Crickets munch on microplastics — especially if they have a big mouth

American Chemical Society

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Tropical house crickets consumed more plastic-contaminated food over time, even alongside the presence of uncontaminated food.

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Credit: Matthew Muzzatti

To a human, microplastics are very small at less than 5 millimeters (mm) wide. But to an insect, microplastics might be the same size as the food they usually eat. Researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology have shown that crickets can and will consume polyethylene microplastics if their mouth is larger than the plastic particle. The study suggests that crickets — and likely many other insects — cannot distinguish plastic from food.

Previous research has shown that consuming microplastics negatively affects small animals like insects, snails and earthworms. These plastic particles, ranging in size from 1 micrometer (around the width of a bacterial cell) to 5 mm, are sloughed off a variety of sources like garbage and microplastic-contaminated fertilizer. Because of the plastics’ wide variation in size, it’s unclear how insects, which also vary in size, may respond to different particles. Crickets are “generalists,” which means they will eat almost anything that’s available — including plastic pieces. So, Marshall Ritchie and colleagues wanted to use crickets to understand how generalist insects interact with plastic-contaminated food as they grow.

First, the researchers gave groups of adult tropical house crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus) a choice between plastic-free food or food contaminated with either small or large microplastics. The crickets showed no preference for the uncontaminated food, but they consumed more of the contaminated food over time. However, unlike some other animals, eating plastic did not appear to stunt the crickets’ growth.

Next, the team investigated what sizes of microplastics crickets would consume over a seven-week period. During that time, the crickets’ body size increased by approximately 25 times, with their mouth size growing, too. The researchers found that crickets could only consume plastic particles whole when their mouth grew large enough. “Once a particle was big enough to be eaten, crickets continued to eat it for the rest of their life,” explains Ritchie.

The team also found that during digestion, crickets were able to break microplastics into smaller nanoplastics, which are more harmful to the environment than large microplastics. This ability changed as crickets grew — larger particles were found to be less fragmented in larger crickets.

The researchers say that this work suggests that crickets are unable to distinguish between plastic and food, and sheds light on the role insects may play in breaking down microplastics in the environment as they eat them and excrete smaller particles.  

The authors acknowledge funding from the Increasing Knowledge on Plastic Pollution Initiative from Environment and Climate Change Canada, and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant.

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is committed to improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Its mission is to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community and champion scientific integrity, and its vision is a world built on science. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, e-books and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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Journal

Environmental Science & Technology

DOI

10.1021/acs.est.5c09189 

Article Title

“The Disadvantage of Having a Big Mouth: The Relationship Between Insect Body Size and Microplastic Ingestion”

Article Publication Date

2-Dec-2025

 

Making quieter dental drills to reduce dental anxiety

By studying the aeroacoustics of a dental drill, researchers can pinpoint the anxiety-causing sounds and design drills to lessen them. 

Acoustical Society of America

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A dental drill being used in a patient’s mouth.

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Credit: Tomomi Yamada

HONOLULU, Dec. 2, 2025 — Dental anxiety, also known as odontophobia, prevents people from getting their regular cleanings and keeping up with necessary dental hygiene.

One aspect of the anxiety comes from the sound of the dental drill, which makes a high-pitched whining sound. As a dentist, Tomomi Yamada has witnessed discomfort and fear in her patients firsthand.

“Originally, I was doing research on dental materials, but I realized that almost no one — not even dentists — was tackling this sound problem scientifically,” Yamada said.

Yamada, an assistant professor at the University of Osaka’s graduate school of dentistry, will present her work Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 8:20 a.m. HST as part of the Sixth Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and Acoustical Society of Japan, running Dec. 1-5 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

To understand the aerodynamics of the drill, Yamada and her collaborators from the University of Osaka, Kobe University, and National Cheng Kung University used Japan’s flagship supercomputer to conduct large-scale aeroacoustics simulations. They analyzed the internal and external airflow of the dental drill, which is powered by compressed air and rotates at about 320,000 revolutions per minute.

From these simulations, they were able to visualize how air moves through and around the drill to create the noise.

“Our research showed that just making the drill quieter isn’t enough to make the sound less unpleasant,” Yamada said. “What really matters is improving its sound quality.”

The researchers also tested the psychological effects of the dental drill, which can generate high-pitched sounds reaching nearly 20 kilohertz, with children and adults. They found that younger listeners had different reactions to the drill, perceiving the sounds as louder and more unpleasant.

