this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2026
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[–] melfie@lemmy.zip 1 points 14 minutes ago

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.

Benjamin: Yes, sir.

Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?

Benjamin: Yes, I am.

Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean?

Mr. McGuire: There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?

A great future they said. 😭

[–] EatMyPixelDust@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Microplastics are going to be the next cigarettes, asbestos, radium, AND arsenic-drenched wallpaper. We're so fucked.

[–] grranibal@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

We need to start cooking a new type of molecule to poison the next generation, we’re getting late! /s

[–] we_need_more_dwellings@piefed.world 6 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] grranibal@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 hours ago

Oh I’m so relieved

[–] bumblebeer@lemmy.world 17 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (2 children)

What! You mean the bioaccumulating micro particles are not totally harmless? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you.

What's next? Are you gonna tell me water is wet, or fire is hot?

Don't get me wrong, having the empirical validation (along with a mechanism) is nice, but this should cone as a shock to absolutely nobody.

[–] grranibal@lemmy.zip 8 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly I remember hearing that plastic molecules are stable and inert, I thought microplastics wouldn’t cause problems beyond accumulating and “clogging”

[–] spankysalmon@fedinsfw.app 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I mean... fiberglass and asbestos are actually chemically inert, yet they'll still fuck you up good. It's a bit silly to think any foreign contamination is harmless.

[–] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 2 points 56 minutes ago (1 children)

Lead has a very stable nucleolus. Forever chemicals (PFAS) were named that because they were stable. CFCs were pretty harmless too until we learned about ozone layer.

Anything that industry makes and distributes in large quantities throughout the world is pretty bad because by the time we learn about long term impacts, it's everywhere

[–] spankysalmon@fedinsfw.app 1 points 37 minutes ago

but remember the mantra of these cretins for the past century or few; "the solution to pollution is dilution!". Never mind all the demonstrably terrible effects of quite a few things in the parts per billion/trillion...

[–] Photon1c@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Well, not that shocked.

Are you gonna tell me water is wet, or fire is hot?

Oh god you’re going to make me “ackchually”

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

If water makes things wet, and water is surrounded by more water is that water not also wet? 🤔

[–] Photon1c@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I think wetness has to be a solid surface with liquid sticking to it, and since there is no surface, there is no wetness.

One exception though, ice can be wet (and of course extremely dangerous if it is)

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Ice is a form of water, ergo water is wet^•

^• ^some ^conditions ^may ^apply

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago

This is why you should be avoiding planet earth.

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 3 points 5 hours ago

Papers mentioned in the article above:

Intrinsic physicochemical activity at microplastic–water interfaces file:///Users/jaime/Downloads/s41586-026-11141-y.pdf

Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2300582121