How much microplastic are we actually breathing in? Here’s what we do and still don’t know

You’ve already inhaled thousands of microscopic particles today. Some will be dust, pollen or soot, and some are plastic. Microplastics – tiny fragments shed from clothes, tyres or packaging – have been found pretty much everywhere. They’re in oceans, soils, wildlife, remote mountaintops and deep-sea trenches and the atmosphere is no exception. But how much plastic are we really breathing in? And should we be worried? A modelling study published in the journal Nature earlier this year suggests…