Major events like presidential elections bring online hate communities together

New study details how major real-world events grow and strengthen global hate networks online, inciting new hate content around specific hot-button issues.

George Washington University

 

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Demonstrating how online hate networks strengthen around U.S. elections, this Figure shows a subset of Telegram-connected networks before and after election day, showing its key role as a binding agent.

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Credit: Neil Johnson/George Washington University

WASHINGTON (October 29, 2024) – A new study published today details the ways in which the 2020 U.S. election not only incited new hate content in online communities but also how it brought those communities closer together around online hate speech. The research has wider implications for better understanding how the online hate universe multiplies and hardens around local and national events such as elections, and how smaller, less regulated platforms like Telegram play a key role in that universe by creating and sustaining hate content.

The study – published in the journal npj Complexity, part of the Nature portfolio of journals – found that the 2020 U.S. election drew approximately 50 million accounts in online hate communities closer together and in closer proximity with the broader mainstream, including billions of people.

The research also found the election incited new hate content around specific issues, such as immigration, ethnicity, and antisemitism that often align with far-right conspiracy theories. The research identified a significant uptick in hate speech targeting these three issues around November 7, 2020, when then president-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner in the U.S. presidential race. The team also identified a similar surge in anti-immigration content on and after January 6, 2021.

The research team developed a powerful new tool to take a closer look at the online world and the hate content spreading there. Led by George Washington University physics professor Neil Johnson, GW researchers Rick Sear and Akshay Verma built an ‘online telescope’ that maps the online hate universe at unprecedented scale and resolution.

 “Politics can be a catalyst for potentially dangerous hate speech. Combine that with the internet, where hate speech thrives, and that’s an alarming scenario. This is why it’s critical to understand exactly how hate at the individual level multiplies to a collective global scale,” says Johnson. “This research fills in that gap in understanding of how hate evolves globally around local or national events like elections.”

Johnson and the research team found that the social media platform Telegram acts as a central platform of communication and coordination between hate communities; yet, Telegram is often overlooked by U.S. and E.U. regulators, Johnson says

Moving forward, the researchers suggest that current policies focused only on popular platforms – such as the more widely used sites of Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok – will not be effective in curbing hate and other online harms, since various platforms can play different roles in the online hate community. Additionally, they recommend that any anti-hate messaging deployed to combat online hate speech should not be tied specifically to the event itself, since hate speech around real-world events may also incorporate adjacent themes. By only targeting anti-hate messaging around a U.S. election for example, messaging may neglect to reach audiences who are spreading hate speech around issues of immigration, ethnicity, or antisemitism.

The paper, “How U.S. Presidential elections strengthen global hate networks” was published October 29, 2024. The U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and The John Templeton Foundation funded the research.

-GW-

3Qs with Neil Johnson: Major E [VIDEO] | 

Journal

npj Complexity

DOI

10.1038/s44260-024-00018-8 

Article Title

How U.S. Presidential elections strengthen global hate networks

Article Publication Date

29-Oct-2024

Alcohol consumption abundant in the natural world, study finds

Ian Sample Science editor

THE GUARDIAN
Tue 29 October 2024 

Male fruit flies turn to alcohol when they are rejected as a mate, while females of a closely-related species become less picky about their mates after imbibing. Photograph: Surapol Usanakul/Alamy


Humans may have turned drinking into something of an art form but when it comes to animals putting alcohol away, Homo sapiens are not such an outlier, researchers say.

A review of published evidence shows that alcohol occurs naturally in nearly every ecosystem on Earth, making it likely that most animals that feast on sugary fruits and nectar regularly imbibe the intoxicating substance.

Although many creatures have evolved to tolerate a tipple and gain little more than calories from their consumption, some species have learned to protect themselves with alcohol. Others, however, seem less able to handle its effects.


“We’re moving away from this anthropocentric view that alcohol is used by just humans and that actually ethanol is quite abundant in the natural world,” said Anna Bowland, a researcher in the team at the University of Exeter.

