Plastic is extremely useful: lightweight, cheap, and flexible enough to make almost anything. That’s why global plastic production has been climbing for decades. All that plastic is making its way into our bodies via tiny particles, and that can’t be good for us…right?

Clare tells Teo what we know so far about microplastics in our bodies, and why the science is more complicated than you might think.

We want to answer your questions about how our world works! Click here to submit a question using our online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org

Support the show by supporting our home, KUOW Public Radio in Seattle.

Sources in this episode:
The Human Brain May Contain as Much as a Spoon’s Worth of Microplastics, New Research Suggests, Smithsonian Magazine, 2025
Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains, Nature Medicine, 2025
Challenges in studying microplastics in human brain, Nature Medicine, 2025
Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Atheromas and Cardiovascular Events, The New England Journal of Medicine, 2024
The Real Truth About the U.S. Plastics Recycling Rate, Beyond Plastics / The Last Beach Cleanup, 2022
How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled, NPR, 2020
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body, The Guardian, 2026
Interview with Marcus Garcia and Dr. Elaine Bearer, University of New Mexico
Interview with Fazel Monikh, University of Padua
Interview with Tracey Woodruff, Stanford University

Plastic is extremely useful: lightweight, cheap, and flexible enough to make almost anything. That&rsquo;s why global plastic production has been climbing for decades. All that plastic is making its way into our bodies via tiny particles, and that can&rsquo;t be good for us&hellip;right?
Clare tells Teo what we know so far about microplastics in our bodies, and why the science is more complicated than you might think.
We want to answer your questions about how our world works! <a href="https://forms.office.com/r/4nGSfCuAML">Click here</a> to submit a question using our online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org
Support the show by supporting our home, <a href="https://www.kuow.org/donate/control-f-notes">KUOW Public Radio</a> in Seattle.
Sources in this episode:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-human-brain-may-contain-as-much-as-a-spoons-worth-of-microplastics-new-research-suggests-180985995/">The Human Brain May Contain as Much as a Spoon&rsquo;s Worth of Microplastics, New Research Suggests</a>, Smithsonian Magazine, 2025</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03453-1">Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains</a>, Nature Medicine, 2025</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04045-3">Challenges in studying microplastics in human brain</a>, Nature Medicine, 2025</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2309822">Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Atheromas and Cardiovascular Events</a>, The New England Journal of Medicine, 2024</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.lastbeachcleanup.org/_files/ugd/dba7d7_9450ed6b848d4db098de1090df1f9e99.pdf">The Real Truth About the U.S. Plastics Recycling Rate</a>, Beyond Plastics / The Last Beach Cleanup, 2022</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled">How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled</a>, NPR, 2020</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/13/microplastics-human-body-doubt">&lsquo;A bombshell&rsquo;: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body</a>, The Guardian, 2026</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Marcus Garcia and Dr. Elaine Bearer, University of New Mexico</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Fazel Monikh, University of Padua</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Tracey Woodruff, Stanford University</li>
</ul>

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data &mdash; hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data &mdash; and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. 

Control F

Plastic is extremely useful, but it’s also making its way into our bodies. Here’s what we know so far about the microplastics inside us, and why the science is more complicated than you might think.