Nicola Jones

Imogen Napper is a high-profile plastics investigator: her research prompted the ban on microbeads of plastic in beauty products, and has spurred a new rule requiring a plastics filter in washing machines in France. Read all about her very cool work here, https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2024/imogen-napper-interview-global-treaty-plastic-pollution   This article was republished in a few places, as per Knowable's repub guidelines. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/plastic-pollution-is-drowning-earth-a-global-treaty-could-help/ https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/inching-toward-a-global-treaty-on-plastic-pollution/  https://www.yahoo.com/news/inching-toward-global-treaty-plastic-000000926.html

The notion of sucking carbon dioxide straight out of the air and tucking it away is seriously ramping up, with a 1 megatonne project underway in Texas (125 times bigger than the current largest effort in Iceland).  Read all about it in Yale Environment 360 https://e360.yale.edu/features/direct-air-capture

 My story for Knowable  https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2024/nuclears-role-in-a-net-zero-world

Journalist friends: Is there a term for when you go to research something, and the internet sends you back to an article you yourself wrote to find the answer?  I just went to find out whatever happened to fuel cells, and was directed to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_hydrogen_highway , which leans on only 2 references, one of them written by me. Ha! Out of curiosity, I asked wikipedia how many times "Jones, Nicola" comes up in citations. Turns out I'm cited in articles spanning from limnic eruptions to seaweed, non-fungible tokens, quantum computing, carbon-14,  "climate change and gender" and more. How about a 'Google selfie'?  

  I have been reporting a lot about plastics this year, with the upcoming UN treaty against plastic pollution in the works and due to be completed by the end of 2024. I have been quite shocked by what I've been told. One major issue is all the chemicals used in plastics -- both the monomer ingredients, and also additives like plasticizers or colourants, along with unintentionally added chemicals. There are a tonne of these. Some PVC products are known to be up to 70% phthalates by weight (a plasticizer that makes the PVC more flexible, many of which are endocrine disruptors that muck with reproductive systems and hormones). A lot of scientists I have spoken with are seriously concerned about all this: they opt for no plastic in their grandchildren's toys, avoid plastic water bottles and definitely don't ever microwave food in plastic containers.  In all my stories I have been scrambling to find a solid reference or report on plastic chemicals that I can refer ...