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Plastics are made out of ATOMS and atomic bombs are too. We should really be scared about femtoplastics!

by jrockway 3y ago

doubled112 3y ago
Dihydrogen monoxide is present at almost all drownings! We'd better ban that too.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  Better get hydric acid and κ1-Hydroxylhydrogen(0) while we’re at it.
  - jowdones 3y ago
    Chlorine is deadly and was used as chemical weapon in WW1. Your table salt is half chlorine, thow it away immediately before it kills you!
    - deciduously 3y ago
      No need to panic, just dump out half and you're good to go.
- jrockway 3y ago
  Everyone who's ever died has been full of that stuff! And there have been no controlled studies where subjects are isolated from it. Someone should look into that! What is the DHMO lobby hiding from us? ;)
lemmsjid 3y ago
I think atomic bombs is a good analogy for why it's alarming, actually. Humanity had a great and brief time putting radium in all sorts of things until they realized that it was doing something that penetrated deeply into and through the body at a micro scale. Humanity has also had a great time making different kinds of plastics, only to discover that they are also penetrating our body at a microscopic scale. While we don't have the smoking gun yet (i.e. radium jaw), it's at least scary to me, because platics are so pervasive across the population that if a smoking gun DOES emerge, it might be too late. I think the article itself brings up another good example: asbestos. I get all the jokes about dihydrogen monoxide killing people who breathe it, i.e. drowning, but this is fundamentally different, because we are discovering a thing that is interacting with our bodies in a way that was not historically present throughout evolution. Presumably if we'd evolved in the mist of nano plastics there wouldn't be much cause for worry, because a priori we'd have survived and thrived in its presence.
- eternityforest 3y ago
  Unhealthy stuff like viruses and bacteria and wood smoke are very old. Even if nano plastics did exist for the last billion years, it wouldn't mean they're safe, just that they don't kill people faster than they can reproduce. It's amazing how accepting people are of dangerous substances...
Cas6767 3y ago
It’s the megaplastics I’m worried about. Big ole Indiana jones boulder hits ya and you’re toast.

Plastics are made out of ATOMS and atomic bombs are too. We should really be scared about femtoplastics!

doubled112 3y ago

Dihydrogen monoxide is present at almost all drownings! We'd better ban that too.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
Better get hydric acid and κ1-Hydroxylhydrogen(0) while we’re at it.
- jowdones 3y ago
  Chlorine is deadly and was used as chemical weapon in WW1. Your table salt is half chlorine, thow it away immediately before it kills you!
  - deciduously 3y ago
    No need to panic, just dump out half and you're good to go.
jrockway 3y ago
Everyone who's ever died has been full of that stuff! And there have been no controlled studies where subjects are isolated from it. Someone should look into that! What is the DHMO lobby hiding from us? ;)

lemmsjid 3y ago

I think atomic bombs is a good analogy for why it's alarming, actually. Humanity had a great and brief time putting radium in all sorts of things until they realized that it was doing something that penetrated deeply into and through the body at a micro scale. Humanity has also had a great time making different kinds of plastics, only to discover that they are also penetrating our body at a microscopic scale. While we don't have the smoking gun yet (i.e. radium jaw), it's at least scary to me, because platics are so pervasive across the population that if a smoking gun DOES emerge, it might be too late. I think the article itself brings up another good example: asbestos. I get all the jokes about dihydrogen monoxide killing people who breathe it, i.e. drowning, but this is fundamentally different, because we are discovering a thing that is interacting with our bodies in a way that was not historically present throughout evolution. Presumably if we'd evolved in the mist of nano plastics there wouldn't be much cause for worry, because a priori we'd have survived and thrived in its presence.

eternityforest 3y ago
Unhealthy stuff like viruses and bacteria and wood smoke are very old. Even if nano plastics did exist for the last billion years, it wouldn't mean they're safe, just that they don't kill people faster than they can reproduce. It's amazing how accepting people are of dangerous substances...

Cas6767 3y ago

It’s the megaplastics I’m worried about. Big ole Indiana jones boulder hits ya and you’re toast.