Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe How bad are microplastics?
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Dec 16, 2025 Microplastics have infiltrated our lives since the 1950s, raising concerns about their effects on health and the environment. The hosts break down how these tiny plastics originate and persist, detailing their presence in human tissues and food chains. They delve into the toxic potential of microplastics and the mixed evidence surrounding harmful additives like phthalates. Listeners are offered practical steps to minimize exposure, while the discussion emphasizes the urgent need for further research into these pervasive particles.
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Plastic's Rapid Rise And Tradeoffs
- Plastics rose to ubiquity after mid-20th-century industrial scaling and made many goods cheaper and more accessible.
- This global spread created trade-offs between convenience and long-term environmental costs.
Tiny Plastics Are Everywhere
- Microplastics are defined as ≤5 mm and nanoplastics as ≤1 µm, and they now occur globally, even in remote locations.
- Scientists have detected tiny plastics in human organs and baby meconium, indicating early-life exposure.
Estimating Microplastic Numbers Is Hard
- Estimating microplastic abundance is difficult and improves as detection methods find smaller particles.
- Published estimates range extremely widely, e.g., ~51 trillion particles in oceans, with large uncertainty.
