Headlines warned us about microplastics in our brains. A chemist says the study may have been measuring brain fat instead.
In 2025, a study claiming microplastics accumulate in human brain tissue dominated our feeds. We covered it. Then Dr. Michelle Wong, a chemical scientist and science communicator, flagged a problem with the methodology.
So we went to the primary literature, read the critique, and brought in one of the first scientists to publicly challenge the findings: Dr. Oliver Jones, Professor of Analytical Chemistry at RMIT University in Melbourne.
In this episode, we unpack what went wrong with the measurement method, what it means for the broader microplastics conversation, and why being willing to say "I was wrong" is so vital for good science.
In this episode:
Dr. Oliver Jones is Professor of Analytical Chemistry and Associate Dean of Biosciences and Food Technology at RMIT University in Melbourne. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (FRACI), he holds degrees from Imperial College London and Cambridge. He is one of only 118 scientists worldwide named to the IUPAC Periodic Table of Outstanding Younger Chemists. His research focuses on developing methods to measure environmental contaminants, including microplastics, and he was among the first scientists to publicly challenge the methodology of the viral "microplastics in the brain" study.
Follow Dr. Jones: @dr_oli_jones
RMIT faculty page: rmit.edu.au/oliver-jones
Dr. Michelle Wong (Lab Muffin Beauty Science) first flagged the methodological concerns to us.
Hosted by Drs. Ayesha & Dean Sherzai
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