Marnie Chesterton

So anyway, back to the project. The Michigan researchers had to collect air samples, but when they analysed the results, they were shocked to discover that the microplastic counts in the air were way higher than expected. We're talking more than 1,000 times higher. Wow, okay, that's a lot higher. So this is our mystery, right? This is our mystery, yes.

It led the researchers on what they described to be a wild goose chase. They started sampling things in the lab that were made from plastics that could have possibly contaminated the samples. They tested things like plastic squirt bottles, the lab's atmosphere, and eventually they traced it to the lab gloves they were using.

So these gloves were made from nitrile and latex, which are two very commonly used materials when it comes to lab gloves. Okay, and there's our connection to the news story. It's latex. But as we discussed at the start, latex is rubber, not plastic. So what's the contaminant? So it turns out that these types of gloves contain something called stearates. Now these are soap-like particles that manufacturers add to disposable gloves to help them separate easily from the moulds that are used to make them.

Kuten sinä oikeasti sanoit, Marni, nämä eivät ole plastikkoja, mutta niillä on erittäin erilaisia kemikaalistuksia kuin polyethylen, joka on yksi suurin tyyppi plastikkoja, joita löydämme ympäristössä tänään. Ja siksi steroidit ovat vaikuttaneet mikroplastikkojen testaukseen. He löysivät, että nämä nitroli- ja latexluvut käsittelevät noin 7000 steroidia per kuusi millimetriä. Ja lopputulos tästä koko tutkimuksesta on se, että ehkä jotkut tutkijat ovat ymmärtäneet ymmärtävästi mikroplastikkojen tasoja tutkimuksessaan.

This is interesting. I can think of a solution, and that means getting completely naked in the lab when they do the sampling. I imagine, though, that it would probably be a bit of a breach of office protocol, though. Sandy, what solution did they come up with?

Unfortunately, I don't think anyone's going to bite on the naked researchers solution. But what these Michigan researchers found was that clean room gloves actually perform better than nitrile and latex gloves in the sense that they release far fewer chemicals.

Ne tekevät käytännössä samaa asiaa kuin muissa tyypillisissä tyypillisissä tyypillisissä tyypillisissä tyypillisissä tyypillisissä tyypillisissä tyypillisissä tyypillisissä tyypillisissä

Kyllä, toivottavasti. Ja tämä on juuri se, mitä tutkijat käsittelevät paperissaan. Mikroplastiikki-alueet voivat olla ylipäänsä ylipäänsä ylipäänsä ylipäänsä ylipäänsä ylipäänsä ylipäänsä ylipäänsä

Thank you, Sandy. So, we've started with the price of prophylactics and via koala contraceptives we've just heard how rubber gloves may be shedding and muddying the waters when those waters are microplastic samples. Still to come on the show, whatever happens to the male contraceptive? Find out after this.

Hei, tässä on Alice. Nyt on aika Unexpected Elements-kysymykseen. Kondomit voivat osallistua suuremman roolin yhteiskunnalliseen terveydenhuoltoon, jolla voidaan vahvistaa ulkoilmoituksia ja seksuaalisia infektioita. Yhteiskunnallisen terveydenhuoltojen mukaan kondomit ovat käyttäneet 117 miljoonia uusia HIV-infektioita vuonna 1990.

Researches have been experimenting with mixing latex with other materials to make condoms stronger, thinner and a bit more comfortable. So this week I want to know what material have scientists not added to latex condoms? A. Grass, B. Graphene or C. Gelatine. Again, what material have scientists not added to condoms? A. Grass, B. Graphene or C. Gelatine.

Tarkoita sitä, ja olen takaisin vastauksessa vastauksessa.

You're listening to Unexpected Elements from the BBC World Service, where disruptions to global supply chains caused by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has led to the world's biggest manufacturer of condoms saying they might need to raise prices. So far we've talked about latex mishaps and koala contraception, but we couldn't talk about condoms without talking about male contraceptive pills.

Kondomit ovat yksi mennäjien kontraseptiivien yksilöiden yksilöiden yksilöiden yksilöiden yksilöiden yksilöiden

Good morning. Where's the male pill, John?

One of the unique things about sperm is they swim. Very clever chemists can develop inhibitors of those functions. And that's been tested to a degree in animal models, but not in humans to my knowledge. So you've got these three different approaches. You've got blocking the sperm from getting out. You've got blocking the sperm from being produced. And then you've got blocking the sperm from being able to swim anywhere once they are produced. Have you got a frontrunner?

Kyllä, se on todella kiva. Kuuntelit Fase 2b-klinikkojen kohdalla, ja kysyn, onko se seuraava, jonka olemme saaneet klinikkojen kohdalla ihmisten kanssa, ja mikä on pysähtynyt klinikkojen kohdalla aiemmin?

So, who would have thought that the blocking of the Straits of Hormuz would have led to a conversation about whatever happened to the male contraceptive? We've got here thanks to the rise in the price of condoms, which is an unexpected consequence of the oil needed to produce this latex-based product.

Still to come on the show. Birds do it. Bees do it. Eels? We're not so sure. Until now, we hear how Chinese scientists have finally managed to make eels breed in captivity. Stay with us.

Tulosyy, kovat kuukautiskivut. Etuhintainen gynekologi käynti alle 27-vuotiaille nuorille naisille nyt vain 99 euroa. Terveystalossa olet gynekologin hyvissä käsissä.