After trawling research papers on animals and alcohol, the scientists arrived at a “diverse coterie” of species that have embraced and adapted to ethanol in their diets, normally arising through fermented fruits, sap and nectar.

Ethanol became plentiful on Earth about 100m years ago when flowering plants began to produce sugary fruits and nectar that yeast could ferment. The alcohol content is typically low, at around 1% to 2% alcohol by volume (ABV), but in over-ripe palm fruit the concentration can reach 10% ABV.

In one study, wild chimpanzees in south eastern Guinea were caught on camera bingeing on the alcoholic sap of raffia palms. Meanwhile, spider monkeys on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, are partial to ethanol-laden yellow mombin fruit, revealed to contain between 1% and 2.5% alcohol. “Evidence is growing that humans are not drinking alone,” the authors write in Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

Whether consumption leads to drunkenness is another question. Tales of inebriated animals are abound, from elephants and baboons drunk on marula fruit in Botswana, to a moose found with its head stuck in a tree in Sweden after chomping on fermented apples. But in none of these cases, at least, was alcohol measured in the animals or the fruit.

Many animals seem to have impressive alcohol tolerance. Despite the “prodigious ethanol consumption” of pen-tailed treeshrews, the scientists found no evidence that the animals became intoxicated, but concede it was “unclear how an inebriated treeshrew would behave”.

Animals that regularly eat fermented foods tend to metabolise alcohol rapidly, sparing them its worst effects. But some creatures encounter ethanol less often and can suffer the consequences. Tests on Cedar waxwings, which died from crashing into fences and other structures, found they had been flying under the influence after gorging themselves on the over-ripe berries of the Brazilian pepper tree. “Inebriation is not beneficial in an environment where you are fighting to survive,” Bowland said.

Perhaps the most striking effects of alcohol are seen in insects. Male fruit flies turn to alcohol when they are rejected as a mate, while females of a closely related species become less picky about their mates and have sex with more males after imbibing. Fruit flies lay their eggs in ethanol-rich foods, protecting them from parasites.

Earlier this month, researchers led by Eran Levin at Tel Aviv University found that oriental hornets may be the only animals capable of consuming an unlimited amount of alcohol without suffering ill effects. “They can ingest up to 80% ethanol solution without any negative effects on their mortality or behaviour,” said Dr Sophia Bouchebti, an author on the study.

“Aside from the fruit fly, aye aye and slow loris, it is unclear if animals prefer ethanol-containing food,” said Matthew Carrigan at the College of Central Florida, who worked on the review with Bowland. “One of our next steps is the test whether animals in the wild prefer ethanol-containing food or eat it only when ethanol levels are too low to detect or unfermented fruit is hard to find.”

Alcohol consumption among non-human animals may not be as rare as previously thought, say ecologists

Cell Press

 

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A spider monkey feedings on fruits of spondia mombin

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Credit: Nicholas Chapoy

Anecdotes abound of wildlife behaving “drunk” after eating fermented fruits, but despite this, nonhuman consumption of ethanol has been assumed to be rare and accidental. Ecologists challenge this assumption in a review publishing October 30 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. They argue that since ethanol is naturally present in nearly every ecosystem, it is likely consumed on a regular basis by most fruit- and nectar-eating animals.

“We're moving away from this anthropocentric view that ethanol is just something that humans use,” says behavioral ecologist and senior author Kimberley Hockings (@KJHockings) of the University of Exeter. “It's much more abundant in the natural world than we previously thought, and most animals that eat sugary fruits are going to be exposed to some level of ethanol.”

Ethanol first became abundant around 100 million years ago, when flowering plants began producing sugary nectar and fruits that yeast could ferment. Now, it’s present naturally in nearly every ecosystem, though concentrations are higher, and production occurs year-round in lower-latitude and humid tropical environments compared to temperate regions. Most of the time, naturally fermented fruits only reach 1%-2% alcohol by volume (ABV), but concentrations as high as 10.2% ABV have been found in over-ripe palm fruit in Panama.

Animals already harbored genes that could degrade ethanol before yeasts began producing it, but there is evidence that evolution fine-tuned this ability for mammals and birds that consume fruit and nectar. In particular, primates and treeshrews have adapted to efficiently metabolize ethanol.

