The next time you're swimming in the ocean and thinking about picking up some plastic trash, think again. According to the article, "Secret World of Ocean Garbage Patch Microbes Revealed" microbes are clinging to ocean trash. How the microbes are surviving on the plastic is currently unclear, but finding out could lead to some interesting discoveries. As most of us know, because of the oceans substantial size, humans are unable to know very much about the ocean. Luckily, a case such as the article presents, could lead to some insight into the ecosystem of the ocean. Unfortunately, the microbes that were found on the plastic could be potentially harmful to humans and animals.
Tia Ghose, who is the author of the article, states the facts of this event in a very advantageous way. The only criticism I would have is that she waits until the end of the article to present what the significance of finding the microbe filled plastic is. When first reading the article, towards the beginning I was thinking to myself, "Now... why does this matter?..." Luckily, towards the end of the article she tells us why this story is relevant when saying, "Unlocking the mysterious world of these microbes could help scientists understand the role of plastic in the ocean as a whole."
I find this subject to be very compelling. Seeing that we know so little about the ocean, its very exciting to know that that there may be something to open up the oceanic world to our human world. When comparing human life to nature and the organic environment, humans are such a small part of what the world is naturally made up of. I'm hoping this finding of microbial life on plastic takes off and studies begin to be conducted.
Since the found microbes could be harmful to humans, the next time I find any plastic in the ocean I'll just keep swimming.
Who knew that even plastic floating around in our oceans could have microbes clinging to them? That's pretty cool to think about, but also scary especially since scientists don't know what all of them can do. It's also bad for the people who want to clean up the oceans and volunteer to pick up the litter. This does bring up a good point as to what exactly is it doing to our environment? We need to do more studies on the potential harm it could bring along with it, and hopefully it's nothing too dangerous. I'm also curious to find out what exactly clings onto this litter, are they new microbes? or some old friends? Only time will tell, and hopefully it brings WAVES of good results.
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