Plastic Apocalypse

A summary of an article titled Microplastics are raining down from the sky published by National Geographic on April 15th 2019:

  • Microplastics are not only present in the oceans, they are now found in the atmosphere.
  • Scientists have detected microplastics falling from the sky at a pristine, remote part of the Pyrenees Mountains.
  • Two previous studies have found microplastics present in city air.
  • The scientists do not know where these airborne microplastics come from.
  • Scientists also do not know the health effects of airborne microplastics which can be inhaled or ingested.
  • More ominous, microplastics could be breaking down into nanoplastics.
  • Currently, there is no easy way to detect nanoplastics.
  • Nanoplastics could be more nasty than microplastics by being more reactive, and being nano-sized, can pass through biological barriers.
In a previous post we cited Elon Musk saying AI could be more dangerous then nuclear bombs because AI's increasing reach could go unnoticed, and if it turns rogue, it might be too late or too hard to flip the switch. Could the same be said of plastics? And could it be even before microplastics could be defeated, they are morphing into nanoplastics?
Sunway University is hosting a joint-lecture [this evening, 5:30pm, 23-Apr-2019 @ Sunway tix] on eliminating plastic waste, the circular economy and the use of accounting tools to drive these practices by Gail Whiteman and Jeffrey Unerman. [Stodgy as accounting may seem, it could be a powerful tool in the battle against plastics by, for example, assigning plastics a much higher cost.]

Pick of Events (W1-May-2019)

General
Link Energy Trilemma @ KL tix
Link MDEC x MaGIC @ KL
Link Facial Recognition @ KL info
Link Digital Smorgasbord @ KL
Link MBApreneurs @ KL tix
Link Cyber Forensics @ KL
Link Managing Cashflow @ KL
Link Tracking Prevention @ KL info
Link International Pricing @ JB
Link Coffee Meetup @ KK tix
Link Green & IR4 Fund @ PG tix
Link Digital Economy @ PG tix
Link Survey Sampling @ PG

Ecommerce & Hackathons
Link ID & SG Ecommerce @ KL
Link Cross-Border Ecom @ KL
Link Visual Ecommerce @ KL
Link HLB FinHack @ KL
Link HSBC FinHack @ KL
Link Big Data AI Hack @ KL

Arts
Link Commons Festival @ IP tix postponed
Link 15 Shades of Green @ HK
Link Digital Performance @ KL
Link Quarter Life Crisis @ KL
Link Music Forum @ KL tix

Around The Region
Link Going Global @ SG
Link Smart Mobility @ SG
Link Energy Supply Chain @ SG
Link B2B Sales & Marketing @ SG
Link CTO Meetup @ JKT
Link Female Tech Stars @ JKT
Link SocMed Marketing @ JKT
Link ID Genetic Ancestry @ JKT
Link From Data to Product @ JKT
Link Due Diligence Checklist @ JKT
Link Ecommerce Gamification @ JKT

Scroll to top