“From an ecological perspective, it is not advantageous to be inebriated as you're climbing around in the trees or surrounded by predators at night—that's a recipe for not having your genes passed on,” says molecular ecologist and senior author Matthew Carrigan of the College of Central Florida. “It’s the opposite of humans who want to get intoxicated but don’t really want the calories—from the non-human perspective, the animals want the calories but not the inebriation.”

It’s unclear whether animals intentionally consume ethanol for ethanol’s sake, and more research is needed to understand its impact on animal physiology and evolution. However, the researchers say that ethanol consumption could carry several benefits for wild animals. First and foremost, it’s a source of calories, and the odorous compounds produced during fermentation could guide animals to food sources, though the researchers say it’s unlikely that animals can detect ethanol itself. Ethanol could also have medicinal benefits: fruit flies intentionally lay their eggs in substances containing ethanol, which protects their eggs from parasites, and fruit fly larvae increase their ethanol intake when they become parasitized by wasps.

“On the cognitive side, ideas have been put forward that ethanol can trigger the endorphin and dopamine system, which leads to feelings of relaxation that could have benefits in terms of sociality,” says behavioral ecologist and first author Anna Bowland of the University of Exeter. “To test that, we'd really need to know if ethanol is producing a physiological response in the wild.”

There are a lot of unanswered questions regarding the significance of ethanol consumption to wild animals. In their future research, the team plans to investigate the behavioral and social implication of ethanol consumption in primates and to more deeply examine the enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism.

###

This research was supported by the Primate Society of Great Britain, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Canada Research Chairs program, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Bowland et al., “The evolutionary ecology of ethanol” https://cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(24)00240-4

Trends in Ecology & Evolution (@Trends_Ecol_Evo), published by Cell Press, is a monthly review journal that contains polished, concise, and readable reviews and opinion pieces in all areas of ecology and evolutionary science. It aims to keep scientists informed of new developments and ideas across the full range of ecology and evolutionary biology—from the pure to the applied, and from molecular to global. Visit http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution. To receive Cell Press media alerts, please contact press@cell.com.

A capuchin eating fruits

Credit

Julia Casorso

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Journal

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1016/j.tree.2024.09.005 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

The evolutionary ecology of ethanol

Article Publication Date

30-Oct-2024

 

Giant rats could soon fight illegal wildlife trade by sniffing out elephant tusk and rhino horn

Researchers trained African giant pouched rats to detect illegally trafficked wildlife species and remember targets for several months

Frontiers

 

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Researchers trained African giant pouched rats to detect illegally trafficked wildlife species and remember targets for several months. Image APOPO

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Credit: Image: APOPO

In the past, African giant pouched rats have learned to detect explosives and the tuberculosis-causing pathogen. Now, a team of researchers have trained these rats to pick up the scent of pangolin scales, elephant ivory, rhino horn, and African blackwood. These animals and plants are listed as threatened and at high danger of extinction.

“Our study shows that we can train African giant pouched rats to detect illegally trafficked wildlife, even when it has been concealed among other substances,” said Dr Isabelle Szott, a researcher at the Okeanos Foundation, and first co-author of the study published in Frontiers in Conservation Science.

“The rats also continued to detect the wildlife targets after not encountering that species for a long period,” added first co-author Dr Kate Webb, an assistant professor at Duke University.

The research for the present study was conducted at APOPO, a Tanzania-based, non-profit organization that provides a low-tech, cost-efficient solutions to pressing humanitarian challenges.

Ratting out wildlife trafficking

The rats – Kirsty, Marty, Attenborough, Irwin, Betty, Teddy, Ivory, Ebony, Desmond, Thoreau, and Fossey; some of them named after conservationists and advocates against wildlife trafficking – underwent several training stages. During indication training, the rats learned to hold their noses for several seconds in a hole in which the target scent was placed. When they correctly performed this ‘nose poke’ they were rewarded with flavored rodent pellets.

