# Microplastics in water aren’t inert and make damaging chemicals on their own

- Link: https://www.widthness.com/microplastics-in-water-arent-inert-and-make-damaging-chemicals-on-their-own/
- Published: 2026-10-18T09:15:00-05:00
- Author: Curated by John Wysocki

Photo credit: Jan van der Wolf via Pexels. Article by Jacek Krywko. Ars Technica – October 15, 2026. Research article: Nature. One reason plastics are used so often is that they’re chemically inert, meaning bags, food containers, and cups don’t react with what we put in them. Yet they can still break down into microplastics, which turn up in drinking water, human blood, arteries, and brains. The consequences of that are uncertain. “Whether microplastics can directly cause human disease is still being researched,” said Wei Min, a chemist at Columbia University. In a new Nature study, Min’s team took a step toward answering this question by demonstrating that microplastics are likely not as chemically inert as we might expect. […] Click here to view the original article at www.arstechnica.com