Researchers make disturbing discovery after analyzing sand along popular lake: 'It's just everywhere you look'
The team — from the State University of New York Plattsburgh, the University of Vermont, and the Lake Champlain Sea Grant program — is spending the summer collecting sand and analyzing the waste materials found in it, as Vermont Public reported.
The goal is to find the source of the plastic that is commonly found in fishing nets and in 15 species of fish that humans eat. It's also in wastewater effluent and on beaches, such as North Beach in Burlington.
"It's just everywhere you look, once you start looking," Anne Jefferson of UVM told Vermont Public. "Our students find something on every transect on every beach — no matter how pristine it looks. We find plastic everywhere."
Microplastics are 5 millimeters or smaller, but they come from larger pieces of plastic, which don't biodegrade but do break up into smaller and smaller fragments. Humans manufacture, use, and trash so much plastic that it's been found everywhere on Earth, including in our bodies.
"Big plastics break apart and become small plastics and eventually microplastics," Jefferson said. "So that single pool noodle could literally become millions of particles of microplastics."
Other research indicates that microplastics, which are often made with toxic chemicals, harm human health, with links to cancer, pregnancy issues, and dementia, among other serious issues. Vermont Public noted that they disrupt the nervous and endocrine systems and raise the risk of heart attack and stroke.
"The key thing is that we need to stop the microplastics before they get into the environment," Jefferson said. "And that means either dealing with the industrial sources or dealing with the macroplastics — the bigger things."
The researchers are hopeful that their work will uncover information about the microplastics and where they're coming from.
Then, the key is to cut off those sources. Individuals can prevent microplastic pollution by avoiding bottled water and plastic food packaging. You can also help by bringing your own to-go containers to restaurants.
Do you think America has a plastic waste problem?
Definitely
Only in some areas
Not really
I'm not sure
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
Synthetic clothing is another source, which is why it's important to check the label on the clothing items you want to buy.
Meanwhile, Vermont Public noted Vermont banned dock foam last year.
"National policy is also critical: [SUNY Plattsburgh professor Danielle] Garneau said she's finding fewer plastic microbeads in the lake since those were banned federally from consumer goods in 2015 — a push she said started with local legislation in New York state," the outlet reported. "Vermont passed a similar law in 2015."
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Yahoo
Donald Trump's election triggered transgender people to contemplate DIY hormones & suicide: study
Even before executive orders were signed in January or court decisions handed down, fear was already surging through transgender communities across the United States. A new study from the University of Vermont, appearing in JAMA Network Open, captures that fear in stark detail. Titled 'Access to Gender-Affirming Care and Alternatives to That Care Among Transgender Adults,' the research found that every single one of 489 transgender, nonbinary, and intersex respondents believed they could lose access to gender-affirming medical care under the shifting political climate. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. 'This is a population that already feels that their access to care is constantly under threat,' said Teresa Graziano, the study's lead author, who uses they/them pronouns. 'It was startling.' Related: What does Donald Trump's 'shocking and devastating' victory and a second term mean for the LGBTQ+ community? The survey, conducted between the 2024 election and Inauguration Day 2025, revealed a level of distress that transcended fear and entered the realm of survival. More than 21 percent of participants reported that they would feel suicidal if their access to care were cut off. Graziano said one participant explicitly told them, 'killing myself is easier than living without my hormones and my gender affirming care.' Particularly alarming to Graziano was how many respondents described preparing for life without medical support. Nearly a third said they would turn to black-market hormones or attempt to synthesize hormones at home if care were banned. 'My concern as a health care provider is that they do not necessarily know that they are receiving sterile products or the products that they think they're receiving,' Graziano said. 'They may not be using doses that are safe or appropriate for them because it may not translate one-to-one with what they've been using in the past.' The Trump administration has moved quickly to implement policies redefining sex as strictly male or female and directing federal agencies to explore limits on gender-affirming care, particularly for minors. While no federal ban on adult care is currently in place, the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision in Skrmetti upholding Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors has fueled deep anxieties that similar laws could spread across the country. Related: Trump administration announces end to gender-affirming care for transgender veterans National advocates say the Vermont study confirms broader trends. A spokesperson for Advocates for Trans Equality told The Advocate, 'This new study echoes what we found in our 2022 U.S. Trans Survey health report that we released last month, which captures the experiences of 84,170 trans adults across the country, and what millions across our country who are losing access to their health care thanks to Trump's budget reconciliation bill are saying: Trump's policies have consequences—all of us are less healthy and less safe, and many trans people will die without the transition-related care they need.' For Rep. Becca Balint, Vermont's first out lesbian member of Congress, the study's findings reflect conversations happening at home. 'It mirrors what I am hearing directly from trans, nonbinary, gender nonconforming folks, intersex people in Vermont and their families,' Balint said in an interview with The Advocate. 'This level of anxiety about not being able to get the care that they need and that they deserve and that will keep them alive is something that I'm hearing from a lot of my constituents.' Related: Supreme Court rules states can ban gender-affirming care for youth in U.S. v. Skrmetti 'In the last few months, when I am back in Vermont and I am at an event, inevitably, either someone who identifies as trans or nonbinary or their family will come up to me and they will tell me just how scared they are that they're not going to be able to get health care,' she said. 'And more broadly, just deep despondency that their own government is coming after them.' While Balint called it 'of course, a shocking statistic that over 20 percent would consider taking their own lives,' she said the finding was, tragically, not surprising. 