Papers

International consensus guidelines for the definition, detection, and interpretation of autophagy-dependent ferroptosis

This scientific review provides guidelines for understanding a specific type of cell death called autophagy-dependent ferroptosis, where cells essentially digest their own protective components and then die from iron-driven damage. While not directly about microplastics, this process is relevant because microplastics and nanoplastics have been shown to trigger oxidative stress and iron-related cell damage in tissues. Understanding these cell death pathways helps researchers assess how plastic particle exposure could harm organs like the liver, brain, and lungs.

Investigating Parkinson’s disease risk across farming activities using data mining and large-scale administrative health data

Researchers analyzed health records from over one million French farm managers and found that those working in pig farming, cattle farming, and crop farming had up to 67% higher risk of Parkinson's disease compared to farmers in lower-risk activities like horse care or gardening, pointing to specific occupational exposures worth investigating.

Leveraging Administrative Health Databases to Address Health Challenges in Farming Populations: Scoping Review and Bibliometric Analysis (1975-2024)

This review examines how health databases can be used to study health risks in farming populations, identifying several underresearched areas including exposure to microplastics and other emerging pollutants. The study notes that farmworkers face unique environmental exposures that are poorly understood, and their cardiovascular, reproductive, and autoimmune health outcomes need more investigation. The inclusion of microplastics as a recognized emerging concern for agricultural communities highlights the growing awareness of this exposure pathway.

The One Health Concept: 10 Years Old and a Long Road Ahead

This paper reviews the progress and challenges of the One Health concept, which recognizes that human, animal, and environmental health are deeply interconnected. Researchers discuss how emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and environmental pollution including chemical contaminants all require a cross-disciplinary approach. The study emphasizes that addressing modern health threats requires integrating ecological and environmental sciences alongside traditional medicine and veterinary practices.

Heterolanthanide Terephthalate Coordination Polymers: From the Fight against Counterfeiting to Plastic Waste Recycling

Researchers developed heterolanthanide coordination polymers that can serve dual purposes: anti-counterfeiting applications and plastic waste recycling. The study addresses the growing problem of plastic pollution, noting that only about 30% of plastics are currently recycled, and proposes these materials as tools for improving plastic identification and sorting during recycling processes.

A multifaceted assessment of the effects of polyethylene microplastics on juvenile gilthead seabreams (Sparus aurata)

Researchers examined the effects of polyethylene microplastic ingestion on juvenile gilthead seabream using multiple diagnostic approaches, assessing impacts across molecular, cellular, and organismal levels to better understand microplastic toxicity in fish.

Mission Tara Microplastics: a holistic set of protocols and data resources for the field investigation of plastic pollution along the land-sea continuum in Europe

Researchers present a comprehensive set of sampling protocols from the Tara Microplastics mission, which investigated plastic pollution along nine major European rivers by measuring microplastic concentrations, microbial communities, and biophysicochemical parameters along salinity gradients.

The ocean flows downhill near the seafloor and recirculates upward above

Using current-meter measurements and numerical simulations, researchers revealed that ocean flow near the seafloor is deflected downhill within the bottom boundary layer, creating closed overturning circulation cells that extend up to 1000 m above the seafloor — with implications for understanding how particles like microplastics and sediments are transported in the deep ocean.

A molecular density functional theory for associating fluids in 3D geometries

Researchers developed a new molecular density functional theory for associating fluids in three-dimensional geometries, building on Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory and statistical associating fluid theory. The approach enables more accurate modeling of inhomogeneous fluids relevant to filtration, adsorption, and porous material applications.

Assessing the Biodegradation of Low-Density Polyethylene Films by Candida tropicalis SLNEA04 and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa SLNEA05

Researchers assessed whether Candida tropicalis yeast could biodegrade low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic films under laboratory conditions, measuring weight loss, surface changes, and chemical degradation markers. Limited but measurable biodegradation occurred, suggesting potential for yeast-based plastic remediation.

Airborne microplastic particles detected in the remote marine atmosphere

Researchers detected airborne microplastic particles — including polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene — in aerosol samples collected over the remote North Atlantic Ocean far from land. Back trajectory analysis and matching polymer types in both air and seawater suggest the ocean surface itself is a source of airborne microplastics, with true particle counts likely higher than detected since only particles above 5 micrometers were analyzed.

