blog posts

• Study helps pinpoint areas where microplastics will accumulate

  Jul 7, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: MIT, 6/4/25

  The accumulation of microplastics in the environment, and within our bodies, is an increasingly worrisome issue. But predicting where these ubiquitous particles will accumulate, and therefore where remediation efforts should be focused, has been difficult because of the many factors that contribute to their dispersal and deposition.

  New research from MIT shows that one key factor in determining where microparticles are likely to build up has to do with the presence of biofilms. These thin, sticky biopolymer layers are shed by microorganisms and can accumulate on surfaces, including along sandy riverbeds or seashores. The study found that, all other conditions being equal, microparticles are less likely to accumulate in sediment infused with biofilms, because if they land there, they are more likely to be resuspended by flowing water and carried away. The open-access findings appear in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, in a paper by MIT postdoc Hyoungchul Park and professor of civil and environmental engineering Heidi Nepf.

• Critical minerals don’t belong in landfills – microwave tech offers a cleaner way to reclaim them from e-waste

  Jul 3, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 5/28/25

  Researchers at West Virginia University are developing a new technology to change how electronics are recycled. Instead of using toxic chemicals, their approach uses electricity, which makes recovering critical materials from electronics safer, cleaner, and more affordable. 

• Waste to value: the 11 startups leading on carbon capture and utilization

  Jul 2, 2025 12:15 pm

  Source: World Economic Forum, 4/22/25

  Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) transforms CO₂ into valuable products and has particular value for hard-to-abate sectors aiming to decarbonize. The UpLink Carbon Capture and Utilization challenge is currently supporting 11 startups offering ways of utilizing CO2 that could play a role in industry decarbonization.

• Harvesting the untapped: Electrochemical capacitors transform CO₂ into usable energy

  Jul 1, 2025 12:15 pm

  Source: E+E Leader, 4/28/25

  Traditional carbon capture strategies focus on separating and storing CO₂ without addressing the significant energy losses inherent in the process. New research, however, demonstrates a novel pathway: recovering energy directly from CO₂ emissions using ionic liquid-based electrochemical capacitors.

• Lessons from the emerging effort to advance ‘circular’ textiles in health care

  Jun 30, 2025 12:15 pm

  Source: Trellis, 4/22/25

  New regulations and global pressure are accelerating the shift toward more sustainable medical garments. Most medical textiles are not recycled, contributing to health care’s large climate and plastic waste footprint. Startups FIGS and AmorSui are serving sector professionals seeking to reduce those impacts, with “circular” scrubs and lab coats.

• New cooling tech could curb data centers’ rising energy demands

  Jun 27, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of California San Diego, 6/13/25

  As artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing continue to expand, the demand for data processing—and the heat it generates—is skyrocketing. Currently, cooling accounts for up to 40% of a data center’s total energy use. If trends continue, global energy use for cooling could more than double by 2030. Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new cooling technology that could significantly improve the energy efficiency of data centers and high-powered electronics. The technology features a specially engineered fiber membrane that passively removes heat through evaporation. It offers a promising alternative to traditional cooling systems like fans, heat sinks and liquid pumps. It could also reduce the water use associated with many current cooling systems.

  The advance is detailed in a paper published on June 13 in the journal Joule.

• Biobased lignin gels offer sustainable alternative for hair conditioning

  Jun 26, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Stockholm University, 2/21/25

  Hair conditioners typically contain 20–30 ingredients, many derived from petroleum and oleochemicals, raising concerns about sustainability and environmental impact. A new study published in Science Advances, demonstrates that micellar lignin gels can effectively stabilize emulsions with natural oils, reducing the need for synthetic surfactants and complex stabilizers commonly used in commercial formulations. The research team, led by Mika Sipponen at Stockholm University, sought to explore lignin, a common and renewable component in wood biomass, as a multifunctional component for hair conditioning.

