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Okay, so that's one, two, three, four.
Oh, hello.
I didn't see you there.
You know I'm just here passing some time this summer doing a nurdle survey trying to protect this planet, one little plastic pellet at a time.
Oh.
You say you don't know what a nurdle survey is?
Or even what a nurdle is?
Or what any of this has to do with protecting the planet?
Hmm.
Well, there's some top secret stuff that I really can't share with you yet.
So if you wanted to get started, maybe listen to the rest of this episode and then go check out sciencepodcastsforkidscom.
Slash nerdles.
You can learn a lot more there.
So this top secret message probably won't self-destruct, unless your parents did something really weird to this podcast player.
But, you know, I don't know.
Maybe be careful and listen to the rest of this awesome episode.
Marshall out.
Hi, I'm Lindsay.
And I'm Marshall.
Welcome to Tumble, the show where we explore stories of science discovery.
Today, we're finding out how we can help scientists in the fight against plastic pollution.
All right, that's cool.
I'm in on that fight.
So where do we start?
We'll start by meeting the founder of Nerdle Patrol, a scientist on a mission to track down a tiny, nearly invisible type of plastic that's hiding in plain sight.
Nerdle Patrol.
Jace Tunnell is an environmental scientist who lives on the Gulf in Texas, and he goes to the beach almost every day.
My dad was a marine scientist for 40-plus years, and so I grew up doing science at the beach when I was eight years old.
Unlike most people you'll find at the beach, Chase isn't there just to swim or get a tan.
Every Wednesday for the past eight years, he spends several hours walking the beach in search of trash.
I found over 40 messages in a bottle.
I found three bowling balls.
I found a prosthetic leg.
A prosthetic leg?
How does that even end up in the ocean?
Who knows?
All kinds of stuff.
Anything you can think of, I have found it on the beach.
In all his hours beachcombing for trash, Jace has found that plastic is hard to get rid of and there's always more to find.
And the thing about plastic is when it gets into the environment that it lasts forever.
That's why Jace wants to find ways to solve the problem.
That motivates me to try to figure out OK, what are some of the solutions we can do to get this plastic off the beach so that the next generation isn't having to deal with this into the future.
It really seems like such a big problem because trash comes from everywhere.
So what is Jace doing to help?
Well, he's focusing in on one type of plastic and he thinks if a lot of other people do the same thing, we all can make this type of plastic disappear from our beaches and our waterways.
What kind of plastic and what do we do to solve the problem?
To find the answers to those questions, we have to hear the story of how Jace discovered this plastic and how he came up with the solution.
It started one night when he noticed something on the beach that was even stranger than a plastic leg.
I was at the beach one evening and this would have been September 2018 to be exact.
And I looked down at the high tide line and there were all these white pellets.
White pellets at the tide line?
Like, is this the science version of in the kitchen with the candlestick, Professor Plum?
Yes.
The high tide line is where the water hits its highest point on the beach, where the waves deposit whatever is rolled in.
And those tiny white pellets were about the size of lentils or little seeds.
Immediately, once I picked one up, it was very hard, so it wasn't like styrofoam or anything.
Most people probably wouldn't have known what that little pellet was.
But it turns out Jace had an idea.
How and what were they?
Well, he'd seen them once before when he went to a talk about plastic pollution.
The woman presenting passed around a jar of something called nurdles.
She explains that they're little bits of plastic that are melted and molded to make almost all of the plastic objects that we see and use every day.
And I was like, well, you know, I grew up at the beach.
I've never seen these before.
But just to be sure, Jace decided to take a closer look at some photos he had of the beach near his house.
So I was looking at those photos and I was like, oh, there's nurdles in there.
So I had seen nurdles.
I just didn't know that that was plastic.
Wow.
So how could Jace have actually been taking photos of marine debris on the beach and not noticing all the little nurdles in there?
Because they're really easy to confuse with something else.
They look like seeds.
They look like fish eggs.
You know, it looks like something natural that would be out there.
Wow.
So he just mistook plastic for something from nature.
But the fact that we didn't, I didn't know, you know, just this basic raw plastic material.
And what it was out there was real surprising to me.
So back on that September evening, when Jace saw thousands of these tiny white pellets on his beach, he realized what he was seeing.
And I knew I was like, oh, this is one of those nurdles that that lady was talking about.
Now, Jace was worried.
He'd learned how harmful nurdles could be to the environment and to wildlife in particular.
And here, suddenly, tons of nurdles had shown up on his beach out of the blue.
There were literally thousands upon thousands of them.
And there were so many, I ended up taking a photo and posting it on social media.
And somebody commented and said, hey, that is a spill.
You need to call the Coast Guard.
That started Jace calling up a bunch of government agencies that deal with protecting waterways.
But the people he talked to said that they had no way to clean it up and they weren't going to.
Wait.
So there were thousands of plastic pellets washing up on the beach and no one was going to do anything about it.
