Scientists issue dire warning: Microplastic accumulation in human brains escalating
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I got a soda stream with glass bottles. You can make soda from fruit (lemons and oranges are especially delicious - plus I can control whatever sweetener I use). Also, if you really want cola, then you can get concentrated syrup so there's less plastic and liquid transport overall.
I wish it were easier to find name-brand cola syrup in larger sizes than those 14.8 fl oz Sodastream ones. Seems like bag-in-box syrups are only sold to actual business owners, not the general public.
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At 600 degrees, there is probably some reaction happening there that may be similar to plastics. Basically, creating brain plastic and cooking it off to measure plastics. Im a bit skeptic.
I'm a microbiologist but my grad school work, research, and coursework was very chemistry heavy. There are no "probably does somethings" of significance here: the chemistry of plastic generation is extremely well researched.
Plastic is made of polymerized hydrocarbons, linked up identical tiny units of carbon strands called monomers. Polymerization, the linkage of the monomers into a polymer, requires the use of a catalyst. This is often done with increased heat and pressure to increase the speed of polymerization. Maximum temperatures are around 350°C for certain plastics but are more commonly 140-160°C as higher temperatures can cause the material to break down. Once the desired size of linkage is created, the polymer is capped to keep it from growing further.
Polymerized hydrocarbons degrade, not further polymerize somehow, at high temperatures like 600° C. Saying there's some mysterious, high-heat-driven polymerization is like saying burning wood, which is largely a polymer of glucose called cellulose, somehow creates more cellulose as it burns. The burning is due to the release of the energy contained in the bonds in the wood as they break down and react with oxygen.
Even if the process DID somehow create some plastic, a given mass of brain tissue would be expected to create predictable amounts of this mystery polymer, giving a background measurement that can be subtracted. Again, though, we know how this all works so it's not really a concern.
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This is just one more apocalypse to add to the pile. We are no more fucked that before we knew about this. Humanity can only die once.
Still, kinda shit, eh?
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Edgy...
Despite having no desire to have kids, I'd much rather be born today than pretty much any time before the last few generations.
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Haha that's the neat part
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Who would have guessed that song was an apocalyptic warning
On the contrary, who didn't?
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A relative bright spot amidst a sea of bad news:
"Bottled water alone can expose people to nearly as many microplastic particles annually as all ingested and inhaled sources combined,” said Brandon Luu, an Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Toronto. “Switching to tap water could reduce this exposure by almost 90%, making it one of the simplest ways to cut down on microplastic intake.”
Dunno if anyone reading this is still drinking bottled water, but, uh, now you have another reason to not do that.
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At 600 degrees, there is probably some reaction happening there that may be similar to plastics. Basically, creating brain plastic and cooking it off to measure plastics. Im a bit skeptic.
What is this hypothesis based on?
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Edgy...
Despite having no desire to have kids, I'd much rather be born today than pretty much any time before the last few generations.
That's the point I'm making, it's not about YOU, you are not the child being born. Your opinion doesn't matter to the kid being born.
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Yes, and:
“Bottled water alone can expose people to nearly as many microplastic particles annually as all ingested and inhaled sources combined,” said Brandon Luu, an Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Toronto. “Switching to tap water could reduce this exposure by almost 90%, making it one of the simplest ways to cut down on microplastic intake.”
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Yes, and:
“Bottled water alone can expose people to nearly as many microplastic particles annually as all ingested and inhaled sources combined,” said Brandon Luu, an Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Toronto. “Switching to tap water could reduce this exposure by almost 90%, making it one of the simplest ways to cut down on microplastic intake.”
I think that's mostly an issue in America. Here in Europe you can always drink tap water.
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More importantly, how are we getting them out?
There's bacteria that can eat plastics. Lets hope they don't eat brain too.
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I am longing for plastic-eating bacteria to be released into the wild. There are other materials we can use.
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A relative bright spot amidst a sea of bad news:
"Bottled water alone can expose people to nearly as many microplastic particles annually as all ingested and inhaled sources combined,” said Brandon Luu, an Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Toronto. “Switching to tap water could reduce this exposure by almost 90%, making it one of the simplest ways to cut down on microplastic intake.”
Dunno if anyone reading this is still drinking bottled water, but, uh, now you have another reason to not do that.
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I'm a microbiologist but my grad school work, research, and coursework was very chemistry heavy. There are no "probably does somethings" of significance here: the chemistry of plastic generation is extremely well researched.
Plastic is made of polymerized hydrocarbons, linked up identical tiny units of carbon strands called monomers. Polymerization, the linkage of the monomers into a polymer, requires the use of a catalyst. This is often done with increased heat and pressure to increase the speed of polymerization. Maximum temperatures are around 350°C for certain plastics but are more commonly 140-160°C as higher temperatures can cause the material to break down. Once the desired size of linkage is created, the polymer is capped to keep it from growing further.
Polymerized hydrocarbons degrade, not further polymerize somehow, at high temperatures like 600° C. Saying there's some mysterious, high-heat-driven polymerization is like saying burning wood, which is largely a polymer of glucose called cellulose, somehow creates more cellulose as it burns. The burning is due to the release of the energy contained in the bonds in the wood as they break down and react with oxygen.
Even if the process DID somehow create some plastic, a given mass of brain tissue would be expected to create predictable amounts of this mystery polymer, giving a background measurement that can be subtracted. Again, though, we know how this all works so it's not really a concern.
Brain tissue is not as simple as cellulose, but at 600 C with the molecules that make up the molecular soup, there would definitely be some lysing that would take place and form thing like free radicals, these have the potential to react forming longer chains of carbon, which could possibly create a false positive.
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I am longing for plastic-eating bacteria to be released into the wild. There are other materials we can use.
Yes, I am sure such a bacteria being released at this scale would have absolutely zero negative consequences
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So what? We all have to make a bit of sacrifice to maximize shareholder value. Stop whining about it!
::: spoiler Tap for spoiler
/s
:::wow! I'm glad you did the /s I am incapable of parsing sarcasm due to my plastic induced retardation on Reddit
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I can feel it
same honestly
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wow! I'm glad you did the /s I am incapable of parsing sarcasm due to my plastic induced retardation on Reddit