• Recycled cements drive down emissions without slacking on strength

  Jun 25, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Princeton University, 3/18/25

  Giving a second life to construction materials after demolition, engineers at the University of São Paulo and Princeton have developed an approach for recycling cement waste into a sustainable, low-carbon alternative that is comparable in performance to the industry standard. In addition to lowering the carbon intensity of the cement and concrete industry, the process could enable new uses for construction and demolition waste, of which concrete is a significant component. In 2018 in the United States, the total amount of construction and demolition waste was more than twice that of household waste. In their paper, published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, the researchers demonstrated that mixtures containing up to 80% of this recycled cement were just as strong as conventional Portland cement by itself while generating a fraction of the carbon emissions.

• MCCPs detected in U. S. air for first time

  Jun 24, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: CIRES at University of Colorado Boulder, 6/9/25
  

  Using a high-tech instrument to measure how aerosol particles form and grow in the atmosphere, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder stumbled upon something unexpected: the first-ever airborne measurements of Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs), a kind of toxic organic pollutant, in the Western Hemisphere. Their results published today in ACS Environmental Au. MCCPs are currently under consideration for regulation by the Stockholm Convention, a global treaty to protect human health from long-standing and widespread chemicals. While the toxic pollutants have been measured in Antarctica and Asia, researchers haven’t been sure how to document them in the Western Hemisphere’s atmosphere until now. MCCPs are used in fluids for metal working and in the construction of PVC and textiles. They are often found in wastewater and as a result, can end up in biosolid fertilizer, also called sewage sludge, which is created when liquid is removed from wastewater in a treatment plant. In Oklahoma, researchers suspect the MCCPs they identified came from biosolid fertilizer in the fields near where they set up their instrument.

• A building material that lives and stores carbon

  Jun 23, 2025 11:30 am

  Source: ETH Zurich, 6/21/25

  The idea seems futuristic: At ETH Zurich, various disciplines are working together to combine conventional materials with bacteria, algae and fungi. The common goal: to create living materials that acquire useful properties thanks to the metabolism of microorganisms – "such as the ability to bind CO₂ from the air by means of photosynthesis," says Mark Tibbitt, Professor of Macromolecular Engineering at ETH Zurich.

  An interdisciplinary research team led by Tibbitt has now turned this vision into reality: it has stably incorporated photosynthetic bacteria – known as cyanobacteria – into a printable gel and developed a material that is alive, grows and actively removes carbon from the air. The researchers recently presented their "photosynthetic living material" in a study in the journal Nature Communications.

• PFAS could be replaced with safe graphene oxide solution

  Jun 20, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Northwestern University, 5/29/25

  Current food packaging often relies on plastics and toxic PFAS coatings, which pose environmental and health risks and are difficult to recycle or compost. Current food packaging often relies on plastics and toxic PFAS coatings, which pose environmental and health risks and are difficult to recycle or compost. This innovation offers a scalable, sustainable alternative to harmful materials, enabling safer, stronger, and more eco-friendly food packaging that meets growing regulatory and consumer demands.

• Industry’s Path to a Greener Future: A Perspective on Current Sustainable Practices and Areas of Opportunity

  Jun 19, 2025 9:00 am

  Lozano-Onrubia, G., Castillo-Pazos, D. J., Grieger, K., Wheeler, M., Grignon, E., Pazoki, F., Gallenstein, R., Castilla-Acevedo, S. F., Fan, F., Musa, E. N., Beena, N. C., Ahuja, H., Popoola, O., Battaglia, A. M., Kaur, G., Alahakoon, I., Chipangura, Y. E., Aransiola, E., Moumbogno Tchodimo, F. C., … Moores, A. (2025). Industry’s Path to a Greener Future: A Perspective on Current Sustainable Practices and Areas of Opportunity. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 13(19), 6849–6874. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c00741

  Abstract: Chemistry is directly and indirectly related to some of the most polluting industries, making it exceptionally critical for chemists to act and develop novel solutions toward more sustainable industrial practices. In this perspective, participants of the 2023 ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy describe state-of-the-art developments that the chemical industry has spearheaded to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute toward achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Herein, we illustrate a variety of methods that the chemical industry has employed, ranging from technological factors, such as using catalysis, implementing AI to reduce energy-intensive processes, and developing carbon capture technology and sustainable fuels, to socioeconomic factors─incorporating circularity, society targeted innovation and education, and developing successful collaborations between the private and public sectors. This perspective aims to trigger discussions and highlight how multifaceted approaches are necessary to support the transition to a greener industrial sector.

