunt are probably the cause.
The on-the-equipment angle is interesting and sounds like it would be a good meta-study. “Just how many microplastics are on our microplastic detecting tools”.
It’s somewhat concerning when our scientific study results resemble old National Enquirer headlines. “Microplastics invaded my baby!” Mommy Moo Juice not Even Safe!!!
I do hope the people doing the testing learned something from Dr. Clair Patterson.
You know, I wasn’t even thinking about that part. In my mind it was moreso “do you think even our most sterile environments and utensils are simply dripping with microplastics?”
That’s what Dr. Patterson found out. Everything, no matter how clean, had lead on it. Had to build a cleanroom and everything.
At this point the only hope we have as a species is we’re still evolving rapidly enough to handle the toxins we’ve been blessed with by capitalism and maybe they won’t kill off every last one of us.
It isn’t killing us quickly, but it already is killing us. I doubt that evolution can solve the issue of dying a decade or two earlier, seeing as those of us that reproduce do so a decade or two before that point. It’s not evolution that can save us, it’s revolution.
Fuck it. I give up.
Great job everyone
It is tragic, but we mostly didnt know.
Now that we know we should do something about it like banning microfiber and plastic clothes. I wonder how long actions like that will take.
But the economy!!
Wait what? Companies just discover 3% rEcYclEd plastic as a way to green wash their products!!! You can’t just take that away!!
There’s an interesting academic book called Climate Leviathan that investigates four different ways in which the governments of the world might evolve into a single global government as the climate crisis intensifies. Interesting read, but it deals with topics like this.
Way more likely that governments just start doing wars again when fossil fuels, and eventually drinking water, start to get more scarce.
It’s human nature, when one group needs resources, and another group has them thanks to geography, we fight.
Probably been doing it for a million years.
Best time for a global government was 50 or 60 years ago
Resource wars are heavily covered in the work.
I would rather have a p2p insurance market where we can buy insurance against the consequences of pollution, which would fund a decentralized defense against polluters. It just can’t be centralized because polluters write the laws.
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I heavily emphasize with this, but I must reject it and call it out as the nihilism it is.
Humans have lived in harmony with nature before, we can do so again. We can do it better than before too.
Capitalism is the disease, the primacy of the individual over the collective whole is the plague. If we were unified and dedicated to the collective good we would act differently and achieve different results.
Today, in this context, a single person can achieve great wealth and comfort by fucking the environment, robbing workers, and giving exactly zero shits about externalities that aren’t legislated.
That is the a key component of the locust like behavior those with power engage in.
Just because the present is a fuck, does not mean humanity as a whole is a fuck.
Thank you for coming to my rant.
Capitalism didn’t magically pop into existence from a vacuum, humans created it. You can’t blame the symptom for the disease. Capitalism sucks because humans suck.
I agree that humanity created capitalism and that its nature is a result of the worse impulses of humanity. That does not mean humanity is defined by it. We can be better. As a species we can improve and become better over time. We are a work in progress.
Sadly, we are at a point in time where the worst of us have the power. The mechanisms that determine who has power serve immoral ends. A more democratic society is possible. A truly equal society is possible. People are good for the most part, a societal structure that encourages that aspect of ourselves would elevate us as a whole.
Humans can suck, but we don’t have to.
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
- George Carlin
Although there’s a more positive argument not that people are dumb, but the world is hard. This Freakonomics Podcast episode made me more positive in my interaction with people because most people are just trying to make it through this shitty world and made me more emphatetic to other people.
When did the worst of us not have all the power? Or is this a hopeful hypothetical for the future?
Hope is awful, lowering your expectations of humanity will be a lot less painful for you in the long run.
There have been experiments in a better tomorrow. Cuba, despite the difficulties caused by regressive forces, being a shining example. Their democratic process allows the neighborhood level of social organization to steer the course of the national discussion. It builds upon the core of humanity, our relations to those we live with. I won’t the deny the difficulties caused by the economic siege, but the model itself is rich with potential.
We can better.
We can better.
Better be quick then. Global fresh water reserves will be 40% over capacity by 2030, and 90% of global top soil and arable land is at risk of depletion by 2050. And that’s not to mention climate collapse and the imminent Blue Ocean Event in the next few years.
Oh, you’re coming from the “it’s too late” perspective. I agree, we are doomed. I still believe it didn’t have to be this way. We have the potential, no matter if it’s realized or not, to be better. We are in for a rough time no matter what at this point.
That turns it into an over-generalization. Not every human wants capitalism, and it’s no more a permanent part of human identity than feudalism was. You’re judging a whole species by the latest 1% of the time they’ve existed, in an inherently unstable social order.
That’s the opposite of what I said, but I can see how it could be read that way.
Humans are inherently shit and any system we create to govern ourselves will devolve into corruption, bigotry and greed, if it doesn’t already start that way.
That was my understanding of your point as well. What about the system we had for 99% of human history? You seem to be drawing this conclusion from “recent” history.
I think you meant “empathize” rather than “emphasize”.
Also - the core problem here is human greed. It’s another example of Tragedy of the commons.
Sorry to squash your optimism but people really are the problem.
Thanks for the correction, and people are malleable. It’s fixable, but yes greed is the issue.
Sadsack nhilists are a plague.
Oh great. They fly now?!?
They fly now!
Not even the clouds are safe!
Need Thanos to snap all platics out? Or at least half.
So humans are fucked from the moment they take their first breathe. Are there microplastics in the womb as well?
Yeah :( It’s been found to cross the placenta into unborn babies.
i found this to be an interesting talk by a specialist on the way risks from these things are ranked and where the state of currect research is: https://piped.kavin.rocks/watch?v=vocvz6N6faI
the important takeaway for me was that "micro"plastics aren’t exactly microscopic