Well, they said that there was nothing they could do.
But thinking that no one would do anything made Jace want to do something.
So that's when I thought, well, maybe there's something that we can do as citizens.
I think that's a great way to think about it.
So what did Jace want to do? he decided to start a nurdle patrol.
Whoa, nurdle patrol.
That's awesome.
So do they get like cool badges and uniforms?
And well, wait, but what is a nurdle patrol?
People patrolling for nurdles, of course.
Jace's idea was to keep track of where nurdles were found in a quick and easy way.
Maybe we'll go out for 10 minutes, see if there's nurdles there.
And if there is, we'll put how many they found on a map.
At first Jace thought maybe a few people would volunteer to visit beaches for a month to collect the nurdles and see how many they found.
In science terms, that's called doing a survey.
He decided to start a Facebook group to get organized.
It was going to be something real simple, but...
Within two weeks, there was over 300 people on there.
It was all these people in every single state.
It grew organically and it happened fast.
Whoa, 300 volunteers in just two weeks.
Yeah, and that was just the beginning.
Since then, there have been over 25,000 nurdle surveys done all over the country.
And Jace wants there to be a lot more.
He wants folks all over the world, in every community, to be doing nurdle surveys near where they live.
You know, the whole reason for doing this is for making sure that the next generation isn't having to worry about these plastics in the environment, and so my ultimate goal was to be to where somebody goes out and they see, do these 10-minute surveys and they're finding zero in areas where they used to find hundreds.
That's what we're targeted on.
Well, that's great.
I mean plastic pollution is a huge problem and Jace is tackling one important part of it in a way he believes we all can solve if we'll just work together.
Yes, exactly.
And taking just 10 minutes to do a survey anytime, anywhere means that you can be part of the solution.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, I think that about does it, right?
Like we can get things wrapped up, right?
I want to get going.
You want to go right now?
Yeah, it's a gorgeous day.
You should go like out on a walk, maybe go try a cookie or something.
I mean, that sounds kind of nice.
I guess we can keep this episode kind of short and sweet this time.
Yep, sounds great.
All right, I got it from here, so you can just go.
I don't need to stay for the credits?
Yeah, just go ahead.
You know, the stairs are right there.
Go ahead.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
You're doing the theme song.
Yeah.
Well, I guess I'll just let you finish in the studio and yeah, I'm going to get going.
All right.
Get going.
All right.
Bye.
See ya.
Just go on down those stairs there.
That's it.
Okay, wait, wait, wait.
Hey, you guys, you guys, not you.
You stay.
I sent Lindsay off.
But you listeners, stick around for a minute.
As longtime fans know, plastic is one of my worst nightmares.
I'm also not just a charming and intelligent podcast host.
I am a Nerdle Patrol secret agent.
Yes, the Nerdle Patrol you just heard about in the episode, and you can be a part of it too.
If you care about plastic pollution and want to be a Nerdle Patrol agent yourself, I've got a top secret mission for you.
Don't go away.
We'll be right back.
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All right, everybody, here we are.
We are back.
And what Lindsay doesn't know is that I already know Jace Tunnel.
That's Chief Jace to us Nerdle Patrollers, because we've been working together on a top secret project.
And I've got this never before heard top secret file from Chief Jace to learn about this mission.
Greetings, Nerdle Patrol recruits.
Today, our world is facing a problem.
Tiny plastic pellets called Nerdles are washing up in many places on Earth on beaches, on riverbanks, around lakes or water reservoirs.
We know the problem is big, but we need your help to know how big.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to pick a place in your area and go investigate.
See if you can find nurdles near where you live and report back.
Chief Jace and I want to invite you to the free Nerdle Patrol special agent training course.
Before we embark on our mission, let me ask you this.
Do you know how many plastic objects there are in your home?
What about at school?
Think about it for a moment.
How many did you come up with?
Chances are lots.
What's your toothbrush made of?
What about your shampoo bottle?
Or your sunglasses?
Or your teacher's pen?
Or that gallon of milk in the fridge?
The point is, plastic is everywhere in objects that we use every day.
But what is plastic itself made of?
And where does it come from?
That, my friends, is where nerdles come in.
We are going to listen to lesson one.
And if you want to continue, you can go to sciencepodcastforkidscom.
Slash nerdles and learn to track down nerdles yourself, for the one and only Nerdle Patrol.
Let's go ahead and roll the tape.
As members of the Nerdle Patrol, we will train you in this course to investigate if the Nerdle threat has reached where you live.
Let's review our first fact.
Nerdles are tiny little bits of plastic.
In fact, they're the building blocks of all things plastic.
Every plastic object you see in your home, at school, or in the street is made of Nerdles.
You in the back, I see you taking notes.
Excellent note-taking.
Great.
Let's keep going.
There's more on the file from Chief Jace about how nurdles are made.
At the beginning, all plastic comes from fossil fuels like oil and gas.
