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Microplastics in the human brain

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#191

Post by mythrwy »

timeon wrote: post #183
mythrwy wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grow around 1/3 of my own food. Yes all with RO water. I'd like to get above 50%. Specifically produce, however we grow most of what we eat. We pressure can, dehydrate and ferment to preserve. I have background and decades of experience in growing, which is to say it's more than just standard hobby garden level. The RO water is not to avoid microplastics (although that might a side benefit) but rather that the wate…

This is really interesting. Do you have suggestions how to use RO in garden scale? (Like link where could I start)

I built my own RO system it cost around $1500 including a water softener. There are some ongoing supplies every year, maybe $200 or less.

I don't have any links I just figured it out, but it's not super complicated. I made it out of undersink RO membrane housings (housings from those little RO systems you can buy for around $300 that do a couple of gallons a day). The membranes have pressure pumps in front of them that get it up to a couple hundred gallons RO water total a day.

Basic steps are 1) Soften the water, 2) Pass it through very tight filters (like 1 micron), I also carbon filter for organic contaminants, 3) Booster pumps put water through osmosis membranes and from there into a storage tank.

I just used plastic totes with gravel in the bottom to house the membranes and booster pumps.

I should write up a blog post on it one day because professionally installed osmosis can be expensive.

Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#192

Post by 7e »

7e wrote: post #101
Kapura wrote: post #20

Remember that car tire degredation is a significant portion of microplastics in the environment. Investing in mass transit is as imperative as it was to move away from leaded gasoline.

Or one could just mandate that tires contain only biodegradable ingredients. That seems an inevitable step since wheel isn't going away no matter what the level of public transportation is. Some public transit, like busses and some subways, use rubber tires today.

Downvotes for suggesting biodegradable tires. What a site of wankers we have here.

Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#193

Post by dashundchen »

forgetfreeman wrote: post #136
dashundchen wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do on a bike or walking weekly, it's not that crazy. In a prewar US mid sized city, the density supports multiple grocery stores I can reach in about the same time as driving and finding parking.

Groceries. For a family of four (4). On a bicycle. Sure. How many times a day do you make the trip?

I make at least trip one trip a week. Why would I need to go every day?

I may stop by a store again during the week for a smaller trip if there's something I really need, or pop to a corner store if I need to grab something like drinks for guests, but it's not out of my way.

It's really not a big deal. Bike panniers can hold a ton.

Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#194

Post by hombre_fatal »

forgetfreeman wrote: post #136
dashundchen wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do on a bike or walking weekly, it's not that crazy. In a prewar US mid sized city, the density supports multiple grocery stores I can reach in about the same time as driving and finding parking.

Groceries. For a family of four (4). On a bicycle. Sure. How many times a day do you make the trip?

Trivial if you leave near a grocery store. If you live in most US cities, much more the suburbs, then being dependent on your vehicle to do literally anything is part of the problem. In very few places in the US can you choose to do otherwise.

Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#195

Post by drawkward »

robertlagrant wrote: post #175
drawkward wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is fine in plenty of contexts. Rebutting this particular article? Nah.

Evaluate things based on reasoning, not source.

Evaluate based on both. Why remove any explanatory variables?

And for what it is worth, the paper itself has plenty of other interesting findings that OP fails to discuss or rebut at all. OP asks an LLM some very basic statistics questions, putting into question their ability to credibly apply and interpret the LLM's findings.

My interpretation of that evidence is that OP, a random internet commenter, just doesn't think it is credible that plastics are harmful to humans, and is grasping at plastic straws with cherry picked evidence and poor rebuttals to reach that "fact based" conclusion.

Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#196

Post by forgetfreeman »

andrewshadura wrote: post #156
forgetfreeman wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Groceries. For a family of four (4). On a bicycle. Sure. How many times a day do you make the trip?

What's so crazy about that? Never seen a bicycle with panniers and a basket? Or a cargo bicycle?

I've seen what a week's worth of groceries looks like for four people and short of a rickshaw you ain't getting all of that on a bicycle with or without panniers. I'm fairly certain the respondent is coyly ignoring the headcount requirement in my original sneer.

Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#197

Post by drawkward »

timr wrote: post #115
rthomas6 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it still tells us something. What are the upper and lower bounds of whole brain microplastic content, given that 25% variation?

I couldn't begin to tell you [1]. It's not a 25% variation, once you've extrapolated from the samples by 10,000x (or whatever). The 25% inter-sample error was on a few replicas of teeny tiny measurements. The post-extrapolation error bars are so wide that they're meaningless. The Smithsonian magazine article is garbage. Ignore it. The paper is saying that they see longitudinal trends in plastic bioaccumulation in var…

...so you are saying that the probability distribution indicates that there is a 50% probability that there more than a spoon's worth of plastic in our brain?

Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#198

Post by johnnyanmac »

rTX5CMRXIfFG wrote: post #37
roenxi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> unmitigated potential risk The risk does seem fairly mitigated, most of us will make it through today fine. The only part of my brain I can account for now is the 1x credit card worth of plastic, all the other bits are a mystery. Death was inevitable before the microplastics, remains inevitable after the microplastics and things seem fine so far. We don't know much about the risks of anything. People regularly dous…

Shortening your period of observation so that the effects have not occurred yet does not mean it’s “mitigated”. And your philosophy of your own mortality is just as reductive, because humans have been trying to survive since time immemorial and do not actively work on their deaths unless in an unhealthy mental state.

I mean, what are we really going to do about it? So much chaos in the world, I don't think many are focusing on keeping plastics out of our body. No one's championing it.

Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#199

Post by johnnyanmac »

knowitnone wrote: post #86
lemonberry wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. My father has received a ton of donor blood over the past few years. Once he's gone I'll be donating regularly. My father's alive because dozens of people donated. To anyone here that has made a deposit to the blood bank: we thank you.

blood bank CEO thanks you too because the make millions selling your blood

Cool, what was I gonna do with it? Unless we're selling to Dracula, owning external blood is highly regulated. So anyone buying has some credentials to use it.

Re: Microplastics in the human brain

#200

Post by cosmic_cheese »

ethagnawl wrote: post #165
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I’d expect EVs to get lighter over time as technology progresses. Car bloat is a much bigger problem. Totally insane that little practical city cars like the Honda Fit have gone practically extinct in the US in favor of bigger, heavier cars that don’t even necessarily bring improved cargo capacity for all that extra bulk.

I have a 2018 Fit and it's a fantastic car. It gets 36 MPG and has much more interior space than it would seem. I've had taller people ride in it comfortably and its crowning achievement was fitting a hot water heater in the cargo area with the rear seat split -- without having to remove the child car seat on the other side. Pair a roof rack and you really don't need more -- especially day-to-day. It's a crying shame…

It really is difficult to imagine a better vehicle for suburb/city usage than the Fit, unless you have a bunch of kids/people to move in which case I’d skip crossovers/SUVs entirely and go straight to minivans (which are also better than SUVs for most peoples’ needs).
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