From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm
Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data
Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their own lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm
Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data
Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their own lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

I always thought the microplastics thing was stupid. Another N-ray
scientific delusion. Like the population bomb famine and the climate catastrophe.


John Larkin
Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
Lunatic Fringe Electronics

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 5/04/2026 7:01 pm, john larkin wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm
Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data
Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their own lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

It is pretty stupid to call tiny particles "stearates"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stearic_acid

A stearate is a salt or ester of stearic acid which is an 18-carbon
straight chain fatty acid. The offending particles may be built up of stearates, but you would need say how many stearate molecules made up
the particle before you could explain why they were a problem.

The 18-carbon straight chain back bone of stearic acid is going to look something like polyethylene, which is built up of very long chain (but cross-linked) hydrocarbons but it ought not to be all that difficult to
tell them apart.

I always thought the microplastics thing was stupid. Another N-ray
scientific delusion. Like the population bomb famine and the climate catastrophe.

Which says a lot about John Larkins ignorance of science. N-rays were a complete nonsence, the population bomb famine was merely mindless extrapolation, and the climate catastrophe is prefect real and actually happening, just not fast enough for John Larkin to notice.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm
Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data
Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution
estimates, and the surprising source could be their own lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex
gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing
researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

I always thought the microplastics thing was stupid. Another N-ray
scientific delusion. Like the population bomb famine and the climate catastrophe.

One would expect that homogeneous plastic that chemically weathered down to submicron size would rapidly disappear, because the massive increase in
surface area would similarly increase the rate of weathering and reduce any local depletion of reactants. (Somewhat like a dust explosion, but without
the huge temperature increase.)

Someone recently sent me an article that purported to show fairly massive arsenic contamination in a wide range of children?s candy.

My alarm bells went off when I noticed that all the measured concentrations were 400 +- 200 ppb, implausibly high and even more implausibly tightly grouped.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs




--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sun, 5 Apr 2026 13:37:42 -0000 (UTC), Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm
Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data
Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution
estimates, and the surprising source could be their own lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex
gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing
researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

I always thought the microplastics thing was stupid. Another N-ray
scientific delusion. Like the population bomb famine and the climate
catastrophe.

One would expect that homogeneous plastic that chemically weathered down to >submicron size would rapidly disappear, because the massive increase in >surface area would similarly increase the rate of weathering and reduce any >local depletion of reactants. (Somewhat like a dust explosion, but without >the huge temperature increase.)

There was super anguish when we had that Deepwater Horizon oil well
blowout in the Gulf Of Whatever. Critters eat anything organic down
there. Oil spills are treats. So I figure that if there is really lots
of microplastics in the ocean, things will eat them.

Give a postdoc a decent microscope and they will count lots of little
globs.

Someone recently sent me an article that purported to show fairly massive >arsenic contamination in a wide range of children?s candy.

My alarm bells went off when I noticed that all the measured concentrations >were 400 +- 200 ppb, implausibly high and even more implausibly tightly >grouped.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

The thing about medical studies is how small the sample sizes tend to
be, and how contradictory they are. I suspect that there is
publication bias towards the most horrifying.


John Larkin
Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
Lunatic Fringe Electronics

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm
Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data
Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their own lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

The guys who sniffed out a problem, found the solution and
warned everyone else; were stupid?

It is a common control method, however, to include known
standard media in tests to guarantee the basic validity
of the process, and the tools used.

RL

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

legg <legg@nospam.magma.ca>wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>

wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm
Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data >>Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their own
lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

The guys who sniffed out a problem, found the solution and
warned everyone else; were stupid?

It is a common control method, however, to include known
standard media in tests to guarantee the basic validity
of the process, and the tools used.

That the researchers using the gloves did not do that, unbelievable!



--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 5/04/2026 7:01 pm, john larkin wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm
Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data
Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics

pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their own lab
gloves.

A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex

gloves release tiny particles called stearates,

which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples

during testing.

In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing

researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

It is pretty stupid to call tiny particles "stearates"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stearic_acid

A stearate is a salt or ester of stearic acid which is an 18-carbon
straight chain fatty acid. The offending particles may be built up of stearates, but you would need say how many stearate molecules made up
the particle before you could explain why they were a problem.

The 18-carbon straight chain back bone of stearic acid is going to look something like polyethylene, which is built up of very long chain (but cross-linked) hydrocarbons but it ought not to be all that difficult to
tell them apart.

I always thought the microplastics thing was stupid. Another N-ray scientific delusion. Like the population bomb famine and the climate catastrophe.

Which says a lot about John Larkin's ignorance of science. N-rays were a complete nonsense, the population bomb famine was merely mindless extrapolation, and the climate catastrophe is perfectly real and
actually happening, just not fast enough for John Larkin to notice.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Waldek Hebisch <antispam@fricas.org> wrote:

Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm
Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data >>>> Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution >>>> estimates, and the surprising source could be their own lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex
gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing
researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

I always thought the microplastics thing was stupid. Another N-ray
scientific delusion. Like the population bomb famine and the climate
catastrophe.

One would expect that homogeneous plastic that chemically weathered down to >> submicron size would rapidly disappear, because the massive increase in
surface area would similarly increase the rate of weathering and reduce any >> local depletion of reactants. (Somewhat like a dust explosion, but without >> the huge temperature increase.)