Open science resources from the Tara Pacific expedition across coral reef and surface ocean ecosystems

Researchers from the Tara Pacific expedition collected nearly 58,000 samples from coral reefs and ocean surface waters across 32 Pacific islands between 2016 and 2018, creating a massive open-access dataset for studying ocean ecosystems. This publicly available resource allows scientists worldwide to investigate a wide range of questions about coral reef health, ocean biodiversity, and environmental change.

Functional trait‐based approaches as a common framework for aquatic ecologists

This paper proposes a functional trait-based framework to unify aquatic ecology research across freshwater, marine, benthic, and pelagic systems. By using organism traits rather than taxonomic identity as the common currency, the framework aims to enable knowledge sharing and the discovery of general ecological rules across ecosystems.

On-chip very low strain rate rheology of amorphous olivine films

Researchers used a specialized chip-based testing method to measure how a glassy form of olivine — a mineral found deep in Earth's mantle — deforms under extremely slow stress, reaching strain rates as low as one trillionth per second. The results help scientists understand how Earth's deep rock layers flow over geological time, relevant to modeling large-scale tectonic processes.

Microplastic Ingestion by Gelatinous Zooplankton May Lower Efficiency of the Biological Pump

Researchers found that microplastic ingestion by salps (Salpa fusiformis) at environmentally realistic concentrations reduced the density and sinking speed of their fecal pellets, suggesting that widespread microplastic contamination could impair the biological pump's ability to sequester carbon in the deep ocean.

A global biogeography analysis reveals vulnerability of surface marine zooplankton to anthropogenic stressors

Researchers used global ocean models to track multiple threats to zooplankton — tiny marine animals that support ocean food webs — and found that their combined vulnerability has doubled over the past 50 years due to warming, acidification, contaminants (including microplastics), and reduced food quality.

Mistaking plastic for zooplankton: Risk assessment of plastic ingestion in the Mediterranean sea

Researchers used machine learning and oceanographic data to map the ratio of plastic debris to zooplankton across the Mediterranean Sea, finding that major pelagic fish feeding zones and marine mammal sanctuaries coincide with areas where plastic particles are most likely to be mistaken for prey.

Effects of Kraft lignin and corn cob agro-residue on the properties of injected-moulded biocomposites

Laboratory model for plastic fragmentation in the turbulent ocean

Researchers used laboratory experiments and numerical simulations to study how deformable and brittle fibers fragment in turbulent flow, finding that fragmentation is limited at small scales by a physical cut-off length determined by fluid-structure interactions, with implications for understanding microplastic generation in the ocean.

Global consortium for the classification of fungi and fungus-like taxa

Researchers established an international consortium of over 550 mycologists from 55 countries to develop a standardized electronic classification system for fungi and fungus-like taxa, publishing biannual updates to resolve controversial taxonomic debates and promote a more stable global fungal taxonomy.

Bubbles spray aerosols: Certitudes and mysteries

This review summarizes the fluid mechanics of how ocean bubbles burst to generate sea spray aerosols, which carry chemical, biological, and particulate material — including potential pollutants — from the ocean surface into the atmosphere.

Tara Mission Microplastics rDNA 18S V9 ASV table (DADA2)

Researchers released an 18S V9 amplicon sequence variant (ASV) table generated via DADA2 from the Tara Mission Microplastics expedition, providing a eukaryotic community dataset linked to microplastic-associated samples across global ocean transects. The dataset includes contextual metadata on sampling protocols, temperature, and nutrient concentrations to facilitate ecological analysis of plastisphere communities.

Tara Mission Microplastics rDNA 18S V9 ASV table (DADA2)

Researchers released an 18S V9 amplicon sequence variant (ASV) table generated via DADA2 from the Tara Mission Microplastics expedition, providing a eukaryotic community dataset linked to microplastic-associated samples across global ocean transects. The dataset is a duplicate record of the same Tara Mission Microplastics 18S V9 ASV table, including contextual data and phyloseq-formatted outputs.

The ocean flows downhill near the seafloor and recirculates uphill above

Researchers used current meter measurements and numerical simulations to show that interior ocean flow near sloping seafloors is deflected downhill at depth and recirculates uphill above, with implications for the vertical redistribution of heat, salt, microplastics, and sediments.