(Press-News.org) 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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Washington, D.C. — The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) have announced a new collaborative initiative, the Healthcare Infection Prevention Advisory Group (HIPAG), to address infection prevention priorities of national importance.
The elimination of the CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) has created gaps in coordinated, multidisciplinary alignment on infection prevention and control ...
NEW YORK, NY--Researchers at Columbia University have found that a lack of dietary iron early in life can prevent immune cells in the lung from making a key protein that helps fight viral infections, even after iron levels are restored.
The findings suggest that immunological memory formed when iron levels are low may not provide adequate protection against future exposures to the same viruses.
“Iron deficiency, which disproportionally affects children, is one of the most common nutritional problems worldwide and has long been linked to ...
2 December 2025
Are primary students prepared to write in a digital world?
A nation-wide study on computer-based writing instruction in Australian classrooms, led by researchers from Edith Cowan University (ECU) in collaboration with colleagues from the Writing for All research group, has shined a spotlight on how little time and attention primary schools are giving to teaching students how to write using a computer.
Lead author Dr Anabela Malpique from the School of Education at ECU said the research surveyed 340 primary education teachers (Years ...
PHILADELPHIA (December 2, 2025) – In an editorial published in JAMA Health Forum, three prominent nursing researchers have strongly defended the necessity of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) and its enduring impact on public health. Titled "The Enduring Impact of the National Institute of Nursing Research and Why We Still Need It," the viewpoint addresses the Institute's future as it approaches its 40th anniversary.
The authors – Mary D. Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN, the ...
Ant colonies operate as tightly coordinated “superorganisms” with individual ants working together, much like the cells of a body, to ensure their collective health. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have now discovered that terminally ill ant brood, like infected cells, release an odor signaling their impending death and the risk they pose. This sophisticated early warning system facilitates rapid detection and removal of pathogenic infections. The study was published in Nature Communications.
In many social animals, group members try to conceal their sickness ...
A new national analysis shows that over the past two decades, inpatient care for children with complex chronic conditions (CCCs) has become far more intensive—and is now overwhelmingly concentrated in urban teaching children’s hospitals. The authors argue that these shifts necessitate changes in pediatric training, staffing, and Medicaid policy.
Analyzing U.S. hospital discharge data from 2000 to 2022, the study found that children with at least one CCC now account for more than two-fifths of pediatric bed days and nearly three-fifths of hospital charges. Examples include children ...
About The Study: In this cohort study of insulin-treated older adults with Alzheimer disease and related dementias and diabetes, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) use was associated with improved long-term clinical outcomes. Pragmatic (i.e., evaluating the effectiveness of healthcare interventions in everyday settings) trials are needed to validate these findings and to assess the feasibility of CGM use in this population.
Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, Jingchuan Guo, M.D., Ph.D., email guoj1@ufl.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi: ...
About The Study: In this cohort study, maternal plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels throughout pregnancy were inversely associated with odds of offspring early childhood caries. These findings support the potential benefit of vitamin D supplementation before or during pregnancy in reducing the risk and severity of childhood dental caries.
Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, Yunxian Yu, M.D., Ph.D., email yunxianyu@zju.edu.cn.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi: ...
An unusual public health policy in Wales may have produced the strongest evidence yet that a vaccine can reduce the risk of dementia. In a new study led by Stanford Medicine, researchers analyzing the health records of Welsh older adults discovered that those who received the shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years than those who did not receive the vaccine.
The remarkable findings, published April 2 in Nature, support an emerging theory that viruses that affect the nervous system can increase the risk of dementia. If further ...
Clinicians may fail to recognize common side effects of drugs like gabapentin — which are frequently prescribed for nerve pain — leading them to prescribe unnecessary medications that cause yet more side effects. This phenomenon, known as a “prescribing cascade,” is increasingly seen as a danger to older patients.
In this case, gabapentinoids — which include gabapentin (Neurontin) and pregabalin (Lyrica) — may cause leg swelling, leading doctors to suspect heart failure and then prescribe diuretics that can cause kidney injury, light headedness, and falls.
Researchers tracked the ...