• The CO2 Tree: The Potential for Carbon Dioxide Utilization Pathways

  Jun 18, 2025 9:00 am

  LeClerc, H. O., Erythropel, H. C., Backhaus, A., Lee, D. S., Judd, D. R., Paulsen, M. M., Ishii, M., Long, A., Ratjen, L., Gonsalves Bertho, G., Deetman, C., Du, Y., Lane, M. K. M., Petrovic, P. V., Champlin, A. T., Bordet, A., Kaeffer, N., Kemper, G., Zimmerman, J. B., … Anastas, P. T. (2025). The CO2 Tree: The Potential for Carbon Dioxide Utilization Pathways. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 13(1), 5–29. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c07582 [open access]
  
  Abstract: Among the most active areas of chemistry research today is that of carbon dioxide utilization: an area of research that was viewed as futile and commercially impractical not so long ago due to the energetic stability of the CO₂ molecule. The breakthroughs that largely began in earnest in the 1990s have accelerated and now make up a diverse and plentiful portfolio of technological and scientific advances and commercialized technologies. Here, “The CO₂ Tree” is presented as a tool to illustrate the breadth of potential products from CO₂ utilization and to communicate the potential of these chemical breakthroughs to address the greatest challenge that society faces today: climate change. It is intended to be useful for scientists, engineers, legislators, advocates, industrial decision-makers, policy makers, and the general public to know what is already possible today and what may be in the near future.

     

• Biochar-based slow-release fertilizers: A step toward more sustainable agriculture

  Jun 17, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: AZO Materials, 3/27/25

  A recent study published in Scientific Reports explores the development and performance of biochar-based slow-release fertilizers (SRFs) enhanced with semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (Semi-IPNs). This approach addresses common issues with conventional chemical fertilizers (CFs), such as nutrient loss, environmental pollution, and declining soil health. The goal was to improve nutrient availability and water retention in soil to support more sustainable agricultural practices.

• Feat of ‘dung-gineering’ turns cow manure into one of world’s most used materials

  Jun 16, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University College London (UCL), 5/7/25

  A new technique to extract tiny cellulose strands from cow dung and turn them into manufacturing-grade cellulose, currently used to make everything from surgical masks to food packaging, has been developed by researchers from UCL and Edinburgh Napier University. The study was published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

  
  

• Emory study finds molecular link between air pollution and pregnancy risks

  Jun 11, 2025 5:45 pm

  Source: Emory University, 6/3/25

  A new study by Emory University researchers, published recently in Environmental Science & Technology, found that exposure to the tiny particles in air pollution during pregnancy can disrupt maternal metabolisms, altering key biological pathways. These changes were associated with increased risk of various negative birth outcomes, including premature birth. 

• Research reveals ‘forever chemicals’ present in beer

  Jun 11, 2025 5:30 pm

  Source: American Chemical Society, 5/21/25

  Infamous for their environmental persistence and potential links to health conditions, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called forever chemicals, are being discovered in unexpected places, including beer. Researchers publishing in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology tested beers brewed in different areas around the U.S. for these substances. They found that beers produced in parts of the country with known PFAS-contaminated water sources showed the highest levels of forever chemicals. 

• A new technology for extending the shelf life of produce

  Jun 11, 2025 4:00 pm

  Source: MIT, 5/21/25

  We’ve all felt the sting of guilt when fruit and vegetables go bad before we could eat them. Now, researchers from MIT and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) have shown they can extend the shelf life of harvested plants by injecting them with melatonin using biodegradable microneedles. Refrigeration is the most common way to preserve foods, but it requires energy and infrastructure that many regions of the world can’t afford or lack access to. The researchers believe their system could offer an alternative or complement to refrigeration. For the open access version of their paper, see https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/159257.

