Reflecting on an amazing week at the Early Career Microplastics Workshop in Ascona🇨🇭Lots of super conversations and met some incredible people. Grateful for all the organisers, experts, researchers…and goats, for getting into the spirit of plastics research🧪🔬 Microplastics Workshop

What use is our famous 180 year old sample archive? Here's a great example Lancaster Environment Centre - using samples dating back to 1966, this study Communications Earth & Environment shows that fertilisers contribute substantially to microplastic concentrations in UK soils nature.com/articles/s4324…

A fantastic piece of research out today in Communications Earth & Environment. Using samples from the Rothamsted Research archive we show that fertilisers contribute to microplastic concentrations in UK soils over time. Super proud of this one! Lancaster Environment Centre nature.com/articles/s4324…

Farm fields are awash with microplastic pollution – and much of it comes from fertilisers, a long-running experiment shows newscientist.com/article/241252…

Excellent news today - great to see our research making a splash! New Scientist

Great to hear Dr Sam Cusworth Lancaster Environment Centre on Farming Today talking about a Lancaster-led study looking at microplastics in agricultural soils. Listen again here: bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…

"Hello, John Lawes here. It's amazing to see that the experiment I set up on #Broadbalk in 1843 still continues after 181 years & such incredible information it can still provide - what are microplastics?" Rothamsted Research bit.ly/4brktXw era.rothamsted.ac.uk/experiment/rbk1 Rothamsted Research

Sam Cusworth Ph.D. explains the concerning findings of his research into soil microplastic pollution and Dr Andy Gregory tells us about the local soil archive on which the research was based. All in this week’s Environment Matters 8am/6pm Sunday/Wednesday 7pm

📻ICYMI catch Sam Cusworth Ph.D. and our own Andy Gregory talking about the soil microplastics study based on our sample archive Environment Matters now available online mix926.com/podcast/soil-p…

My latest column is about how the UK, with its "sovereign" post-Brexit regulatory system, is becoming a dumping ground for toxic chemicals. Brings a lump to the throat, this patriotic self-reliance, doesn’t it? Or perhaps to the breast, stomach or liver. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

There is a new, highly profitable asset class in England, traded between corporations, whose units are each worth £100,000 on the books. What are these units? Children in care. An almost unbelievable story. But all too real. This week's column. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

😃 That smile. That damned smile. #GirodItalia

Simply unbelievable from kilian jornet and his amazing achievement linking all the 4000m peaks of the Alps by human power. Take a moment to look at those figures 👊👊👊 BRAVO 🙌 #Alps #Enchainment #4000m

Microplastics are everywhere, including soil, but how do they get there and is it possible to get rid of them? Sam Cusworth Ph.D. studied agricultural soil samples from our archive - dating back to the 1800s - to investigate... #WorldEnvironmentDay #plasticpollution #microplastics

We mustn’t let the right get away with their fear-mongering. London succeeds BECAUSE of its diversity, not despite it. And whether we live there or not, we can all be proud of that.