I think mechanizm creating microplastics is quite different than
you suggest. I have seen oldish plastic things disintegrating
into small pieces after light touch. That seem to indicate that
mechanical strength got quite low. This low strength is likely
to be enough to keep micro parts together, at least for some time
but bigger pieces will be under bigger strain and likely to break
down into smaller ones. To put it differently, I think that
process may by mostly mechanical and no longer work once
pieces get small enough.

Microplastics may be related to push for biodegenerable plastics.
When I saw plastics as a kid, they looked rather durable, even
pieces that were old at that time. But newer plastics when
they get old tend to break into pieces.

Seems to me that that mechanism could explain many microplastics, i.e. submillimeter particles, but the ones we?re supposed to be scared of are
far, far smaller?small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier and
accumulate inside brain and other cells.

The amount of fluid shear required to do that mechanically would shred the
rest of the body down to the same sort of level.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sun, 5 Apr 2026 19:52:44 -0000 (UTC), Niocl?s P?l Caile?n de
Ghloucester <thanks-to@Taf.com> wrote:

Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@IEEE.org> wrote:
|------------------|
|"N-rays were a |
|complete nonsence"|
|------------------|
Professional physicists are fools. Remember polywater and
anomalous water.
(S. HTTP://Gloucester.Insomnia247.NL/ fuer Kontaktdaten!)

Cold fusion too.

Not so much fools, but still people.


John Larkin
Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
Lunatic Fringe Electronics

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/04/2026 5:52 am, Niocl s P¢l Caile n de Ghloucester wrote:

Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@IEEE.org> wrote:
|------------------|
|"N-rays were a |
|complete nonsence"|
|------------------|
Professional physicists are fools. Remember polywater and
anomalous water.
(S. HTTP://Gloucester.Insomnia247.NL/ fuer Kontaktdaten!)

Some of them are. Feynman wasn't.
The guy who exposed the N-ray nonsense (by taking out the prism and
seeing the experimenters get exactly the same result) wasn't either.

Lee Smolin's "The Trouble with Physics" exposes a more subtle problem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Physics

And Lee Smolin is a rather good theoretical physicist.

--
Bill Soman, Sydney

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

,\.
On 6/04/2026 8:46 am, john larkin wrote:

On Sun, 5 Apr 2026 19:52:44 -0000 (UTC), Niocl s P¢l Caile n de
Ghloucester <thanks-to@Taf.com> wrote:

Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@IEEE.org> wrote:
|------------------|
|"N-rays were a |
|complete nonsence"|
|------------------|
Professional physicists are fools. Remember polywater and
anomalous water.
(S. HTTP://Gloucester.Insomnia247.NL/ fuer Kontaktdaten!)

Cold fusion too.

Coll fusion was electrochemists, rather than physicists, and there was something odd going on which still hasn't been sorted out though it
probably isn't any kind of nuclear reaction. Martin Fleishcman was a
professor at Southampton University when I was a post-doc there, and he wasn't any kind of fool.

Not so much fools, but still people.

Everybody wants any odd thing that happens in their experiment to be a
world changing new discovery. Mostly it's a mistake - like the faster
than light neutrinos - but optimism does seem to be the default condition.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 15:23:55 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

legg <legg@nospam.magma.ca>wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid> >>wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm >>>Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data >>>Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their own
lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

The guys who sniffed out a problem, found the solution and
warned everyone else; were stupid?

It is a common control method, however, to include known
standard media in tests to guarantee the basic validity
of the process, and the tools used.

That the researchers using the gloves did not do that, unbelievable!

Don't know how many times I've found production hipot testing
running with open cct test connectors.

Basic procedure should be 'test a short cct' before any
series of tests. No special calibration equipment required.

RL

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 15:23:55 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

legg <legg@nospam.magma.ca>wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid> >>wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm >>>Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data >>>Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their own
lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

The guys who sniffed out a problem, found the solution and
warned everyone else; were stupid?

It is a common control method, however, to include known
standard media in tests to guarantee the basic validity
of the process, and the tools used.

That the researchers using the gloves did not do that, unbelievable!

Lab contamination is a chronic problem. Cells, viruses, DNA stick to
glass.

With enough PCR cycles, one DNA molecule can ruin your career.


John Larkin
Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
Lunatic Fringe Electronics

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com>wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 15:23:55 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>

wrote:

legg <legg@nospam.magma.ca>wrote:

On Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:54 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid> >>>wrote:

From:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260329222938.htm >>>>Scientists shocked to find lab gloves may be skewing microplastics data >>>>Date:
March 29, 2026
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Scientists may have been unknowingly inflating microplastics pollution estimates, and the surprising source could be their
own
lab gloves.
A University of Michigan study found that common nitrile and latex gloves release tiny particles called stearates,
which closely resemble microplastics and can contaminate samples during testing.
In some cases, this led to wildly exaggerated results, forcing researchers to track down the unexpected culprit.

I mean how stupid can you get?

The guys who sniffed out a problem, found the solution and
warned everyone else; were stupid?

It is a common control method, however, to include known
standard media in tests to guarantee the basic validity
of the process, and the tools used.

That the researchers using the gloves did not do that, unbelievable!

Lab contamination is a chronic problem. Cells, viruses, DNA stick to
glass.

With enough PCR cycles, one DNA molecule can ruin your career.

I am a bit worried about US science and engineering
After 50 years or so to get it right the toilets on the Artemis 2 spacecraft stopped working:
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/theres-a-bit-of-toilet-trouble-on-nasas-artemis-2-mission-to-the-moon

Now that moon-lander, I think they removed bets for that on some betting website? Or was that for something else?


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)