• What behavioral strategies motivate environmental action?

  Jun 10, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Pennsylvania, 5/13/25

  Survey data show that most people believe climate change is happening, but many don’t act, and as a postdoctoral fellow in Annenberg School for Communication Professor Emily Falk’s Communication Neuroscience Lab, Alyssa (Allie) Sinclair has thought a lot about why that might be. Building off health behavior studies and other literature in psychology, neuroscience, and communication, Sinclair led an interdisciplinary team of researchers examining how to overcome these barriers to climate action. In an “intervention tournament” with 7,624 U.S. adults, Penn researchers including Sinclair, Falk, and Mann tested 17 interventions targeting the themes of relevance, future thinking, and response efficacy to see which were most effective for motivating action. Their findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

• Could nanoplastics in the environment turn E. coli into a bigger villain?

  Jun 9, 2025 3:45 pm

  Source: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 5/19/25

  Nanoplastics are everywhere. These fragments are so tiny they can accumulate on bacteria and be taken up by plant roots; they’re in our food, our water, and our bodies. Scientists don’t know the full extent of their impacts on our health, but new research from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign food scientists suggests certain nanoplastics may make foodborne pathogens more virulent. 

• How to break through climate apathy

  Jun 6, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: UCLA, 4/24/25

  A new study finds that presenting the same continuous climate data, such as incremental changes in temperature, in binary form -- such as whether a lake did or did not freeze in the winter -- significantly increases people's ability to see the impact of climate change.

• A new recycling process for silicones could greatly reduce the sector's environmental impacts

  Jun 5, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: CNRS, 4/24/25

  A study describes a new method of recycling silicone waste (caulk, sealants, gels, adhesives, cosmetics, etc.). It has the potential to significantly reduce the sector's environmental impacts. This is the first universal recycling process that brings any type of used silicone material back to an earlier state in its life cycle where each molecule has only one silicon atom. And there is no need for the raw materials currently used to design new silicones. Moreover, since it is chemical and not mechanical recycling, the reuse of the material can be carried out infinitely. 

• Plant-based plastics could help reduce the millions of tonnes of medical waste hospitals generate each year

  Jun 4, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 3/13/25

  There’s a growing push to find eco-friendly alternatives to traditional plastics. Bioplastics, such polylactic acid (PLA), may be promising alternatives to the plastics used in medical products.

• Personality traits shape our prosocial behavior

  Jun 3, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Zurich, 4/28/25

  Why do some people do more for the community than others? A new study now shows that personality traits such as extraversion and agreeableness correlate with volunteering and charitable giving.

• Behind Keurig’s bid to make coffee pods without plastic

  Jun 2, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Trellis, 4/30/25

  Years of persistence and experimentation led to a biodegradable coffee pod that improves brewing performance. Keurig Dr Pepper backed the innovation once it proved both sustainable and appealing to consumers. Collaborating with customers and potential competitors were key for development.

• New study tracks air pollution and CO2 emissions across thousands of cities worldwide

  May 30, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: George Washington University, 5/7/25

  In a sweeping new study of more than 13,000 urban areas worldwide, researchers have mapped air pollution levels and carbon dioxide emissions, providing comprehensive global analysis of urban environmental quality. The research led by George Washington University, in collaboration with scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, used data from satellite observations, ground-based measurements and computer models to measure city-level air pollution and the average amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere in 13,189 urban areas globally. The study, which highlights regional disparities, focused on the years spanning from 2005-2019. 

• Breakthrough in fuel cell recycling turns ‘forever chemicals’ into renewable resources

  May 29, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of Leicester, 5/2/25

  A new technique that uses soundwaves to separate materials for recycling could help prevent potentially harmful chemicals leaching into the environment.  Researchers at the University of Leicester have achieved a major milestone in fuel cell recycling, advancing techniques to efficiently separate valuable catalyst materials and fluorinated polymer membranes (PFAS) from catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs). 

