Science Inventory

Despite converting to green and electric sources of power, motorized transportation remains dependent upon conventional synthetic rubber tires for operation. Global dependence upon tires produced from natural rubber and petroleum-based compounds, including plastics, represents a ...

Plastic particles are ubiquitous in marine systems and fragment into smaller pieces, such as nanoplastics (NPs). The effects of NPs on marine organisms are of growing concern but are not well understood. Marine sediments act as a sink for many contaminants, like microplastics, an...

There is an increasing volume of nano-enabled materials in the market. Once composites containing nano-additives are disposed of, weathering could deteriorate their structures, releasing nanoparticles and risking exposure of humans and aquatic organisms. Composite degradation due...

A common method for characterizing microplastics (MPs) involves capturing the plastic particles on a filter after extraction and isolation from the sediment particles. Microplastics captured on the filter are then scanned with Raman spectroscopy for polymer identificati...

Previous studies have evaluated method performance for quantifying and characterizing microplastics in clean water, but little is known about the efficacy of procedures used to extract microplastics from complex matrices. Here we provided 15 laboratories with samples representing...

This paper reviews the currently used pretreatment methods for microplastics (MPs) analysis in soil and freshwater sediments, primarily sample processing, pretreatment, and characterization methods for MPs analysis. In addition, analytical tools (e.g., lab instruments), MPs chara...

Microplastics (MP) are distributed throughout ecosystems and settle into sediments where they may threaten benthic communities; however, methods for quantifying MP in sediments have not been standardized. This study compares two methods for analyzing MP in sediments, including ex...

Microplastics in the aquatic system are among the many inevitable consequences of plastic pollution, which has cascading environmental and public health impacts. Our study aimed at analyzing surface interactions and leachate production of six microplastics under ultraviolet (UV) ...

Although a considerable knowledge base exists for environmental contamination from nanoscale and colloidal particles, significant knowledge gaps exist regarding the sources, transport, distribution, and effects of microplastic pollution (plastic particles < 5 mm)...

A high-throughput approach to detecting, quantifying, and characterizing microplastics (MPs) by shape, size, and polymer type using laser direct infrared (LDIR) spectroscopy in surface water samples is demonstrated. Three urban creeks were sampled for their MP content near Cincin...

Coral reefs have been heavily impacted by anthropogenic stressors, such as global warming, ocean acidification, sedimentation, and nutrients. Recently, microplastics (MP) have emerged as another potential stressor that may also cause adverse impacts to coral. MP ingestion by scle...

Hundreds of review studies have been published focusing on microplastics (MPs) and their environmental impacts. With the microbiota colonization of MPs being firmly established, MPs became an important carrier for contaminants to step inside the food web all the way up to humans....

Microplastics are small plastic particles found ubiquitously in marine environments. In this study, a hybridized method was developed for the extraction of microplastics (45–1000 μm) from sediments using sodium bromide solution for density separation. Meth...

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have gained much attention in recent times because of their ubiquitous presence, which is widely acknowledged as a threat to the environment. MPs can be of less than 5 mm size, while NPs are less than 100 nm, and all of these can be dete...

Scleractinian coral are experiencing global and regional stressors. Microplastics (<5 mm) are an additional stressor that may cause adverse effects on coral. Experiments were conducted to investigate ingestion size limits and retention times of microspheres in a two-day exposu...

Microplastics (MPs) in various compositions, shapes, morphologies, and textures (size < 5mm) are significant sources of environmental pollution all around the world. A fraction of MPs in the total weight of plastic accumulation in the world is estimated at13.2% by 2060. These mic...

Micro- and nano-scale plastic particles in the environment result from their direct release and degradation of larger plastic debris. Relative to macro-sized plastics, these small particles are of special concern due to their potential impact on marine, freshwater, and terrestria...

Microplastics (MPs) are small (&lt;5 mm) plastic particles which pose a threat to marine ecosystems. Identifying MPs is crucial for understanding their fate and effects. Many MP extraction methods exist, but procedural differences prevent meaningful comparisons across datasets. T...

The growing and pervasive presence of plastic pollution has attracted considerable interest in recent years, especially small (< 5 mm) plastic particles known as ‘microplastics’ (MPs). Their widespread presence may pose a threat to marine organisms globally. Most of the nano and ...

The impact that microplastics (&lt;5&#8239;mm) have on scleractinian coral is largely unknown. This study investigated calcification effects, size limits, and retention times of microbeads and microfibers in two Caribbean species, Montastraea cavernosa and Orbicella faveolata, in...

Almost 50 yr ago, in the classic film The Graduate, the main character Ben (played by Dustin Hoffman) was advised that his future should be in “plastics.” That future may be coming back to haunt all of us now. It is estimated that 5 to 13 million metric tons of plastics enter the...

This news column is composed of several items exemplifying clean technology and its assessment.