{"id":8878,"date":"2026-10-17T10:16:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T10:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8878"},"modified":"2026-10-17T10:16:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T10:16:31","slug":"microplastics-react-with-water-new-study-says-thats-a-problem-for-biology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8878","title":{"rendered":"Microplastics React With Water, a New Study Says. That\u2019s a Problem for Biology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"lead-in-text-callout\">One of the<\/span> reasons plastic has become so ubiquitous is that, generally, it\u2019s very chemically stable, meaning it does not readily react with the substances around it. That\u2019s why this material is so often used for food packaging and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/people-who-drink-bottled-water-on-a-daily-basis-ingest-90000-more-microplastics-per-year\/\" class=\"text link\">water bottles<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The same was thought to be true of microplastics\u2014those tiny pieces of debris that break off from larger plastic objects and which, according to numerous studies, have spread to virtually <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/microplastics-promote-cloud-formation-with-likely-effects-on-weather-and-climate\/\" class=\"text link\">every ecosystem<\/a> on the planet. But scientists at Columbia University and UC Berkeley have just discovered that water can make the surfaces of microplastics chemically active and turn them into a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/on-mexicos-caribbean-coast-theres-lobster-for-the-tourists-and-microplastics-for-everyone-else\/\" class=\"text link\">potential hazard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">According to the findings of the article published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-026-11141-y\" class=\"text link\">Nature<\/a>, this activity can trigger the spontaneous formation of chemicals capable of altering other molecules, like those that are essential for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/life-is-asymmetric-the-scientists-who-figured-out-why-won-the-2026-nobel-prize-in-chemistry\/\" class=\"text link\">living organisms<\/a>. The phenomenon, the authors note, occurs even under normal environmental conditions, without the need for sunlight or other agents that cause <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/plastic-is-melting-onto-corals\/\" class=\"text link\">plastic degradation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">So how can microplastics be so reactive when bigger plastics generally aren\u2019t? The scientists suggest this has to do with the greater available surface area for these reactions to occur.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cAs plastic fragments into smaller and smaller particles, its surface area increases enormously,\u201d Wei Min, a professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at Columbia University, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/news.columbia.edu\/news\/microplastics-are-chemically-active-and-could-cause-biological-harm\" class=\"text link\">press release.<\/a> \u201cThen microplastics change the water that surrounds them, generating high-energy, reactive radicals that very likely contribute to biological damage that we see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/dolphins-exhaled-breath-is-filled-with-microplastics\/\" class=\"text link\">in animals<\/a> and potentially in humans as a result of microplastic exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Among these potentially dangerous chemical products\u2014called reactive oxygen species\u2014a variety known as hydroxyl radicals stands out. They are particularly dangerous because they can snatch electrons from the proteins and fats that make up cell membranes, disrupting their structure and function. These \u201care textbook examples of the kinds of molecules that can damage animal and human tissue,\u201d added Naixin Qian, a postdoctoral researcher in Min\u2019s lab who helped lead the research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Our body has some defenses against this kind of damage. This is the biological function of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/wired-tested-miracle-hangover-cures\/\" class=\"text link\">buzzy molecules<\/a> known as antioxidants. These neutralize the reactive chemicals, but if the reactive compounds greatly outnumber antioxidants, this line of defense can be overwhelmed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">This can develop into a scenario called oxidative stress, leading to the damage of cells. Previous research had already identified oxidative stress among the cellular responses associated with exposure to microplastics, although the mechanisms responsible for this damage are not yet fully understood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/microplastics-react-with-water-new-study-says-thats-a-problem-for-biology\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the reasons plastic has become so ubiquitous is that, generally, it\u2019s very chemically stable, meaning it does not readily react with the substances around it. That\u2019s why this material is so often used for food packaging and water bottles. The same was thought to be true of microplastics\u2014those tiny pieces of debris that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,141,305,493,744,73],"class_list":["post-8878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-environment","tag-health","tag-oceans","tag-plastic","tag-pollution","tag-water"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Microplastics React With Water, a New Study Says. That\u2019s a Problem for Biology - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Though plastic is usually inert, tiny pieces of it have the potential to react with one of the most pervasive molecules in the environment and in our bodies.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8878\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Microplastics React With Water, a New Study Says. 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