• Affordable, efficient, HoLDI-MS will facilitate global monitoring of plastic pollution

  May 28, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: McGill University, 5/1/25

  A team of McGill University researchers has developed a cost-effective, high-throughput technology for detecting nanoplastics and microplastics in the environment. These particles are pervasive, posing health and environmental risks, yet detecting them at the nanoscale has been difficult. The 3D-printed HoLDI-MS test platform overcomes the limitations of traditional mass spectrometry by enabling direct analysis of samples without requiring complex sample preparation. The researchers say it also will work for detection of waterborne plastic particles. HoLDI-MS stands for hollow-laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. According to Chemistry Professor Parisa Ariya, who led the study published last month in Nature’s Communications Chemistry, “It requires little energy, is recyclable and costs only a few dollars per sample."

• Okra, fenugreek extracts remove most microplastics from water

  May 27, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: American Chemical Society, 5/6/25

  The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer. Previously, researchers proposed using these sticky natural polymers to clean up water. Now, they report in ACS Omega that okra and/or fenugreek extracts attracted and removed up to 90% of microplastics in ocean water, freshwater and groundwater.   

• Study of velvet worm slime could revolutionize sustainable material design

  May 26, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: McGill University, 3/19/25

  A new discovery about the slime ejected by velvet worms could revolutionize sustainable material design, according to a study by McGill University researchers. Their findings outline how a naturally occurring protein structure, conserved across species from Australia, Singapore and Barbados over nearly 400 million years of evolution, enables the slime’s transformation from liquid to fibre and back again. It’s a discovery that could inspire next-generation recyclable bioplastics. 

• Stained, warped and terroir rich: the global and shockingly sustainable lives of wine barrels

  May 23, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: The Guardian, 5/12/25

  In the alcohol industry, when ageing liquor can easily take decades, the vessels that house them can also become more covetable over the years. In an age of disposable materials and dire news of plastics polluting our environment, reused wooden barrels exist in stark contrast. The lives of barrels are long, shockingly sustainable and currently imperiled by trade war.

• Universities turn to My Green Lab to cut energy, waste in research facilities

  May 22, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: E+E Leader, 4/22/25

  Laboratories are hubs of scientific discovery—but they are also resource-intensive spaces, consuming as much as 10 times more electricity and four times more water than typical academic buildings, according to Georgia Tech. With nearly 900,000 square feet of lab space on campus, the university faced a challenge shared by many research institutions: how to reconcile innovation with environmental responsibility.

• Lessons from the emerging effort to advance ‘circular’ textiles in health care

  May 21, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Trellis, 4/22/25

  New regulations and global pressure are accelerating the shift toward more sustainable medical garments. Most medical textiles are not recycled, contributing to health care’s large climate and plastic waste footprint. Startups FIGS and AmorSui are serving sector professionals seeking to reduce those impacts, with “circular” scrubs and lab coats.

  
  

• Microplastics could be hampering the ocean’s ability to capture carbon

  May 20, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: New Scientist, 4/30/25

  A global survey of microplastics in oceans reveals that tiny particles of plastic are prevalent throughout the water column, which could harm marine ecosystems and affect carbon storage in the deep sea

• How do researchers determine how toxic a chemical is? A toxicologist explains alternatives to animal testing

  May 19, 2025 10:45 am

  Source: The Conversation, 3/12/25

  A vast number of chemicals are registered for production and use around the world. But only a portion have been thoroughly evaluated for their toxicity due to time, cost, ethical concerns and regulatory limitations. Better understanding the process of determining the toxicity of chemicals could help make them safer. 

• Cancer-causing chemicals are in many beauty products women use, a study finds

  May 16, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: NPR, 5/8/25

  More than half of Black and Latina women in Los Angeles who participated in a new study regularly used personal-care products containing a known carcinogen. Study participants photographed the ingredient lists of all the products they used at home over the course of a week. The journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters published the study Wednesday.