In the next step, the rats were introduced to non-target odors. These included electric cables, coffee beans, and washing powder – objects that are frequently used to mask the scent of wildlife in real-life trafficking operations. “During the discrimination stage, rats learn to only signal the odors of the wildlife targets, while ignoring non-targets,” Szott said.

The rats were also trained to remember smells. At the end of their retention training, they were re-introduced to scents they’d not encountered for five and eight months, respectively. Despite months of non-exposure, the rats showed perfect retention scores, suggesting that their cognitive retention performance resembles that of dogs.

By the end of the training, eight rats were able to identify four commonly smuggled wildlife species among 146 non-target substances.

Rats in action

“Existing screening tools are expensive and time intensive and there is an urgent need to increase cargo screening. APOPO's rats are cost-efficient scent detection tools. They can easily access tight spaces like cargo in packed shipping containers or be lifted up high to screen the ventilation systems of sealed containers,” Szott explained.

The next step, the scientists said, is to develop ways for the rats to work within ports through which smuggled wildlife is trafficked. For this purpose, the rats will be outfitted with custom-made vests. With their front paws, they will be able to pull a small ball attached at the chest of their vest, which emits a beeping sound. This way rats will be able to alert their handlers when they detect a target. “The vests are a great example of developing hardware that could be useful across different settings and tasks, including at a shipping port to detect smuggled wildlife,” said Webb.

This proof-of-principle study demonstrates that rats can successfully identify trafficked wildlife. This does not mean that it comes without limitations, the researchers said. For example, the study was conducted in a controlled environment, which is not reflective of the settings in which wildlife is commonly trafficked or screened by scent-detection animals. To deploy rats for this task, new methods need to be developed, the researchers pointed out.

“Wildlife smuggling is often conducted by individuals engaged in other illegal activities, including human, drug, and arms trafficking. Therefore, deploying rats to combat wildlife trafficking may assist with the global fight against networks that exploit humans and nature,” concluded Webb.

During training, rats were rewarded when they correctly performed a ‘nose poke’ in a hole containing a target. 

In real life settings, rats will be able to pull a small ball attached at the chest of their vest, which emits a beeping sound. This way rats will be able to alert their handlers when they detect a target. Image: APOPO

During their training, the rats were rewarded with flavored rodent pellets. Image: APOPO

The study shows that African giant pouched rats to detect illegally trafficked wildlife, even when it has been concealed among other substances. Image: APOPO

By the end of the training, eight rats were able to identify four commonly smuggled wildlife species among 146 non-target substances. Image: APOPO

The rats learned to identify and remember the scent of pangolin scales, elephant ivory, rhino horn, and African blackwood. These animals and plants are listed as threatened and at high danger of extinction. Image: APOPO

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Journal

Frontiers in Conservation Science

DOI

10.3389/fcosc.2024.1444126 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Ratting on wildlife crime: Training African giant pouched rats to detect illegally trafficked wildlife

Article Publication Date

30-Oct-2024

THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA  FIRESIGN THEATRE

 

How many typhoons will make landfall on Taiwan Island this year?

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

 

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Super Typhoon Gaemi and statistical seasonal forecasting of tropical cyclone landfalls on Taiwan Island

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Credit: CHEN Ziqing

Typhoons, with their severe winds, rain, storm surges, and secondary disasters, have long been a key focus for local governments, meteorological departments, and research institutions, with all parties applying maximum effort in exploring more efficient ways to ensure public safety.

By every mid-May, the research team led by Prof. Kelvin Chan from the School of Atmospheric Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) provides meteorological services to China and neighboring areas, forecasting the number of typhoons for different regions in each year. Recently, the team developed a statistical seasonal forecasting model (SYSU Model) to forecast the number of typhoon landfalls on Taiwan Island. The related article was published recently in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters.

“This concise, open-source, and effective model utilizes four pre-typhoon-season environmental predictors to forecast the number of typhoons that will land on Taiwan Island by every mid-May. Benefiting from the comprehensive predictor selection method, the hit rate of the model reaches 98% for the period 1979–2022,” says Ms. Ziqing Chen, first author of the article.

