Plastic

Sept. 24, 2019

Plastic: space age wonder material or planet-destroying scourge? The real answer may lie... somewhere in the middle (but leaning more towards scourge). Plus, learn exactly how many LEGO minifigures you can eat before you die!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

If you want to learn more about any of our main topics, check out these links:

[Truth or Fail]

Milk

https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/galalith-alchemy-in-the-age-of-plastic/

https://www.chemistryworld.com/podcasts/casein/3007625.article

https://www.ganoksin.com/article/galalith-jewelry-milk-stone/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-milk-plastic/

Blood

https://books.google.com/books?id=3uoiAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA9

https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/rjrtags/ill65.htmlhttps://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&context=beads

https://materialdistrict.com/material/blood-plastic/

https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&context=beads

pictures: https://www.hippohardware.com/blogs/news/at-deaths-door-a-history-of-hemacite

Venom

http://www.t3db.ca/toxins/T3D2544

[Fact Off]

Bees and plastic

https://www.sciencealert.com/wild-bees-have-been-found-building-nests-entirely-out-of-plastic-for-the-first-time

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13592-019-00635-6
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-03/pp-bsw030117.php

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/ES13-00308.1

Celluloid billiard balls 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2015/05/13/the_death_of_billiards_and_the_rise_of_plastic_on_99_invisible_with_roman.html

https://www.liveabout.com/what-pool-balls-are-made-of-368742

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/once-upon-time-exploding-billiard-balls-were-everyday-thing-180962751/

http://mentalfloss.com/article/64247/first-plastic-billiard-balls-routinely-exploded

[Ask the Science Couch]

Corn plastic

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/environmental-impact-of-corn-based-plastics/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/corn-plastic-to-the-rescue-126404720/

https://mcgillcompost.com/blog/recycling-number-7-pla-plastics

[Butt One More Thing]

Cigarette butts

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-company-recycles-cigarette-butts-and-turns-them-into-plastic