{"id":11814,"date":"2024-05-16T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=11814"},"modified":"2024-05-17T05:18:43","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T05:18:43","slug":"what-are-nanoplastics-an-engineer-explains-concerns-about-particles-too-small-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/what-are-nanoplastics-an-engineer-explains-concerns-about-particles-too-small-to-see\/","title":{"rendered":"What are nanoplastics? An engineer explains concerns about particles too small to\u00a0see"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n You can\u2019t see them, but there likely are nanoplastics in this Mediterranean seawater.\n Lisa Schaetzle, Moment, via Getty Images<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n Mohan Qin<\/a>, University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

It\u2019s become common to read that microplastics \u2013 little bits of plastic, smaller than a pencil eraser \u2013 are turning up everywhere and in everything, including the ocean, farmland, food and human bodies<\/a>. Now a new term is gaining attention: nanoplastics. These particles are even tinier than microplastics \u2013 so small that they\u2019re invisible to the naked eye.<\/p>\n\n

Nanoplastics are a type of microplastic, distinguished by their extremely small size. Microplastics are usually less than 5 millimeters across; nanoplastics are between 1 and 1,000 nanometers across. For comparison, an average human hair is roughly 80,000-100,000 nanometers wide. <\/p>\n\n

Nanoplastics are attracting growing concern thanks to recent technological advances that have made researchers more able to detect and analyze them. Their smaller size means that they are more easily transported over long distances and into more diverse environments than microplastics. They can more easily penetrate cells and tissues in living organisms, which could lead to different and more acute toxicological effects.<\/p>\n\n

Studies in the past two years have found nanoplastics in human blood<\/a>, in liver and lung cells<\/a>, and in reproductive tissues such as the placenta<\/a> and the testes<\/a>. Around the world, nanoplastics have been found in the air<\/a>, in seawater<\/a>, in snow<\/a> and in soil<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

We already know that microplastics are present from the heights of Mount Everest<\/a> to deep ocean trenches<\/a>. Now there is growing evidence that nanoplastics are more prevalent than larger microplastics in the environment. <\/p>\n\n

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