Research suggests that large-scale climate phenomena, such as the Antarctic Oscillation, along with the variations of the western Pacific subtropical high, play an important role in steering typhoons towards Taiwan Island. In addition, the Asian summer monsoon and the oceanic tunnel connecting different sea basins are potential factors that affect the formation and tracks of typhoons.

“Being able to forecast typhoon landfall months ahead is of benefit to the relevant regions in making adequate preparations for disaster prevention and mitigation. Furthermore, the open-source model offers an additional reference for operational forecasting, facilitating collaboration between scientific research and meteorological operations. With the continuous improvement and promotion of the SYSU model by the research team, the expectation is that it will serve more regions in the future”, says Prof. Kelvin Chan, corresponding author of the study.

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Journal

Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

DOI

10.1016/j.aosl.2024.100554 

Article Title

Statistical seasonal forecasting of tropical cyclone landfalls on Taiwan Island

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases

 

Blue Monday

Holidays and days of the week correlate with varying suicide risk globally

University of Tokyo

 

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Locations of the 740 sites in 26 countries included in the study and the percentage of suicide counts on Mondays during the study period.

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Credit: ©2024 Lee, Kang, et al. CC-BY-ND

Researchers found suicide risk varies by day of the week and holiday, with certain days correlating to higher risk globally. They used data from 1971 to 2019 and from 740 locations in 26 countries, collected from the Multi-City Multi-Country Collaborative Research Network database to assess short term variations in suicide risk related to the day of the week and national holidays. They found Mondays and New Year’s Day universally correlated with elevated risk, whereas weekends and other public holidays, or the days after them, varied by region. These findings could help both individuals and mental health professionals.

Every year, millions of people the world over suffer the loss of someone due to suicide. In 2019 alone, over 700,000 lives were lost to suicide, according to the World Health Organization, and it ranks as the fourth-biggest killer amongst 15- to 29-year-olds, ahead of even malaria. The factors behind one’s reason for suicide are known to be various, ranging from individual to social factors. But it has also been known for some time that certain time patterns seem to affect suicide rates.

“Our study examines how the risk of suicide varies by day of the week and compares holidays, such as New Year’s Day, Christmas and national holidays, to regular days,” said Associate Professor Yoonhee Kim from the Department of Global Environmental Health at the University of Tokyo. “We found that Mondays and New Year's Day were associated with a higher risk of suicide in most countries, likely due to increased stress corresponding to the start of new cycles. However, the risk on Christmas was generally less pronounced and varied across regions. Other national holidays, aside from New Year's Day and Christmas, were generally linked to a lower risk of suicide.”

Previous studies on this very sensitive topic mainly focused on individual countries, and typically Western cultures. However, Kim and her team felt inspired to perform a study that compares results across global regions with different lifestyles and cultures using a consistent method — their logic being, by applying a consistent approach across multiple countries, it could provide clearer, more directly comparable results. For example, suicide risks were lower on weekends in many countries in North America, Asia and Europe, but increased in South and Central American countries, Finland and South Africa.

“We hypothesize this may be linked to differing weekend drinking cultures, though further studies are needed because other factors, such as religion and work conditions, might also play a role,” said Kim.

Although their findings provide novel scientific evidence from an international perspective, this is an observational study with several limitations. The team hopes further studies, including those more in depth and with broader interdisciplinary clinical aspects will be conducted to validate findings. The study also considers only a selection of locations within a selection of countries; but despite this, the results have important implications for suicide studies and relevant public health policies.

“We must be aware of temporal fluctuations in risk and pay close attention to them. This awareness is crucial not only for vulnerable populations, but also for those working in mental health services,” concluded Kim. “By recognizing periods of higher risk, such as around certain days of the week and holidays, both individuals and mental health professionals can take preventive actions, provide timely support and create a safer environment for the vulnerable.”

