Dolphins Are Exhaling Microplastics
New research highlights how extensive plastic pollution is—and how nonhuman species, including dolphins, are exposed......»»
Tiny fish-shaped robot "swims" around picking up microplastics
Microplastics are found nearly everywhere on Earth and can be harmful to animals if they're ingested. But it's hard to remove such tiny particles from the environment, especially once they settle into nooks and crannies at the bottom of waterways. No.....»»
Microplastics Found In Freshly Fallen Antarctic Snow For First Time
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Microplastics have been found in freshly fallen snow in Antarctica for the first time, which could accelerate snow and ice melting and pose a threat to the health of the continent's unique ecosys.....»»
Examining the microplastics in the Indian Ocean
They may be tiny, but they pose a global problem for humans and the environment: microplastic particles. These are plastic particles with a diameter between one micron and five millimeters. Their accurate analysis is an enormous challenge due to high.....»»
First microplastics found in Antarctic snow
University of Canterbury researchers have published the world's first study confirming the discovery of microplastics in fresh snow in Antarctica......»»
‘Plastitar’ Is the Unholy Spawn of Oil Spills and Microplastics
On the beautiful beaches of the Canary Islands, scientists discovered a noxious new pollutant: tar mixed with tiny bits of plastic......»»
How do bacterial communities in black soils respond to conventional and biodegradable microplastics?
Plastic film mulching has been applied globally in various agricultural settings and inevitably disintegrates into microplastics (MPs, which are less than 5 mm in size) due to a series of natural and artificial forces. However, the effects of MPs on.....»»
NYC estuary is a dolphin dining hotspot during summer and autumn months for bottlenose dolphins
They click. They whistle. They love seafood. They are New York City's nearshore bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that return to feed in local waters from spring to fall each year, and a team of scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Soci.....»»
Catching microplastics with spider webs
Flies, mosquitoes, dust and even microplastics—spider webs capture whatever travels through the air. Researchers at the university have now for the first time tested if they can get an overview of plastic particles in the air by examining the eight.....»»
Dolphins Rub against Mucus-Oozing Corals to Soothe Skin
This “gorgoning” releases antibacterial compounds and other substances that dolphins could be using to self-medicate -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.....»»
Monitoring the journey of microplastics through the intestine of a living organism
A UAB research team has managed to track the movement of microplastics during their journey through the intestinal tract of a living organism and illustrate what happens along the way. The study, carried out on Drosophila melanogaster using electron.....»»
Microplastics threaten typical remote cryospheric regions
Microplastics usually refer to plastic fibers, films, fragments, and microbes with size less than five millimeters. They are widely distributed in water, soil, sediment, the atmosphere, and even snow and ice, which impacts Earth's climate and environ.....»»
Pee pals: Dolphins taste friends" urine to know they"re around
Think about people you know, and how you could tell they were around even if you couldn't see them: perhaps their voice, or a favored perfume......»»
Pee pals: Dolphins use taste of urine to recognize friends
Think about people you know, and how you could tell they were around even if you couldn't see them: their voice, perhaps, or even a favored deodorant......»»
Are microplastics pervasive in Nigerian drinking water?
In Nigeria, about 90% of water available for drinking is sourced from boreholes, or deep, narrow wells that tap into naturally occurring underground water. A recent study in Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry found that microplastics (MPs) are abun.....»»
Previously unknown dolphin species were present in ancient Swiss ocean
Twenty million years ago, the Swiss Plateau region, or Mittelland, was an ocean in which dolphins swam. Researchers at the University of Zurich's Paleontological Institute have now discovered two previously unknown species related to modern sperm wha.....»»
Diseased dolphins at risk of starvation use muscles as energy source to survive
Diseased dolphin populations are using their muscles as an energy source to survive, a conservation study that analyzed their metabolism has found......»»
Unusually fast beaked whale has special deep-sea hunting strategy
An international team of biologists has successfully used biologgers to reveal insights into the lifestyle and hunting behavior of the little-known species Sowerby's beaked whale. The team's first results show that these dolphins have a surprisingly.....»»
Peru "pinger" trial deters dolphins but not whales
A trial of underwater sound devices called pingers reduced the number of dolphins caught in fishing nets—but did not deter humpback whales......»»
Cooling speeds up electrons in bacterial nanowires
The ground beneath our feet and under the ocean floor is an electrically-charged grid, the product of bacteria "exhaling" excess electrons through tiny nanowires in an environment lacking oxygen......»»
How microplastics in the air are polluting the most remote places on Earth
Microplastics are being transported to some of the most remote places on Earth by the wind, according to new research involving the University of East Anglia. A new study published today in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment shows how wind transports.....»»