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from the nanoplastics-for-every-organism dept.
The concern about plastic pollution has become widespread after it was realised that mismanaged plastics in the environment break down into smaller pieces known as microplastics and nanoplastics. It is likely that nanoplastics, due to their small size, can pass through physiological barriers and enter organisms.
Despite the growing body of evidence on the potential toxicity of nanoplastics to plants, invertebrates and vertebrates, our understanding of plastic transfer in food webs is limited. For instance, little is known about nanoplastics in soil ecosystems and their uptake by soil organisms, despite the fact that agricultural soil is potentially receiving nanoplastics from different sources such as atmospheric deposition, irrigation with wastewater, application of sewage sludge for agricultural purposes, and use of mulching film. [...]
Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have developed a novel, metallic fingerprint-based technique to detect and measure nanoplastics in organisms and, in this new study, they applied it to a model food chain consisting of three trophic levels, i.e., lettuce as a primary producer, black soldier fly larvae as a primary consumer, and the insectivorous fish (roach) as a secondary consumer. The researchers used commonly found plastic waste in the environment, including polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) nanoplastics.
Lettuce plants were exposed to nanoplastics for 14 days via contaminated soil, after which they were harvested and fed to insects (black soldier fly larvae, which are used as a source of proteins in many countries). After five days of feeding with lettuce, the insects were fed to the fish for five days.
Using scanning electron microscopy, the researchers analysed the dissected plants, larvae and fish. The images showed that nanoplastics were taken up by the roots of the plants and accumulate in the leaves. Then, nanoplastics were transferred from the contaminated lettuce to the insects. [...] When the fish fed on the contaminated insects, particles were detected in the gills, liver and intestine tissues of the fish, whereas no particles were found in the brain tissue.
Journal Reference:
Fazel Abdolahpur Monikh, Sille Holm, Raine Kortet, et al. Quantifying the trophic transfer of sub-micron plastics in an assembled food chain [open]. Nano Today, 46, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.nantod.2022.101611
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 20 2022, @05:50PM (10 children)
Give me a McToilets Big Mackintosh with a side order of Wellies.
Sheeeit, muhf*ck.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday September 20 2022, @06:37PM (9 children)
I'm picturing future humans (and such animals and plants as survive with us) as these cheap FX house blobby aliens, tissues all bloated up full of crap that isn't quite killing us but neither can we really get rid of it either.
People who live their whole lives in bubbles of filtered air and water and "clean food" might continue to resemble us, but they might also be setting themselves up to require bubble life by not evolving to coexist with all the crap we're filling the environment with.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 20 2022, @07:17PM
I'm picturing Cheech & Chong Up In Smoke, but without all the intelligence...
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Barren....
Monty Python's Life of Dyin...
The Dook, the Uncle Dad and the Fugly...
Zombies and Walking Dead and Undead... Oh, myyyyyy.... (Oh, myyyyy, spoken as George Takei...poetry without notoriety...)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2022, @06:15PM (2 children)
Meanwhile I'm picturing a future where more and more organisms develop a way to digest plastics - especially in wet and warm places.
Enough so that we might actually need to add/do stuff to plastic just like we do to wood so that it lasts longer in such environments.
Long ago there weren't as many organisms that could digest lignin and even cellulose...
Plastics have only been around for a short time and already some organisms are able to eat some types:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideonella_sakaiensis [wikipedia.org]
https://news.stanford.edu/2019/12/19/mealworms-provide-plastic-solution/ [stanford.edu]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 21 2022, @08:18PM (1 child)
Talk about your psychedelic mushrooms, just picture the fungi that will eat old Tide and Sprite bottles.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 21 2022, @08:52PM
Or some dude sitting in a vaginal rocking chair.
Yep, you guessed it, Crimes of the Future reference!
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 21 2022, @07:58PM (4 children)
Have you seen the new Cronenberg movie? (that's basically the plot)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 21 2022, @08:25PM (3 children)
We're getting to a, I wanted to say interesting but it's really more like an inflection point in the arts where there are so many millions of people engaged in writing stories, producing movies, etc. all with the same globally connected source of news and information that independently derived ideas are more likely than not to have already been developed into a book or movie somewhere...
Are you referring to "Crimes of the Future" or "The Death of David Cronenberg"? or???
This guy, right? David Cronenberg Known For: The Fly Gynecologist (1986)
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 21 2022, @08:36PM (2 children)
Yeah the new 'Crimes of the Future." (and I intended to post under the one about evolving to eat plastic)
So multiple fails on that one!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 21 2022, @08:56PM (1 child)
Looks worth the time, but maybe not worth the effort... probably not coming to Netflix :-(
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 21 2022, @09:29PM
I'm sure it will eventually.
Obviously I liked it. I was rolling my eyes a bit about the Cronenbergness at the beginning but they did a good job of explaining all the wackiness I thought.