Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Week 6: Shredding all These Microplastics Might be a Macroproblem

        Hey guys, so a lot of conferences are coming up soon and I'm a bit nervous about the state of my research. I will need to shred  3 types of plastics as quickly as possible in order to continue conducting my experiment. The process is lengthy and tiring, but I am most likely going to extend my STEM hours in order to continue making microplastics with Jasmine. I really want to collect all of my data by April in order to join Matt and Jasmine in Nevada for a science conference. for those of you who do not know about my research project, I am essentially utilizing a microplastic extraction protocol established by fellow S-STEM Scholar Jasmine Patricio and testing the extraction percentage of three solutions: sodium chloride, carbonate potassium, and distilled water.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Week 5: Shredding Plastics



    This week Jasmine and I  utilized a power tool to shred a bottle of Powerade. We both need polyethylene terephthalate to continue our research projects.The process was very entertaining yet tiring. Jasmin and I hope to obtain about 4 grams of polyethylene terephthalate by next week. Although this power tool is a definite upgrade from a cheese grater that Jasmine had to use the last semester, it still requires time and effort. We shredded about 1/5 of a gram of microplastics in about 25 minutes. Which is not too bad, and hopefully we can finish shredding most of the plastic on Friday.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Week 4: Microplastics, They're Not So Fantastic.

"Plankton Munching on Microplastics" 
Our oceans and fresh lakes are contaminated with microplastic debris. Plastic Production is estimated to be at 225 million tons per year. (Browne 2007). Unfortunately, most of this plastic ends up in our marine and freshwater systems. There are two ways microplastics enter our water systems: either as primary or secondary microplastics. Primary microplastics enter marine and freshwater systems as “raw plastic material, such as virgin plastic pellets, scrubbers, and microbeads (Browne et al. 2007.) secondary plastics begin as large plastics but overtime, they begin to mechanical or biologically degrade, making them smaller and smaller. The degradation occurs through photodegradation, where the sunlight causes the plastic to oxidize and turn into smaller pieces (Browne et al. 2007.). Microplastics are defined as “plastic particles, smaller than 5 mm in diameter” ( K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner 2014). The six different types of plastic are Polyethylene Terephthalate, high-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. Microplastics are made out of these different plastics, and their densities, shape, and size all vary. Because of this, each type of plastic will be present in either the surface of the water (low density) or in sea sediments (High density). This is a determining factor of what species consume these plastic particles (Browne et al. 2007.)Organisms, both vertebrates, and invertebrates have been found to ingest microplastics. (Microplastics. 2014.) A study conducted on rodents determined that the microplastic Polystyrene can go from the digestive tract to the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system supplies molecules to the bloodstream, therefore, the potential of these microplastics ending up in different body tissues or the blood itself is not impossible. 
      There are three size levels of plastic, macroplastics (£5 mm), microplastics (<5mm), and microscopic plastic (<1 mm) (Browne et al. 2007.)  Microplastics are becoming increasingly smaller, making them much more likely to be consumed by organisms. There has been research conducted to study the consumption of microplastics by marine life.  One specific study, conducted by Marine ecologist and biochemist Andrew Watts and colleagues at the University of Exeter in England, fed microplastics to mussels, they then fed these mussels to crabs. It took 14 days for these crabs to excrete these microplastics, compared to the normal 2-day digestive process. Andrew and his colleagues also placed these crabs in tanks that released a high concentration of microplastics over the crabs’ gills for 16 hours, three weeks after the trial these crabs were still releasing microplastics from their system. ( Akpan 2014.)  It is unclear whether these microplastics can travel up the food chain or why these microplastics take so long to be expelled from an organism’s system. The effects of microplastics on food chains and organisms remain an unresolved enigma in the science community. Thus, it is crucial to conduct more research on microplastics.

                                                             References
     Akpan, N. (2014). Earth & Environment: Microplastics lodge in crab gills, guts: Creatures absorb particles through food and via respiration. Science News, 186(3), 9.  Retrieved from

Browne, M.A., Galloway, T., & Thompson, R. (2007). Microplastic – an emerging contaminant of potential concern? Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 3(4):559-561. DOI: 10.1002/ieam.5630030412

Coppock, R. L., Cole, M., Lindeque, P. K., Queirós, A. M., & Galloway, T. S.(2017). A small-scale, portable method for extracting microplastics from marine sediments. Environmental Pollution, 230, 829-837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.07.017
Floating plastic trash common in oceans. (2015, February). The Science Teacher, 82(2), 18+. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.pc.maricopa.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495940175/SCIC?u=mcc_phoe&xid=e9dd8768
Gasperi, J., Wright, S. L., Dris, R., Collard, F., Mandin, C., Guerrouache, M., . . . Tassin, B. (2018). Microplastics in air: Are we breathing it in? Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, 1, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2017.10.002

Hussai, N., Jaitley, V., & Florence, A. T. (2001). Recent advances in the understanding of uptake of micro particulates across the gastrointestinal lymphatics. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 50(1-2), 107-142.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-409X(01)00152-1

Kedzierski, M., Tilly, V., César, G., Sire, O., & Bruzaud, S. (2017). Efficient microplastics extraction from sand. A cost-effective methodology based on sodium iodide recycling. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 115(1-2), 120-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.12.002
Masura, J., Baker, J., Foster, G., & Arthur, C. (2015, June ). Laboratory Methods for the Analysis of Micro-plastics in the Marine Environmentarine En. Retrieved from NOAA Microplastics methods manual, retrieved from

Meyer-Rochow, V., Gross, V., Steffany, F., Zeuss, D., & Erren, T. C. (2015).
     Commentary: Plastic ocean and the cancer connection: 7 questions and
     answers. Commentary: plastic ocean and the cancer connection: 7 questions
     and answers, 142, 575-578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2015.08.015

 Microplastics. (2014). In K. L. Lerner & B. W. Lerner (Eds.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Science (5th ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.pc.maricopa.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/JIBCIC122267752/SCIC?u=mcc_phoe&xid=ce024b5d


Talvitie, J., Mikola, A., Koistinen, A., & Setälä, O. (2017). Solutions to microplastic pollution – Removal of microplastics from wastewater effluent with advanced wastewater treatment technologies. Water Research, 123401-407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.07.005