  Of 64 women, researchers found that 53% reported using soap, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, skin lightener, eyeliner, eyelash glue and other beauty products that contained formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives — toxins found to cause cancer in humans.

• Sulfur runoff amplifies mercury concentrations in Florida Everglades

  May 15, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: University of California, Davis, 5/8/25

  Sulfur applied to sugarcane crops in South Florida is flowing into wetlands upgradient of Everglades National Park, triggering a chemical reaction that converts mercury into toxic methylmercury, which accumulates in fish, new research from University of California, Davis finds.

  In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers collected water and mosquito fish across wetlands fed by agricultural canals. They documented how sulfur runoff can dramatically increase methylmercury concentrations in fish — sometimes up to 10 million times greater than the waters in which they lived, posing a risk to human health and wildlife. Growers apply sulfur to alkaline soils in South Florida to manage pH levels and increase the availability of nutrients to sugarcane.

  
  

• Ultrasound unlocks a safer, greener way to make hydrogels

  May 14, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: McGill University, 5/8/25

  Researchers at McGill University, in collaboration with Polytechnique Montréal, pioneered a new way to create hydrogels using ultrasound, eliminating the need for toxic chemical initiators. This breakthrough offers a faster, cleaner and more sustainable approach to hydrogel fabrication, and produces hydrogels that are stronger, more flexible and highly resistant to freezing and dehydration. The new method also promises to facilitate advances in tissue engineering, bioadhesives and 3D bioprinting. Hydrogels are gels composed of polymers that can absorb and retain large amounts of water.  They are widely used in wound dressings, drug delivery, tissue engineering, soft robotics, soft contact lenses and more. 

• Eco-friendly aquatic robot is made from fish food

  May 13, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 5/8/25

  An edible robot made by EPFL scientists leverages a combination of biodegradable fuel and surface tension to zip around the water's surface, creating a safe -- and nutritious -- alternative to environmental monitoring devices made from artificial polymers and electronics.
  

• Electricity-generating bacteria may power future innovations

  May 12, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: Rice University, 5/1/25

  A team led by Rice University bioscientist  Caroline Ajo-Franklin has discovered how certain bacteria breathe by generating electricity, using a natural process that pushes electrons into their surroundings instead of breathing on oxygen. The findings, published in Cell last month, could enable new developments in clean energy and industrial biotechnology. 

• Plastic pyrolysis − chemists explain a technique attempting to tackle plastic waste by bringing the heat

  May 7, 2025 10:00 am

  Source: The Conversation, 3/18/25

  Because plastic is so commonly used, finding new ways to manage and recycle plastic waste is becoming ever more important. Plastic waste pyrolysis is one technology that could help address this issue.

• New water microcleaners self-disperse, capture microplastics and float up for removal

  May 7, 2025 9:45 am

  Source: North Carolina State University, 3/26/25

  In a new paper, researchers at North Carolina State University show proof of concept for a system that, in a single cycle, actively removes microplastics from water. The findings, described in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, hold the potential for advances in cleansing oceans and other bodies of water of tiny plastics that may harm human health and the environment.

• USGS research on 6PPD-quinone: Where the rubber meets the road

  May 7, 2025 9:00 am

  Source: U.S. Geological Survey, 2/28/25

  Stormwater and road runoff are recognized forms of pollution that can contain chemicals harmful to fish and other aquatic animals. This includes 6PPD-quinone, the oxidized form of the chemical compound 6PPD that is used to prevent tires from degrading and cracking, ensuring driver safety. As 6PPD-quinone sheds from tires during normal wear it can enter streams in stormwater runoff. This page provides an overview of current research and future directions by the USGS Environmental Health Program.

• FAU joins first global effort to map microplastics in ocean systems

  May 1, 2025 5:45 pm

  Source: Florida Atlantic University, 4/30/25

  For the first time, scientists have mapped microplastic distribution from the surface to the deep sea at a global scale – revealing not only where plastics accumulate, but how they infiltrate critical ocean systems. For the study, researchers synthesized depth-profile data from 1,885 stations collected between 2014 and 2024 to map microplastic distribution patterns by size and polymer type, while also evaluating potential transport mechanisms.              

