Plastic Triggered a New Geological Epoch—and the Evidence May Be in Bird Nests

Plastic may have started a new geological era on our planet, sometimes called the Anthropocene. Hundreds and even thousands of years from now, scientists may date sediment layers by finding bits of old plastic, similar to how today’s archaeologists date excavations by the art styles of ancient pottery. In fact, this has already begun: Researchers revealed the history of bird nests in The Netherlands by scrutinizing plastic litter used in the nests’ construction. Many different birds, including the common coot, have started incorporating human-made food and drink packaging into their nests. This allowed three biologists to reconstruct the individual histories of dozens of common coot nests in Amsterdam using a simple trick: Reading the expiration date on the plastic. There’s only one problem—these nests aren’t supposed to have a history, because common coots don’t normally reuse their nests from year to year. As detailed in a study published February 25 in the journal The Scientific N ... Read full article.