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This April marks the 52nd anniversary of Earth Month — a time when the warmer weather draws us outdoors to enjoy the changing season. It is also an ideal time to consider the role each of us plays in the future of our planet.
Microplastics can deposit and linger within riverbeds for as long as seven years before washing into the ocean, a new study has found. Because rivers
Polyurethane is one of the world’s most widely used plastic materials, but it’s often overlooked in our daily lives. Yet whether you’re at home, at work or in your vehicle, it is usually not far away — with common end-uses ranging from mattresses and
Jen Drummond (McCormick Ph.D. ’15) presented research findings about the impacts of microplastic pollution in rivers and freshwater ecosystems at a Tuesday webinar hosted by the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern. Drummond focuses her research on the hyporheic zone of rivers. The hyporheic zone is made up of the top layer of sediment in riverbeds and is where many important nutrient cycling processes occur. Microplastics, which result from plastic waste fragmenting into small pieces, can potentially persist for hundreds of years since they don’t biodegrade. Drummond...