this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2025

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Scientists issue dire warning: Microplastic accumulation in human brains escalating (www.psypost.org)

submitted 1 day ago by Sunshine@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

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[–] TaviRider@reddthat.com 43 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

The original paper about microplastics in the brain seems to have a serious methodological flaw that undermines the conclusion that our brains are swimming in microplastics.

“False positives of microplastics are common to almost all methods of detecting them,” Jones says. “This is quite a serious issue in microplastics work.”

Brain tissue contains a large amount of lipids, some of which have similar mass spectra as the plastic polyethylene, Wagner says. “Most of the presumed plastic they found is polyethylene, which to me really indicates that they didn’t really clean up their samples properly.” Jones says he shares these concerns.

This is from other microplastics researchers. See this article. So before we panic about this, let’s wait for some independent replication and more agreement in the scientific community.

Microplastics are a serious concern, and we need to deal with plastic pollution. Let’s just stick to high quality science while we do that.

[–] Hobo@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago

Psypost is like the the Daily Mail of science journalism. Kind of just dismiss everything I see from them at this point. Thank you for the rebuttal.

[–] Killer_Tree@sh.itjust.works 14 points 10 hours ago

Thank you for the nuance. Bad data and hyperbole doesn't help what I agreed is a serious issue.

[–] Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 13 hours ago

I don't think this is the kind of neuroplasticity we're supposed to be aiming for.

[–] krystaal@lemmy.wtf 15 points 13 hours ago (5 children)

Scary. Is plastic more or less expensive than cardboard/paper? I'm not sure if it's where I live, but I've noticed that during my childhood, (example) most takeout containers would be either foil or paper. Now, most of them are plastic, even the cups that contain sauces. I don't get why plastic has been embraced so much when the alternatives were far easier to recycle.

[–] StopTouchingYourPhone@lemmy.world 1 points 37 minutes ago

Plastic's a product from the Oil and Gas industry - a crude oil byproduct, naptha into nurdles - and they make a fucktonne of cash from it. Obviously not talking about every type of plastic or the "bio-plastics." Almost all plastic comes from O&G.

I recall a moment maybe in the early 2000s when the industry lobby tried arguing they were actually being environmentalists and serving the public good by making plastic out of what would otherwise be toxic waste, like they're responsibly using every part of the animal. So ridiculous they dropped the campaign within the week iirc.

But I think about that every time a Premier or Mayor comes out weirdly, strongly opposed to this plastic bag or that plastic straw being banned - that they're virtue signalling to the O&G lobby.

So it's not about what consumers or society embrace, or what's logical or easier. O&G don't care if we recycle it, huff the fumes melting it down, or feed it to the fishes. They don't even really care how little their nurdle sells for, just as long as they can still sell it for something.

[–] volvoxvsmarla@lemm.ee 1 points 6 hours ago

I'm not so sure what cardboard/paper you mean? If you mean something like the paper cups that coffee comes in, they also contain plastic. Dirty paper/cardboard can also not be recycled, so your pizza carton ends up in a landfill or burned. And what do you mean by foil? Genuinely curious.

In my area a lot of takeout places now offer reusable options for a deposit. Usually it is a cardboard with plastic lining container if it is one way. Except the Asian takeout places, they are all over the place from classic black plastic to aluminum containers to styropor to - circling back - the plastic carton stuff.

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 11 points 13 hours ago

Plastic is generally cheaper; for a while there was a misguided push against using paper/cardboard because sAvE tHe TrEeS

[–] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 6 points 13 hours ago

The plastic industry is why.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 12 hours ago (9 children)

Plastic also has the benefit that it's really easy to make in whatever shape with injection molding, and is totally permanent, which if you don't care about disposal is great.

Meanwhile, making stuff out of a sheet of paper is a manufacturing challenge that has resulted in creative solutions like corrugation, and the container might seep through or soften or something.

There's a thing called extended producer responsibility which basically is the idea of making disposal not free anymore for the manufacturer.

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[–] Gloomy@mander.xyz 11 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (7 children)

Was this writen by AI?

The researchers found surprisingly high levels of microplastics in the brain tissue. The concentration of plastics in the brain was much greater than that found in the liver or kidney samples. It was also higher than levels previously reported in placentas and testes. The median amount of total plastics for 2024 brain samples was 4917 micrograms per gram, and for 2016 samples, it was 3345 micrograms per gram. For comparison, the 2024 liver and kidney samples were 433 and 404 micrograms per gram, respectively.

Even more concerning was the finding that the amount of plastic in the brain was increasing over time. Brain tissue samples from 2024 had significantly higher levels of microplastics than samples from 2016, representing an approximate 50% increase in just eight years.

Isn't that the same information just repeated after each other?

To measure the microplastics, the researchers first chemically dissolved the tissue. This created a liquid mixture. They then spun this mixture at very high speeds in a machine called a centrifuge. This process separated out any undissolved materials, including plastics, into a small pellet. Next, they heated this pellet to a very high temperature (600 degrees Celsius), a process that breaks down the plastic.

Why does this sound like somebody explaining this to a 10 year old?

[–] Blumpkinhead@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

I don't know if you've heard, but our brains are apparently full of plastic. We need articles like this dumbed down for us.

[–] merdaverse@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago

Yes, it is. Probably a few phrases written by a human and then a summary of the article with AI.

https://gptzero.me/

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