“This indicates that children’s fear of dental sounds is not merely psychological but also physiological in nature,” said Yamada. “Children truly hear these sounds differently, so their fear of dental treatment is a genuine sensory response, not just imagination.”

To address this, Yamada and her colleagues are working on optimizing the blade geometry and exhaust port of the drill to minimize the noise while maintaining the performance.

To get the dental industry to adopt this new technology, achieving a balance between the device’s performance and safety is key, since a quieter drill won’t necessarily get the job done.

“Moving forward, we hope to work with dental manufacturers through industry–academia partnerships, progressing toward commercialization after completing the necessary regulatory and durability testing,” Yamada said.

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Main Meeting Website: https://acousticalsociety.org/honolulu-2025/

Technical Program: https://eppro02.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASAASJ25

ASA PRESS ROOM

In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.

LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS

ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are summaries (300-500 words) of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN

ASJ publishes a monthly journal in Japanese, the Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan, as well as a bimonthly journal in English, Acoustical Science and Technology, which is available online at no cost https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/ast. These journals include technical papers and review papers. Special issues are occasionally organized and published. The Society also publishes textbooks and reference books to promote acoustics associated with various topics. See https://acoustics.jp/en/.

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People who received emergency or hospital care for hallucinogens six times more likely to be diagnosed with mania

Those hospitalized for hallucinogens also had four-fold increased risk of bipolar diagnosis

PLOS

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Cumulative incidence function (CIF) curves comparing the risk of mania and bipolar disorder acute care over three years.

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Credit: Myran DT et al., 2025, PLOS Medicine, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

People who have received emergency or hospital care in Canada due to hallucinogen use have a six-fold increased risk of receiving care for mania in the next three years, according to a study published December 2nd in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Daniel Myran from North York General Hospital in Canada and colleagues.

Use of hallucinogens such as ketamine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or psilocybin has been increasing, both recreationally and in medical contexts for treatment of conditions such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. But there are safety concerns that these drugs might induce mania or trigger the development of bipolar disorder (BD) in people at risk for the condition. To better understand the association between hallucinogen use and mania, the authors of this study collected data on hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits for those using hallucinogens, those hospitalized for other causes, and the general population between January 2008 and December 2022. They compared the groups for the likelihood of requiring an ED visit or hospitalized for mania, or being diagnosed with BD in the subsequent three years.

By comparing records from 7,285 patients who received acute care for hallucinogen use to 78,201 patients hospitalized for other causes, the researchers found that patients with an ED visit or hospitalization for hallucinogen use were six times more likely to receive treatment for mania within the next three years, and four times more likely to be diagnosed with BD compared to those hospitalized for other causes. The risk of later mania-related care was comparable to patients with ED or hospital care for cannabis use, which has previously been associated with an increased risk of mania. Two-thirds of those receiving care for hallucinogens had prior visits for substance use, and nearly half also had prior visits for mental health care.

Due to the timing of the records examined, the authors note that most of the cohort was likely exposed non-medically. The results are only limited to people who needed to receive urgent health care, they say. The results may not apply to the majority of people who used hallucinogens and did not require subsequent urgent healthcare related to the hallucinogen use. However, the authors suggest that use of hallucinogens that results in the need for urgent health care may increase the risk of later developing mania or BD. The authors state, “the findings may be due to ED or hospital care involving hallucinogen use occurring in individuals at greater risk for mania or BD rather than a direct risk of hallucinogens.”

“Our study showed a strong association between hallucinogen use that requires care in the emergency room or hospital and future risk of mania and bipolar disorder,” says Daniel Myran.

“There has been a large increase in interest in the use of hallucinogens, often paired with therapy, to treat some mental health disorders. The current study helps highlight that hallucinogen use outside of trial settings may have important risks for a subset of people who use them,” adds Myran.

Coauthor Marco Solmi states, “Our results fill an important gap around the complexity of therapeutic versus safety profile of hallucinogen use. Future projects will need to identify predictors of beneficial versus harmful outcomes at the individual level.”

