Three URI faculty members will provide answers and insight at \u201cBreaking Down Plastics.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The event, held on URI\u2019s Kingston Campus, will feature a screening of the Rhode Island PBS Weekly<\/em> segment, \u201cGreen Seeker: Plastic Pollution,\u201d followed by a conversation moderated by Rhode Island PBS reporter Michelle San Miguel. Sponsored by Rhode Island PBS, it will take place in URI\u2019s Avedisian Hall, 7 Greenhouse Road, Room 170, at 6 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public; registration is required<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\nRegister for the event<\/a>\n\n\n URI research into microplastics made headlines last year when the first study of its kind revealed prevalent microplastics in Narragansett Bay<\/a>, while URI researchers simultaneously published reports on their harmful effects<\/a> and potential for serious health consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PBS’s San Miguel interviewed URI researchers<\/a> for her \u201cGreen Seeker: Plastic Pollution\u201d segment, providing an in-depth look at plastic pollution. In the piece, researchers discussed the staggering estimate that the top two inches of Narragansett Bay\u2019s floor contains more than 1,000 tons of microplastics and that buildup has occurred in just the last 10 to 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the forum, San Miguel will continue the conversation, leading a discussion with University experts John (J.P.) Walsh from the Graduate School of Oceanography and Jyothi Menon and Jaime Ross from the College of Pharmacy, who will break down how plastic consumption is infiltrating our daily lives. They\u2019ll explore how plastic affects our brains as we age, the increasing human exposure to plastics and its potential health risks, and the effects of plastic pollution on water bodies and marine life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walsh<\/a> is a professor of oceanography whose research focuses on marine geology and coastal sedimentary processes and hazards. He has conducted research around the world and across the U.S. He recently spearheaded efforts to measure microplastics on the shoreline and seabed of Narragansett Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Menon<\/a> is an associate professor in the department of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, specializing in nanomedicine, drug delivery, biomaterials and tissue engineering. She has a focus in her work on detecting and mitigating the effects of microplastics<\/a> and nanoplastics in humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ross<\/a> is an assistant professor of neuroscience within the George and Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience at URI. Her lab focuses on genetic and genomic approaches to understand the basic mechanisms of disease, especially brain aging disorders such as Alzheimer\u2019s and Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The three will be interviewed by San Miguel, a reporter and co-host for Rhode Island PBS Weekly<\/em> who recently reported on climate change\u2019s impact on Rhode Island\u2019s lobster population<\/a> for the show, with perspectives from URI GSO professor Jeremy Collie and alumnus Ebben Howarth \u201923. San Miguel covers a range of topics including politics, health, and science, and has been honored twice by the National Educational Telecommunications Association for her reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBreaking Down Plastics: A Conversation on How Plastic Pollution Affects Us All\u201d is free and open to the public. To learn more and to RSVP, please visit<\/em> <\/em><\/a>ripbs.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GSO’s J.P. Walsh will join the panel to discuss how plastic pollution effects water bodies and marine life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4762,"featured_media":186210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[2051],"class_list":["post-186209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-j-p-walsh"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4762"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186209"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186235,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186209\/revisions\/186235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Extensive microplastics in our Bay \u2014 and the health impacts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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