Maybe we will find research correlating microplastics as ideal surfaces for cellular biofilm [1] deposition. Petri dishes are plastic too, so we would have observed a discrepancy much sooner--then the nano-scale is a possible factor.
Nanobiology could become its own specialist field.
Bakelite is a phenol-formaldehyde polymer. Wood is substantially made of lignin, a cross-linked phenolic polymer, and cellulose, a long-chain saccharide polymer.
"Plastic" is an incredibly fuzzy category. Bakelite is a plastic by any reasonable definition of the word and I would staunchly defend the argument that wood is a fibre-reinforced plastic composite. The stuff we'd definitely agree are plastics - petrochemical-based synthetic polymers - are a hugely diverse group of materials with vastly different chemistries. Plastic materials that look and feel almost identical often have completely different chemical structures, e.g. PC and PMMA.
As a polymer enjoyer, I just don't know how to make sense of the popular understanding of (and panic around) plastics. I can't imagine a similar tenor of discussion around metals, which is at least a category we can usefully define. Is there anyone out there who is terribly afraid of zinc or tin because they're right above cadmium and lead in the periodic table? Is anyone afraid of tungsten because it looks and feels just like uranium?
I don't intend to sound dismissive, but i'm at least 82.4% sure that there's no nanowoods in my brain, or in my arteries; and about 90% sure that there's no bakelite in my blood. There is however lead and cadmium and "plastic" which i am assuming means things like ABS, PET, nylon.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 24.3 ms ] threadNanobiology could become its own specialist field.
[1] A Biofilm's Shape Emerges from Cellular Geometry - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43764875 - 13 hours ago (6 points, 0 comments)
Short of using glass for everything and switching to copper pipes, what other ways am I ingesting plastic?
Maybe we should have stuck with wood and Bakelite.
"Plastic" is an incredibly fuzzy category. Bakelite is a plastic by any reasonable definition of the word and I would staunchly defend the argument that wood is a fibre-reinforced plastic composite. The stuff we'd definitely agree are plastics - petrochemical-based synthetic polymers - are a hugely diverse group of materials with vastly different chemistries. Plastic materials that look and feel almost identical often have completely different chemical structures, e.g. PC and PMMA.
As a polymer enjoyer, I just don't know how to make sense of the popular understanding of (and panic around) plastics. I can't imagine a similar tenor of discussion around metals, which is at least a category we can usefully define. Is there anyone out there who is terribly afraid of zinc or tin because they're right above cadmium and lead in the periodic table? Is anyone afraid of tungsten because it looks and feels just like uranium?