Visible part of an iceberg

Microplastics, those pervasive relics of modern times, have invaded seemingly every part of the planet today, including rain over the Rocky Mountains and the most remote reaches of the Arctic. Scientists have been puzzling over how this flood of pollution makes its way to such distant locations far from the urban centers where it’s generated. A new study finds a surprising route for the tiny particles—they’re ferried aloft to fall in the Arctic as snow.