Guest Work • Jul 20, 2017 •
Jennifer Lavers, University of Tasmania and Alexander Bond, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds A few weeks ago, the world woke to the story of Henderson Island, the “South Pacific island of rubbish”. Our research revealed it as a place littered with plastic garbage, washed there by ocean currents. This was a story we … Read More
Guest Work • Jul 06, 2017 •
Natalie Welden, Research Associate: Marine Pollution / Ecotoxicology / Microplastics, The Open University After decades of intense observation and campaigning by conservation groups, awareness of microplastic pollution has fortunately grown. There is now worldwide concern about tiny pieces of plastic litter that are having a harmful impact on marine species and habitats. Large plastic litter has already … Read More
Steve Pointing • Sep 03, 2015 •
A synthesis of data spanning over 60 years has revealed an alarming increase in the number of seabirds that have ingested plastic. An Australian-led study published this week in PNAS (abstract only without a subscription) shows that whilst the number of seabirds that had eaten plastic was 5% in 1950, by 2010 this had risen to 80%, and is … Read More
Erica Mather • Sep 02, 2015 •
A new study predicts that 99 per cent of the world’s seabirds will consume plastic by 2050. Seabirds easily mistake brightly coloured plastics for food or accidentally swallow pieces such as bottle caps, bags and fibres from synthetic clothing that have washed out to sea from waste deposits, sewers and rivers. Scientists from CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial … Read More
Guest Work • Dec 12, 2014 •
by Laurent Lebreton, data scientist at dumpark A recent study on marine plastic pollution published in the journal PlosOne estimates that some 5.25 trillion plastic particles weighing more than 268.000 tonnes are floating on the world’s oceans. Over a six-year period, researchers from six different countries collected plastic density data from 24 expeditions into the five main oceanic basins … Read More
Victoria Metcalf • May 30, 2014 •
Four of the Antarctic or anything else headlines/social media bits that have grabbed my attention this week. Remarkably it looks like the diminutive Kiwi is the closest living relative of the extinct elephant bird. Image source: Wikimedia Commons uploaded by Glen Stewart. The importance of basic science 1. As a scientist I actually love it when what we think … Read More
Guest Work • Mar 26, 2013 •
by Laurent Lebreton While the common misconception of global plastic pollution in our oceans is based on descriptions of the north Pacific gyre being a trash island the size of Texas, the reality is much more complicated. Although plastic is not biodegradable unlike other floating marine debris, it is eventually broken down by the sunlight into microscopic particles that … Read More
Peter Kerr • Nov 01, 2011 •
Fittingly, the plastics industry seems to be on the verge of remolding itself and its centre of excellence. This time, for an activity that is known as an ‘enabling industry’, hopefully the model and structure is got right. As a … Continue reading → … Read More
Aimee Whitcroft • Sep 10, 2010 •
Whilst in the process of writing other, more long-form posts, I thought I’d throw you all the proverbial bone. A bone Or, to be more precise, smattering of things wot I has found interesting today, and which you might find interesting too. First up! Akinori Ito goes down as favourite human … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Apr 14, 2010 •
The Pacific Ocean surface is gradually clogging up with a fine mist of plastic. And not just the surface, either. I rarely watch late night TV, but tonight I caught an interview of Charles Moore on David Letterman’s ‘The Late Show’. Letterman‘s stuff is usually too banal for my tastes, and the Americana … Read More