Dolphins Are Exhaling Microplastics
New research highlights how extensive plastic pollution is—and how nonhuman species, including dolphins, are exposed......»»
Microplastics discovered in the body tissues of whales, dolphins and seals, sparking concerns for human health
Marine mammals—animals including whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, sea otters, dugongs and manatees—are threatened by an array of human activities. Species such as the North Atlantic right whale, Rice's whale and Vaquita porpoise have been push.....»»
Plankton are central to life on Earth: How is climate change affecting them?
Recently, scientists reported that more than half of our oceans are turning greener, an indication that they might contain more phytoplankton. Along the California coast, hundreds of sea lions and dolphins turned up sick or dying after being exposed.....»»
Could microplastics in soil introduce drug-resistant superbugs to the food supply?
Like every industry, modern farming relies heavily on plastics. Think plastic mulch lining vegetable beds, PVC pipes draining water from fields, polyethylene covering high tunnels, and plastic seed, fertilizer, and herbicide packaging, to name a few......»»
Cape Cod strands more dolphins than anywhere else. Now they"re getting their own hospital
When members of the marine mammal team from the International Fund for Animal Welfare rush to a Cape Cod beach to help a stranded dolphin or porpoise, they have no choice but to treat the endangered animal on site and then immediately release it......»»
Call to protect whales and dolphins at Indian Ocean hotspot
A remote part of the Indian Ocean is a hotspot for whales and dolphins, prompting researchers to call for a new protected area......»»
Line-scan Raman micro-spectroscopy provides rapid method for micro and nanoplastics detection
Microplastics—plastics particles smaller than 5 mm in size—have caused an environmental pollution issue that cannot be ignored by our society. Raman spectroscopy technology, with its non-contact, non-destructive and chemical-specific characterist.....»»
Microplastics are adsorbing zinc oxide from sunscreens and microbeads from cleansers
A new study by a research team from Diamond Light Source looks at how microplastics wastes may interact with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanomaterials in freshwater and seawater scenarios. It also evaluated, a ZnO-based sunscreen and an exfoliating cleanser wit.....»»
Microplastic pollution: New device uses wood dust to trap up to 99.9% of microplastics in water
Could plants be the answer to the looming threat of microplastic pollution? Scientists at UBC's BioProducts Institute found that if you add tannins—natural plant compounds that make your mouth pucker if you bite into an unripe fruit—to a layer of.....»»
How microplastics are making their way into our farmland
Microplastic pollution is a global environmental problem that is ubiquitous in all environments, including air, water and soils......»»
Microplastics found embedded in tissues of whales and dolphins
Microscopic plastic particles have been found in the fats and lungs of two-thirds of the marine mammals in a graduate student's study of ocean microplastics. The presence of polymer particles and fibers in these animals suggests that microplastics ca.....»»
Adapting to water temperature changes: The smart "coat" of the Yangtze finless porpoise
Cetaceans, including dolphins and whales, spend their entire lives in the water. Unlike terrestrial animals, they face greater challenges in regulating their body temperature because water conducts heat 25 times faster than air. However, these clever.....»»
Q&A: Toxic algae, warming waters imperil marine life on U.S. coasts
The images are heart-rending: hundreds of dolphins and sea lions washing up along the shores of Southern California, sick and dying from toxic algae poisoning. Photographed earlier this summer, they are the latest reminders that the climate crisis is.....»»
Listening in on endangered Amazon River dolphins
Monitoring echolocation clicks could be used to track the movements of two endangered freshwater dolphin species that inhabit inaccessible parts of the Amazon Basin—the boto (or pink river dolphin) and the tucuxi—and their interactions with peopl.....»»
Why can"t we just tow stranded whales and dolphins back out to sea?
On Tuesday night, a pod of almost 100 long-finned pilot whales stranded itself on a beach on Western Australia's south coast. Over the course of Wednesday, more than 100 parks and wildlife staff and 250 registered volunteers worked tirelessly to try.....»»
Scientists develop automated analysis method for identification and quantification of microplastic particles
How high are concentrations of microplastics in the environment, in our drinking water or in foods? Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed an automated analysis method for the identification and quantification of parti.....»»
Tourists help scientists reveal microplastic pollution on remote Arctic beaches
Tourists acting as citizen scientists have helped a research team detect microplastics on remote Arctic beaches. The global scale of plastic production means that these tiny fragments of plastic are now ubiquitous, and scientists fear that ocean curr.....»»
Dolphins and Whales Will Never Evolve Back into Land Animals
Scientists have discovered that once mammals, such as dolphins or orcas, have become fully aquatic, they pass a threshold that makes a return to terrestrial landscapes almost impossible.....»»
Detecting nanoplastics in fractions of a second using modified Raman spectroscopy
Microplastics are tiny, barely visible plastic particles that can harm the environment, for example, if they are eaten by animals. However, it has been difficult to assess the effect of even smaller particles, which can hardly be detected using conve.....»»
Male rhesus macaques often have sex with each other, a trait they have inherited in part from their parents
Homosexual behavior is not limited to humans. Biologists have reported homosexual behavior in many species of wild animal, ranging from bats and birds to dolphins and primates......»»
Researchers evaluate levels of indoor microplastics in Australia
Griffith University researchers have taken a forensic look at the amount of airborne microplastics in indoor environments in Australia, and the results are confronting......»»