"We really don’t know what this plastic is doing!", Kara Law (WHOI)
Microplastics are widespread in the natural environment and there are an estimated 51 trillion microplastics (an estimated eight million tons) of plastics in our ocean.
Microplastics present numerous ecological threats and contribute to the $2.5 trillion USD lost in Ocean ecosystem services due to plastic. Yet cost-effective detection and removal of microplastics is a challenge.
Plastics can also become toxic by soaking up harmful chemicals from the environment such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), exposure to which has been directly linked to cancer and other serious human health problems.
Micro-plastics are a threat to life as we know it on our planet, with impact on all forms of biological life forms, and impact on majority of food chains
Microplastics—tiny plastic fragments less than five millimeters in size—are ubiquitous in the global ocean. In fact, an estimated eight million tons of plastics enter our oceans each year, yet only one percent can be seen floating at the surface. Where the rest ends up is not well understood. Plastics could present a risk to both marine animals and humans since they may contain toxic chemicals like phthalates, bisphenol A and others used in the manufacturing process. These additives can change the properties of plastic items in different ways. For example, they may make water bottles more rigid, and pens more flexible. Plastics can also become toxic by soaking up harmful chemicals from the environment such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), exposure to which has been directly linked to cancer and other serious human health problems.(https://microplastics.whoi.edu/)
How can we measure and detect abundance of micro-plastics in our aquatic ecosystems - both ocean and river systems?
How can be build automated, low cost micro-plastic monitoring systems for real-time surveillance of microplastic based pollution?
References: Hyper-spectral imaging/fluorescence imaging of micro-plastics
also see www.planktonscope.org
Octopi: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/684423v1
Historically cities have developed around rivers. Indus valley, Luxor, Tigris and Euphrates. Over the many centuries that followed, cities grew on these banks. Pure fluid power! As water ways to transport really heavy loads; as energy source to run mills; as heat sink to industrial and municipal cooling systems; as sources of water for domestic use; in many cities, the source of filtered drinking water; as chemical sink that takes all- dissolves all.
The Danube is the iota of Eastern Europe, flowing through ten countries and four historic capital cities (Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade) on its way from to the Black Sea. The centralised water supply in these cities rely solely on the Danube. While this is an example of a protected river, at least as it runs through the economically developed nations upstream, most other river based economies around the world have stagnated (the opposite of sustaining) as a result of pollution and/or over utilisation.