In the afternoon of November 24th, invited by Distinguished Professor Jiayin Dai and Associate Professor Ying Zhu, Professor Yongping Zeng from Jinan University gave a wonderful academic report on the topic of "Advancements and Reflections on Microplastics Research" for the faculty and students of Shanghai Jiao Tong University at the 168th Environment Forum.

Microplastics, generally defined as microplastic particles less than 5 mm in diameter, are an important new class of pollutants. Plastic pollution is a global threat, and plastic pollution in the environment is generally considered to be "irreversible". Prof. Yongping Zeng introduced the latest research progress of microplastics from six aspects: bibliometric analysis of microplastic research, biofeeding and health of microplastics, atmospheric transport and migration of microplastics, global riverine fluxes of microplastics to the sea, and oceanic microplastics as a "disappearing sink", in conjunction with domestic and international research results and the research results of his team. Prof. Yongping Zeng mentioned that the research trend of microplastics should be changed from simple environmental distribution and ecological effect to migration behavior and toxicity mechanism, indicated that microplastics can be freely migrated and transported in the troposphere, and also emphasized the importance of incorporating additional and comprehensive model parameters, along with measured data, to establish a more accurate real-time dynamic model for the transport of microplastics from rivers to the sea.