  Results, published in Nature, reveal that microplastics are not just surface pollutants – they’re deeply embedded in the ocean’s structure. Ranging from a few to thousands of particles per cubic meter, their size determines how they move: smaller microplastics (1 to 100 micrometers) spread more evenly and penetrate deeper, while larger ones (100 to 5,000 micrometers) concentrate near the surface, especially within the top 100 meters of gyres. Gyres act like massive, slow-moving whirlpools that trap and concentrate floating debris – especially plastic.  

• Behind Keurig’s bid to make coffee pods without plastic

  May 1, 2025 5:00 pm

  Source: Trellis, 4/30/25

  Years of persistence and experimentation led to a biodegradable coffee pod that improves brewing performance. Inspired by baristas tamping down grounds for espresso, the Keurig team sought to compact the coffee tightly enough to maintain its patty shape without a container. Along the way, the new format also yielded a stronger brew. However, the team realized those naked coffee pods would not survive distribution. They tried beeswax before landing on an algae-based coating that kept the pods intact. Their prototyping advanced in 2021 in the company lab with a small pilot line of coffee pods. The team used a hand crank to encapsulate roasted and ground coffee in a layer of alginate. This coating was found to tolerate pressure levels up to approximately 200 pounds per square inch, meaning the pods could be used to brew espresso. Today, about 200 consumers are beta-testing the pods, called K-Rounds, in their homes, providing daily data that helps with product refinement.

• Heart disease deaths worldwide linked to chemical widely used in plastics

  Apr 30, 2025 4:45 pm

  Source: NYU Langone Health, 4/29/25

  Daily exposure to certain chemicals used to make plastic household items could be linked to the more than 356,000 global deaths from heart disease that occurred in 2018 alone, a new analysis of population surveys shows. Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health, the current study focused on a kind of phthalate called di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), which is used to make food containers, medical equipment, and other plastic items softer and more flexible. A report on the findings was published online April 29 in the journal Lancet eBioMedicine.

• Microplastics: What’s Trapping the Emerging Threat in Our Streams?

  Apr 28, 2025 3:30 pm

  Source: University of Arkansas, 4/21/25

  Microplastics, tiny plastic particles found in everyday products from face wash to toothpaste, are an emerging threat to health and ecology, prompting a research team to identify what keeps them trapped in stream ecosystems. The research team’s study, “Transport and retention of microplastic fibers in streams are impacted by benthic algae, discharge, and substrate,” was published in Limnology and Oceanography in February.

• Micronanoplastics found in artery-clogging plaque in the neck

  Apr 28, 2025 1:00 pm

  Source: American Heart Association, 4/22/25

  A small study found that fatty buildup in the blood vessels of the neck (carotid arteries) may contain 50 times or more micronanoplastics -- minuscule bits of plastic -- compared to arteries free of plaque buildup.

  Note: The study featured in this news release is a research abstract. Abstracts presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, and the findings are considered preliminary until published as full manuscripts in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

• Rice scientists pioneer method to tackle ‘forever chemicals’

  Apr 22, 2025 4:30 pm

  Source: Rice University, 3/21/25

  Rice University researchers have developed an innovative solution to a pressing environmental challenge: removing and destroying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly called “forever chemicals.” A study led by James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and graduate student  Phelecia Scotland unveils a method that not only eliminates PFAS from water systems but also transforms waste into high-value graphene, offering a cost-effective and sustainable approach to environmental remediation. This research was published March 31  in Nature Water. 

• Researchers recycle wind turbine blade materials to make improved plastics

  Apr 17, 2025 3:30 pm

  Source: Washington State University, 4/3/25

  A new method to recycle wind turbine blades without using harsh chemicals resulted in the recovery of high-strength glass fibers and resins that allowed researchers to re-purpose the materials to create stronger plastics. The innovation provides a simple and environmentally friendly way to recycle wind turbine blades to create useful products.