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Journal article:

Whanhee Lee, Cinoo Kang, Chaerin Park, Michelle L Bell, Ben Armstrong, Dominic Roye, Masahiro Hashizume, Antonio Gasparrini, Aurelio Tobias, Francesco Sera, Yasushi Honda, Aleš Urban, Jan Kyselý, Carmen Íñiguez, Niilo Ryti, Yuming Guo, Shilu Tong, Micheline de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho, Eric Lavigne, Francesca de'Donato, Yue Leon Guo, Joel Schwartz, Alexandra Schneider, Susanne Breitner, Yeonseung Chung, Sooin Kim, Eunhee Ha, Ho Kim, Yoonhee Kim, “Association of holidays and the day of the week with suicide risk: multicountry, two stage, time series study”, The BMJ, http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-077262

 

Useful links:
Department of Global Environmental Health
https://sites.google.com/m.u-tokyo.ac.jp/envhealth
Department of Global Health Policy
https://www.ghp.m.u-tokyo.ac.jp/
Graduate School of Medicine
https://www.m.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english/

Research contact:
Associate Professor Yoonhee Kim
Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan
yoonheekim@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Press contact:
Mr. Rohan Mehra
Public Relations Group, The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan
press-releases.adm@gs.mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp

About The University of Tokyo:

The University of Tokyo is Japan's leading university and one of the world's top research universities. The vast research output of some 6,000 researchers is published in the world's top journals across the arts and sciences. Our vibrant student body of around 15,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students includes over 4,000 international students. Find out more at www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @UTokyo_News_en.

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Journal

BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj-2024-077262 

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Association of holidays and the day of the week with suicide risk: multicountry, two stage, time series study

 

Nanoplastics can reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics

Study reveals previously unexplored risk from plastic exposure

Medical University of Vienna

In a recent study, an international research team with significant involvement from MedUni Vienna has investigated how nanoplastic particles deposited in the body affect the effectiveness of antibiotics. The study showed that the plastic particles not only impair the effect of the drugs, but could also promote the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The results of the study were recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

In order to investigate whether and how nanoplastic particles in the body interact with antibiotics, the research team led by Lukas Kenner (MedUni Vienna), Barbara Kirchner (University of Bonn) and Oldamur Hollóczki (University of Debrecen) linked a common drug with widely used types of plastic. The focus was on the broad-spectrum antibiotic tetracycline, which is used to treat many bacterial infections, such as those of the respiratory tract, skin or intestines. When it came to plastics, the choice fell on polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS), which are ubiquitous components of packaging materials, as well as nylon 6,6 (N66), which is contained in many textiles such as clothing, carpets, sofa covers and curtains. Nanoplastics are smaller than 0.001millimeters and are considered particularly harmful to humans and the environment due to their small size.

Using complex computer models, the team was able to prove that the nanoplastic particles can bind tetracycline and thus impair the effectiveness of the antibiotic. "The binding was particularly strong with nylon," emphasizes Lukas Kenner, pointing out a largely underestimated danger indoors: "The micro- and nanoplastic load is around five times higher there than outdoors. Nylon is one of the reasons for this: it is released from textiles and enters the body via respiration, for example."

Danger of antibiotic resistance
As the study results show, the binding of tetracycline to nanoplastic particles can reduce the biological activity of the antibiotic. At the same time, binding to nanoplastics could lead to the antibiotic being transported to unintended sites in the body, causing it to lose its targeted effect and possibly cause other undesirable effects. "Our finding that the local concentration of antibiotics on the surface of the nanoplastic particles can increase is particularly worrying," reports Lukas Kenner on another detail from the study. This increase in concentration could lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Plastics such as nylon 6,6, but also polystyrene, which bind more strongly to tetracycline, could therefore increase the risk of resistance. "At a time when antibiotic resistance is becoming an ever greater threat worldwide, such interactions must be taken into account," says Kenner.

The study shows that exposure to nanoplastics is not only a direct health risk, but can also indirectly influence the treatment of diseases. "If nanoplastics reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics, the dosage poses a massive problem," says Lukas Kenner with a view to future studies looking at the influence of nanoplastics on other drugs.

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-024-75785-4 

Article Title

The adsorption of drugs on nanoplastics has severe biological impact

Article Publication Date

28-Oct-2024