Plastic is a big part of our everyday lives: It keeps our food fresh, has made all kinds of advanced medical equipment possible, and is a key component in a broad range of innovations from cars to computers, from phones to contact lenses.
But new research is finding plastic in places you wouldn’t expect: in our water, in salt, and in the placentas of pregnant women. Tiny particles of microplastics are in the air we breathe and in the waters of the San Francisco Bay.