'They have been told now for two and a half years in earnest by the Republican party and by Trump that they don't matter,' she said. 'That they don't care about the lives of these people, that they will say anything and do anything, and they will scapegoat them.' Balint said many constituents have expressed what it feels like 'to have your government weaponized against you,' and warned that political rhetoric has real consequences for mental health and safety. 'When they don't see us as elected officials standing with their civil rights, standing with their right to the health care that they need and deserve, of course, it looks bleak,' she said. Related: LGBTQ+ mental health crisis center says calls have surged with Donald Trump's inauguration She sees a strong connection between today's threats to transgender people's access to health care and the fight for reproductive freedom. 'I link those all the time, especially for constituents who might have a hard time understanding the lives of trans people because they don't necessarily have somebody in their family or within their close social circle,' Balint said. 'I always say it's the same thing: you're talking about people having control over their own bodies.' Balint emphasized that cutting off access to care won't make transgender people disappear; it simply pushes them into unsafe, underground options. She said, 'transgender people have always existed and always will, as part of humanity itself.' People, she noted, will go to great lengths to obtain the care they need, even if that means risking black-market treatments. Instead of forcing people into such dangerous paths, Balint urged, 'We need to stop demonizing this population who is just trying to live their lives.' If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at or text START to 678678. This article originally appeared on Advocate: Donald Trump's election triggered transgender people to contemplate DIY hormones & suicide: study RELATED Montana court strikes down ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors Hundreds protest Pittsburgh hospital for caving to Trump and denying trans youth gender-affirming care Supreme Court rules states can ban gender-affirming care for youth in U.S. v. Skrmetti
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Yahoo
Researchers make disturbing discovery after analyzing sand along popular lake: 'It's just everywhere you look'
Researchers working to understand microplastic pollution in Lake Champlain have sounded alarm bells about the ubiquity of the problem. The team — from the State University of New York Plattsburgh, the University of Vermont, and the Lake Champlain Sea Grant program — is spending the summer collecting sand and analyzing the waste materials found in it, as Vermont Public reported. The goal is to find the source of the plastic that is commonly found in fishing nets and in 15 species of fish that humans eat. It's also in wastewater effluent and on beaches, such as North Beach in Burlington. "It's just everywhere you look, once you start looking," Anne Jefferson of UVM told Vermont Public. "Our students find something on every transect on every beach — no matter how pristine it looks. We find plastic everywhere." Microplastics are 5 millimeters or smaller, but they come from larger pieces of plastic, which don't biodegrade but do break up into smaller and smaller fragments. Humans manufacture, use, and trash so much plastic that it's been found everywhere on Earth, including in our bodies. "Big plastics break apart and become small plastics and eventually microplastics," Jefferson said. "So that single pool noodle could literally become millions of particles of microplastics." Other research indicates that microplastics, which are often made with toxic chemicals, harm human health, with links to cancer, pregnancy issues, and dementia, among other serious issues. Vermont Public noted that they disrupt the nervous and endocrine systems and raise the risk of heart attack and stroke. "The key thing is that we need to stop the microplastics before they get into the environment," Jefferson said. "And that means either dealing with the industrial sources or dealing with the macroplastics — the bigger things." The researchers are hopeful that their work will uncover information about the microplastics and where they're coming from. Then, the key is to cut off those sources. Individuals can prevent microplastic pollution by avoiding bottled water and plastic food packaging. You can also help by bringing your own to-go containers to restaurants. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Synthetic clothing is another source, which is why it's important to check the label on the clothing items you want to buy. Meanwhile, Vermont Public noted Vermont banned dock foam last year. "National policy is also critical: [SUNY Plattsburgh professor Danielle] Garneau said she's finding fewer plastic microbeads in the lake since those were banned federally from consumer goods in 2015 — a push she said started with local legislation in New York state," the outlet reported. "Vermont passed a similar law in 2015." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Yahoo
Skull of one-ton ground sloth found in Kansas
ELLIS COUNTY (KSNT) – The unearthing of a partial skull of a 10-foot-tall ground sloth has prompted a review of the history of the species in Kansas. The paper, published by the Kansas Academy of Science on May 26, claims a mostly intact braincase of Megalonyx jeffersonii, also known as Jefferson's ground sloth, was discovered near Hays in Ellis County. The discovery helps flesh out the distribution of the species during the late Pleistocene. The skull is estimated to be between 12,000-21,000 years old due to its discovery in a significant geological formation in Kansas. State wrestling tournament will stay in Topeka Megalonyx jeffersonii was named after Thomas Jefferson, who recovered bones of the animal from a cave in West Virginia in the late 18th Century. Jefferson originally thought the fossils belonged to a giant cat based on the large claws he found, according to the Illinois State Museum. The Illinois State Museum lists Megalonyx jeffersonii as being between 8-10 feet tall and weighing between 2,200-2,425 pounds. The animal was large and heavily built with large, blunt teeth. The animal's hip bones indicate it could stand on its hind legs which it probably used to strip leaves from trees with its large claws. Megalonyx jeffersonii has a long geological history in Kansas, with records from the late Miocene to the late Pleistocene, according to the paper. The location of Megalonyx jeffersonii in Kansas was associated with river drainages, indicating a reliance on forests within the grassland habitat of the Great Plains. Planned road closures for Emporia Unbound Gravel races As of this new publishing, the Megalonyx jeffersonii has been found in the following Kansas counties: Ellis County – 2025. Jewell County – 1995. Sedgewick County – 1985. Wyandotte County – 1979. Republic County – 1975. Wallace County – 1968. Johnson County – 1967. Meade County – 1938. McPherson County – 1892. Greenwood County – Unpublished date. Rawlins County – Unpublished date. For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
