I need a response to the following two discussion.
1. 1. As I read the article, I came up with some questions:
1. Will there be a threat to humans in the future from the consumption of pelagic organisms?
2. How long does it take for these microplastics to become recognizable by the naked eye?
3. Are there actions normal bystanders can perform to reduce the dumping of microplastics in the ocean?
4. Are microplastics just as prominent in non-coastal states with rivers and lakes?
From this paper, I learned how serious the diffusion of microplastics is. Since microplastics can move up the food chain through carnivorous consumers, it is possible that we are consuming microplastics as well. Does this mean that we will get to a point in our lives where we will starve due to the lack of nutrition in fish and increased microplastics?
2. Something I found very interesting and almost shocking about this article was that the microplastics were discovered on accident. The researchers were trying to measure something completely different and just happened to discover the plastics because the plankton were in a similar size range. This makes me wonder how many important scientific discoveries occur purely by chance.
What do you guys think? Have you heard of anything else discovered in this way?