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In the broadest review on this topic that has been carried out to date, we found that, so far, 386 marine fish species are known to have ingested plastic debris, including 210 species that are commercially important. But findings of fish consuming plastic are on the rise. We speculate that this could be happening both because detection methods for microplastics are improving and because ocean plastic pollution continues to increase.

Our team of scientists documented that more than 300 camels in the region around Dubai had died from eating humans' trash, accounting for 1 percent of dead camels evaluated in the region since 2008. Unlike other research that might examine animals in a laboratory, this was a field study with concentrations of plastic trash that currently exist in the environment. It is a real-world tragedy with ecologically relevant concentrations of trash.

This case study focuses on the relationship between evolution and plasticity using a hands-on, inquiry-based approach. Students view examples from the literature that illustrate the difference between nature and nurture, or the relative contributions of genes and the environment in shaping phenotypes. Using the Trinidadian guppy system as an example, students learn about seminal work in the field in addition to exploring quantitative genetic techniques used to partition phenotypic variance between genes (G) and the environment (E). They use real data from one of the publications cited in the case to graph reaction norms illustrating GxE interactions at the family and population level. The inquiry-based approach means that students are introduced to new concepts in a stepwise fashion, and asked to develop and build their understanding using causal, explanatory evidence. The case concludes with an exercise in which students apply their knowledge to a real conservation problem in Trinidad and Tobago, where guppies are native. This case would be appropriate for an upper level biology, genetics, or evolution course.

4:07 Hank explains the gift that your brain gives you every day: the gift of neural plasticity -- the ways in which your brain actually changes at the cellular level as you learn.

When plastic trash degrades in the ocean, it doesn't just go away: It becomes countless tiny particles, and little creatures called larvaceans sweep it up--and into the food chain.

The study is the first to find that people's bodies metabolize bisphenol-A (BPA) - a chemical found in most people and used in polycarbonate plastic, food cans and paper receipts - into something that impacts our cells and may make us fat. The research, from Health Canada, challenges an untested assumption that our liver metabolizes BPA into a form that doesn't impact our health.

Hosted by: Michael Aranda 0:36 Brain Personality Maps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBv1w... 5:10 Do I Only Use 10% of My Brain?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIS3... 8:47 Are People Really Left or Right Brained?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYWBL... 16:46 Your Brain is Plastic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KLPx... 20:24 3 Senses You Didn't Know You Had: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA_j3... ----------

This directed case study follows two college roommates, Darrell and Anthony, who have just returned to school after winter vacation. They share that their ageing fathers are concerned about their declining faculties and are amused by their fathers' efforts to reverse the process.  Darrell's dad plays "brain games" on the computer while Anthony's father believes running will slow his memory decline. Intrigued, the roommates search through their biopsychology class notes to find out whether their fathers are correct. They review the topics of synaptic formation and plasticity, including axonal and dendritic development, and chemical factors in the brain that promote the survival and growth of neurons or stop the genetically programmed death of neurons. Based on research findings, students reading this case will decide whether Darrell and Anthony's fathers are correct in their assertions. The case is appropriate for a wide variety of courses including introductory anatomy or physiology, or for upper-division biopsychology, biology, or neuroscience courses.

Lauren is an Environmental Studies graduate from NYU and former Sustainability Manager at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and the amount of trash that she has produced over the past three years can fit inside of a 16 oz. mason jar. Lauren Singer is author of the Zero Waste blog, Trash is for Tossers and founder of organic cleaning product company, The Simply Co. Through her blog, she has empowered millions of readers to produce less waste by shopping package-free, making their own products and refusing plastic and single-use items.

Early-response genes, which are important for synaptic plasticity, are "switched off" under basal conditions by topological constraints. Neuronal activity triggers DNA breaks in a subset of early-response genes, which overrides these topological constraints, and "switches on" gene expression.

President Obama approved a bill on Monday banning soaps, toothpastes, and bodywashes that contain a harmful ingredient. That ingredient is microbeads - tiny, nearly impossible-to-dissolve plastic particles that enter water streams by the billions. The beads are typically found in cleansing products because they can be used as tiny scrubbers, helping to wipe away oil and dirt from the skin or teeth. A recent study found as many as 1.7 million of the tiny particles per square kilometer in the Great Lakes region's Lake Erie, where much of our trash ends up.

In this project, students will be asked to actually measure the amount of waste that they generate in a week's time (identifying single-use plastic or not) and devise creative ways in which the can reduce, reuse and/or recycle to take an active role in their environment.