Tony R. Walker

This morning I've already received 3 prospective PhD student requests. I typically receive several per day.

Many applicants are great, but I simply cannot accept them all as I have limited funding and nobody can supervise 500 PhD students, no matter how great they are!!!!

@dalhousieu.bsky.social

Everyday microplastics could be fueling heart disease Microplastics—tiny particles now found in food, water, air, and even human tissues—may directly accelerate artery-clogging disease, and new research shows the danger may be far greater for males. In mice, environmentally realistic doses of microplastics dramatically worsened plaque buildup, altered key vascular cells, and activated harmful genes linked to inflammation and atherosclerosis, all without changes to weight or cholesterol.

Microplastics Could be Fueling Heart Disease?

New study out of @UCRiverside 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251118220047.htm

#Microplastics #health

How to limit your exposure to microplastics Research has shown that we are becoming more exposed to microplastics. What can we do about it?

#SouthernWater is source for plastic beads & has apologized. Dead sea animals already found How to limit your exposure to microplastics #14otherUKsewageplantsalsouseplasticbeads.
bbc.com/reel/video/p...

Eating just a handful of plastic can be fatal for marine animals, a study finds Scientists have long known that plastic waste is bad for marine animals. A new study quantifies how little ingested plastic it takes to be a lethal dose.

To many marine animals, plastic pollution resembles food. A new study finds seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals like porpoises, seals and whales don't have to eat much of it for it to be deadly.

www.npr.org/2025/11/20/n...

Ciao, ciao Rome!

Detectan microplásticos en la carne de las langostas de mar | RCI En experimentos, los microplásticos en ratones causaron una restricción del crecimiento fetal, alteración del metabolismo y desarrollo cerebral anormal.

Un estudio en Canadá detecta microplásticos en la carne de las langostas de mar

ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/es/notic...

#microplastics

Emerging US EPR programs spark harmonization talks Extended producer responsibility legislation has rapidly expanded across the United States over the past two years, with seven states enacting packaging-focused laws that now cover approximately 20% o...

Emerging US #EPR programs spark harmonization talks

resource-recycling.com/plastics/202...

Finally arrived at the UN 🇺🇳 FAO.

@dalhousieu.bsky.social
@dalfaculty.bsky.social
@fao.org

Roaming around #Rome (Cont’d).

Visited the Vatican, Pantheon, Colosseum, Castel Sant’ Angelo, Fort Ramano and the UNFAO HQ.

Hi Paul, I always have aspirations to do a part run on these international trips. But then I realise my flights arrive on Saturday afternoon and leave Saturday morning. Damn! The good news is I got plenty of steps in today.

Having lunch outside the United Nations 🇺🇳 Food and Agriculture Organization.

Seems appropriate.

When in #Rome!

When in #Rome!

‘We feel we’re fighting a losing battle’: the race to remove millions of plastic beads from Camber Sands A huge cleanup effort has seen volunteers working to remove beads by hand and machine. They can only wait and see the extent of damage to wildlife and dune habitat

“This is the worst microplastic spill we’ve seen this year,” says environmentalist Joshua Beech. Worse even than the spill of nurdles (pre-production plastic pellets) in March, when two ships collided in the North Sea.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Scientists make concerning first-of-its-kind discovery while studying Amazon monkeys: 'Sounds an alarm' - United States News Beep A new study revealed the presence of microplastics in the stomachs of howler monkeys living in a protected area of the Brazilian Amazon. This is the first

Scientists make concerning first-of-its-kind discovery while studying Amazon monkeys: ‘Sounds an alarm’

https://www.newsbeep.com/us/295318/

A new study revealed the presence of microplastics in the stomachs of howler monkeys living in a protected…

Southern Water apologises for catastrophic spill of plastic biobeads in Sussex Resulting pollution on Camber Sands beach poses threat to wildlife including dolphins and seals

I was astonished to learn that primary microplastics -- themselves a pollutant -- are used to treat wastewater. And of course, once in the water, some of them are released into the environment. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Plastic Planet | Venus Bivar Stalled negotiations and accelerating accumulation in the global petrochemicals industry

"in spite of the efforts of good-faith actors who are participating in the plastics treaty negotiations. As fossil-fuel companies face the existential threat that is the transition to renewable energy, they are doubling down on plastics production."
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/pla...

What 50 years of buried data tell us about Canada’s mining oversight Canada’s fragmented approach to mining assessments has left regulators, communities and industry working with incomplete information as they head into a modern mining rush, write Dal's Alana Westwood ...

What 50 years of buried data tell us about Canada’s mining oversight

www.dal.ca/news/2025/11...

Plastic waste is a toxic legacy – and an important archaeological record Like the bronze and iron ages, plastic is defining an archaeological era.

theconversation.com/plastic-wast...

The path to responsible mining in northern Ontario starts with Indigenous consent Canada’s accelerated approach to mining raises major concerns for both the environment and Indigenous rights.

The path to responsible mining in northern Ontario starts with Indigenous consent
theconversation.com/the-path-to-...

#mining
#Ontario
#Canada
#Pollution

"As in the United States, #EU recyclers are experiencing low demand for recycled plastics amid cheap virgin resin and “insufficient regulatory incentives for the use of recycled materials.” "

#CapPlasticProduction
#CircularEconomy
#PlasticWaste
#PlasticPollution
#ExtendedProducerResponsibility

EU recyclers warn Commission of industry collapse More than 100 recyclers issued a call, coordinated by a Dutch consultancy, for the European Commission to take immediate action in addressing the causes of the current industry crisis – itself a windo...

🚨 This is why we urgently need to cap or massively disincentivize cheap virgin plastic resins and instead incentivize the use of #recycled #plastics. ⬇️

EU recyclers warn Commission of industry collapse

resource-recycling.com/plastics/202...

#PlasticsTreaty
#Recycling

Pleased to share that I also made the the #Clarivate #HighlyCited2025 list again. And this time in 2 field categories (in the field of Environment and Ecology and in Cross-Field)!

Enjoy your success! Congratulations from all of us at Clarivate. #HighlyCited2025

Thank you 🙏

Happy to share that I made the #Clarivate #HighlyCited2025 list again.

This time in 2 field categories (in the field of Environment and Ecology and in Cross-Field)!

#plasticpollution
#singleuseplastic
#microplastics
#PlasticsTreaty
#ClimateChange
#SciComm
#SciPol
@dalhousieu.bsky.social

Honoured to have made the #Clarivate #HighlyCited2025 list again.

This time in 2 field categories (in the field of Environment and Ecology and in Cross-Field)!

@dalhousieu.bsky.social
@dalfaculty.bsky.social

#PlasticsTreaty
#PlasticPollution
#ConflictOfInterest
#PetrochemicalStates
#PetrochemicalLobbyists
@scientistscoa.bsky.social
@ciel.org
#INC5.2
@dalhousieu.bsky.social

Nice shiny new accepted manuscript led by Tim Kiessling with Sabine Rech Klaus Reus and me 👇

Underrepresented developing States, marginalized communities, big business and procedural injustice – how equal were the UN INC-5.2 Global Plastic Treaty negotiations?

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

🚨 Our study featured on CBC Compass in PEI tonight 👇

Are there #microplastics in P.E.I. #lobster meat? Most likely, says researcher

www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

@dalhousieu.bsky.social

We're thrilled to announce that we will open for submissions in November! Mark your calendar and be among the first to submit your work.

Learn more ▶️ https://ow.ly/jvbi50XcGuz

#NewJournal #OpenAccess #AcademicPublishing