Plastic is the most prevalent type of marine debris found in our ocean and Great Lakes. Plastic debris can come in all shapes and sizes, but those that are less than five millimeters in length (or about the size of a sesame seed) are called “microplastics.”
Microplastics come from a variety of sources, including from larger plastic debris that degrades into smaller and smaller pieces. In addition, microbeads, a type of microplastic, are very tiny pieces of manufactured polyethylene plastic that are added as exfoliants to health and beauty products, such as some cleansers and toothpastes.
How is plastic made, and what kinds are there?
Various synthetic organic compounds can be considered plastic, and these can be manufactured by polymerization and can consist of repeating units (monomers) that are joined together to form copolymers. Plastic is a synthetic organic polymer made from petroleum and serves an extremely wide variety of purposes, including packaging, building and constructions household items, sports equipment, vehicles electronics and agriculture. The amount of plastic produced every year is more than 300 million tons, half of which is used for small single-use items like shopping bags, cups and straws.
Bu hikaye Scientific India dergisinin November - December 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Scientific India dergisinin November - December 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Non-Thermal Plasma Applications in Biomedical and Medicine fields
The fishing and marine industry plays a crucial role in providing food, livelihoods, and economic prosperity worldwide. However, one significant challenge that the industry faces is biofouling - the accumulation of marine organisms on submerged surfaces.
Misbeliefs related to Food, Nutrition and Cancer
There are so many myths about food and nutrition related to cancer and it's difficult to find out the truth. Often the information shared by people and on internet is very confusing. One cannot clarify the fact about the statement.
Scientists Have Grown Diamonds in Just 150 Minutes
Natural diamonds take billions of years to form in the extreme pressures and temperatures deep underground. Synthetic forms can be produced far quicker, but they typically still require some intense squishing for up to several weeks.
In a warming world, climate scientists consider category 6 hurricanes
For more than 50 years, the National Hurricane Center has used the Saffir-Simpson Windscale to communicate the risk of property damage; it labels a hurricane on a scale from Category 1 (wind speeds between 74-95 mph) to Category 5 (wind speeds of 158 mph or greater).
New antibiotic class effective against multidrug-resistant bacteria
Scientists at Uppsala University have discovered a new class of antibiotics with potent activity against multidrug-resistant bacteria, and have shown that it cures bloodstream infections in mice. The new antibiotic class is described in an article in the scientific journal PNAS.
Modeling the origins of life: New evidence for an 'RNA World'
Charles Darwin described evolution as \"descent with modification.\" Genetic information in the form of DNA sequences is copied and passed down from one generation to the next. But this process must also be somewhat flexible, allowing slight variations of genes to arise over time and introduce new traits into the population.
European lawmakers pass world's first major act to regulate AI
The European Union's parliament on Wednesday approved the world's first major set of regulatory ground rules to govern the mediatized artificial intelligence at the forefront of tech investment.
Scientists are making significant progress towards reviving the woolly mammoth
A company aiming to bring extinct animals back from the dead said it has taken an elephant-sized step toward genetically resurrecting the woolly mammoth, a wild if contentious goal to repopulate the Arctic tundra with a missing titan.
Probiotic feed additive boosts growth, health in poultry in place of antibiotics
Antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly serious threat for public health, and the use of anti-microbials in livestock feed has been a major contributing factor in the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance to many drugs, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Can animals count?
Research team from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Faculty of Medicine (CU Medicine) has made a groundbreaking discovery regarding number sense in animals by confirming the existence of discrete number sense in rats, offering a crucial animal model for investigating the neural basis of numerical ability and disability in humans.
