
Roughly 10 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the ocean each year, but only about 0.3 million tonnes float on the surface. Where does the rest go? The dizzying variety of forms plastic waste can take means that a fibre’s fate is just one mystery among countless others. Finding out where all the missing plastic ends up can help us figure out which parts of the ocean are most affected by this type of pollution – and where to focus clean-up efforts. But to do that, we need to be able to predict the pathways of different kinds of plastic, which requires large teams of physicists, biologists and mathematicians working together.
University of Alberta physicist Bruce Sutherland and his team of international collaborators shared what they’ve learned so far with The Conversation.
Physics News
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March 03, 2021
New and upgraded nano-fabrication facilities at U of A and University of Calgary will help researchers build next-generation, ultra-secure networks linking quantum computers.
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March 03, 2021
Aksel Hallin and his team will put their pioneering expertise to work on a newly funded Canadian collaboration aimed at revealing clues to one of the universe’s greatest mysteries.
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March 03, 2021
Investment in cutting-edge research tools will put the U of A at the forefront of understanding how materials work at the atomic scale, with applications in telecommunications, solar cells and superconductors.
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March 03, 2021
Mission to assess effects of space radiation on Earth’s climate will open up scientific and economic opportunities for Alberta and Canada, says astrophysicist.
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February 01, 2021
In 1992, University of Alberta physics professor Don Page threw a curve into calculations of black hole radiation entropy. Now, almost 30 years later, theories are close to resolving a black hole paradox.
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