What are nanoplastics and why have scientists sounded the alarm?

A potentially much more nefarious and less understood threat than microplastics has health experts concerned after scientists uncovered a link between tiny particles of polyester and changes in brain proteins associated with Parkinson’s disease and certain types of dementia.

Just when you thought our plastic pollution problem couldn’t get any worse, scientists have uncovered evidence that nanoplastics — which are tiny but ubiquitous particles of polyester — may potentially be impacting our minds.

The study is one of numerous recent findings revealing the link between the material and troubling health problems, one being the fact it’s now made its way into our blood.

But what are nanoplastics? As we know, microplastics (undetectable to the human eye and less than 5mm in length) have been at the forefront of public concern for a while now, located almost everywhere on Earth as a direct result of our insatiable consumption habits.

Nanoplastics, however, aren’t just smaller versions of the same scourge. Almost invisible under a regular microscope, they interact with the environment…