Those are mixed with chemicals to make a thick, gooey paste called resins, which is shaped into long, thin strands and then cut up into little pieces.
Those little pieces are called nurdles, and they are used to make everything plastic.
So what happens next, you ask?
Nerdles are shipped to companies that make plastic things, who melt and shape them to make all the plastic stuff that we use in our lives.
But as Nerdles are packed and shipped, they can spill.
And that's a problem.
Why are they called nurdles?
Hmm, another outstanding question, special agent, nurdles is a funny word.
Yes, folks in england came up with it.
Apparently we don't know exactly why they picked that funny sounding name.
But here's the thing, and this gets the importance of your mission.
So listen up even though the name nurdle sounds cuddly, Even though they look like those cute little beads you use to make bracelets, they're a big threat to our planet.
Nerdles are considered a microplastic, which is basically a really tiny piece of plastic.
That makes it really hard to transport them without spilling some.
Imagine trying to run around a room with a spoonful of raw rice and not spilling any the whole time.
It'd be really hard.
You could spill some without even noticing.
It's the same thing with nurdles.
They're so small they can easily slip out of the packages and containers they're in and get washed up by the rain and end up in nature.
And when they do, bad things can happen to nature and our environment.
For example, birds, fish, and turtles confuse nurdles with food and eat them.
Also, the chemicals in nurdles can leak into the water that we drink.
And that, recruits, is why we need the nurdle patrol.
That's why we need you.
Jace and his team are on a mission to track down nurdles everywhere they can be found.
And you have been selected to join his team.
So recruits, your mission, if you accept it, will be to go on a nurdle hunt in your community.
But before you can do that, you'll need to train your eyes to learn how to detect and identify nurdles.
We'll get to that in our next lesson.
For now, Chief Jace and I have a few activities like the Nerdle Hurdle Race you can do to start practicing.
Go to the link with the online resources connected to this lesson for more information.
After that, you'll understand why it's so hard to avoid spilling nurdles.
Okay, that's it for today, recruits.
This message will now self-destruct in three, two, one.
Just kidding.
Nerdle hunting is an important mission, not a top secret one.
You can tell all your friends if you want.
And we'll see you soon for the next lesson in your special agent training course.
For the one and only.
Hey, Marshall, it was really nice outside and that cookie was so good.
But are you still recording?
The recording's still going.
I thought we were done recording.
Yeah, I mean, not actually.
I'll fill you in.
Okay, recruits, continue your training.
Join me and Chief Jace for the rest of our training course to join the Nerdle Patrol.
You'll learn everything you need to do your own Nerdle Patrol survey and help us on our mission to rid the world of nerdles.
Marshall, rid the world of nurdles?
What are you talking about?
Listen, I told you, don't worry about it.
This is just between me and the listeners, and you'll find out someday.
If you want to sign up for a free audio course to become a Nurdle Patrol special agent, just go to sciencepodcastsforkidscom.
Slash nurdles.
I'll have to check out that website to find out what you've been talking about.
Sure.
You can find a transcript of the episode and more information on the Nerdle Patrol audio course whatever that is on our blog.
This episode and the Nerdle Patrol Special Agent Training Course was supported by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine under award number SCON 1001259.
Lorena Galliott wrote this episode.
Sarah Robertson-Lentz is our managing editor and designed the episode art.
Chad Janai is our assistant producer.
Gary Calhoun-James is our engineer and mixer.
I'm Lindsay Patterson, and I'm the senior editor and executive producer of this podcast.
And I'm Marshall Escamilla, and I made all the music and sound design for this episode.
Tumble is a production of Tumble Media.
Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for more stories of science discovery.
All right.
Well, so now that you know what nurdles are and how hunting for them helps the environment, maybe you want to go ahead and visit sciencepodcastforkidscom.
Slash nurdles and try out joining the nurdle patrol special agent training course.
You'll really love it.
I worked really hard on making it great.
So I promise it'll be really great.
I promise.
Anyway, before you do that, why don't you stick around and listen for some birthday shoutouts, because we've got a few to go through.
Here we go.
But before we get started with that, I wanted to send a special thank you to our new patrons Griffin Rowan, Dexter and Emmaline.
Thanks, you guys.
And now the birthdays.
First, a happy birthday on July 10th to Wilder.
Mom and dad love you and your curiosity and can't wait to see where your big brain takes you next.
A happy birthday on July 15th to Kai.
Mommy, Mama, Jasper, Fiona, and your whole family love you very much.
And I want to say a personal hi.
Hi, Kai.
Hopefully I'll see you next time I'm in Boston.
Etta B, you fill your family's life with joy, with love from Mom and Dad, and have a happy birthday on July 16th.
A happy birthday to Arlo on July 20th from Mom, Dad, Ellis, Jake, and Eggdog.
All the bunnies and groundhogs can't wait to see you out in the backyard soon.
To Griffin, have a happy birthday on July 23rd.
Keep asking questions.
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