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Medicine: https://plos.io/4ojyw7n

Citation: Myran DT, MacDonald-Spracklin R, Pugliese M, Gibb M, Fiedorowicz JG, Kaster TS, et al. (2025) Hospital-based care for hallucinogens and risk of mania and bipolar disorder: A population-based cohort study. PLoS Med 22(12): e1004805. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004805

Author countries: Canada

Funding: see manuscript

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Journal

PLOS Medicine

DOI

10.1371/journal.pmed.1004805 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

COI Statement

Competing interests: see manuscript

 

Scientists call for greater focus on conserving whole ecosystems instead of charismatic species

Researchers urge to prioritize ecosystem function in conservation measures of success

PLOS

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Since the discovery of the remaining seven wild crested ibises in Shaanxi Province's Yangxian County in the 1980s, the region has emerged as a key site for the conservation and recovery of the species through protection initiatives. The crested Ibis, once on the brink of extinction, has now established wild populations in over ten provinces, but long-term effective conservation challenges remain.

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Credit: Siqi Wang, Yangxian County, Shaanxi, China (CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Conservation programs are often too focused on a single charismatic species, Hai-Tao Shi at Hainan Normal University in China and colleagues warn in a perspective article publishing December 2nd in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

With many species worldwide experiencing population declines, there is an urgent need for conservation initiatives to support their recovery. However, this urgency, combined with insufficient scientific knowledge about endangered species, means that conservationists have often relied on oversimplified measures of success. For example, historical conservation efforts often focused on the abundance of a single charismatic species as a proxy for overall ecosystem health.

The authors highlight three examples from China where oversimplified conservation priorities led to negative outcomes. The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is known as a ‘cryptic species’, because it has multiple, genetically distinct populations that look identical to the naked eye. Unaware of this, conservationists began a large-scale captive breeding and reintroduction program, which led to genetic mixing that threatened native populations. In the case of the crested Ibis (Nipponia nippon) and Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus), intensive captive breeding and release programs with limited suitable habitat have resulted in overcrowding, inbreeding and increased mortality. Although well-intentioned, these initiatives have caused unforeseen issues for the ecosystem, and have often failed to improve the conservation status of the target species.

To avoid repeating these mistakes, the perspective article advocates for a more nuanced approach to conservation, focused on creating balanced ecosystems, restoring habitats and minimizing human intervention. Although there has recently been more emphasis placed on protecting whole ecosystems, charismatic species conservation is still prevalent in China and elsewhere. Conservation programs that aim to preserve and restore ecosystem functions are a more effective use of limited resources, and are less likely to have unintended consequences, the authors say.

The authors add, “Conserving non-megafauna charismatic species may not be effective, when conservation outcomes are purely based on abundance and do not facilitate the restoration of long-term ecosystems and their functions.”

 

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology: https://plos.io/4nQ0Ygo

Citation: Shi H-T, Liu Y, Lee TM (2025) Are we over-conserving charismatic species? PLoS Biol 23(12): e3003494. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003494

Author countries: China

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

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Journal

PLOS Biology

DOI

10.1371/journal.pbio.3003494 

Method of Research

Commentary/editorial

Subject of Research

Not applicable

COI Statement

Competing interests: I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: TML is an Academic Editor at PLOS Biology.

Seven footballers in Malaysia eligibility scandal 'victims': union

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) – Global footballers' union FIFPro says that seven players embroiled in a Malaysian national team eligibility scandal are themselves victims and their 12-month bans "grossly disproportionate".


Issued on: 02/12/2025 - FRANCE24

Rodrigo Holgado (centre) scores for Malaysia against Vietnam in July - he is one of seven players since banned by FIFA © Mohd RASFAN / AFP

Malaysia's federation, FAM, has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after FIFA banned the players and fined FAM $440,000 in September for submitting false documents that said the foreign-born players had Malaysian ancestry.

FIFA launched an investigation after receiving a complaint following Malaysia's 4-0 win against Vietnam in June in an Asian Cup qualifier in which two of the seven players scored.

Its investigation showed none of Hector Hevel, Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca or Joao Brandao Figueiredo had a parent or grandparent born in Malaysia, a requirement for selection to a national team.

FIFPro on Monday gave its full support to the seven and said they were not to blame.

"The sanctions imposed on them -– a 12-month ban from all football-related activities -– are grossly disproportionate given the particular circumstances of the case," it said in a statement.

"It is clear that the players are, in fact, victims in this matter."

It added: "All steps were handled by institutions outside their control, yet they now face suspension from their clubs and the serious consequences that follow through no fault of their own."

The FAM has denied any deliberate wrongdoing.

© 2025 AFP