If you release 29,000 rubber duckies into the ocean, where do they end up? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Floatees – Our cool world.
How! They all started in the same place and ended up pretty much /everywhere/. So weird!
These 29,000 rubber ducks, lost from a cargo ship in 1992, have taught us a lot about ocean currents and how plastic debris degrades and enters the marine food chain.
This happens in places like the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, which is not the flotilla of lawn chairs and styrofoam cups you might be picturing. Instead, it’s microscopic particles, degraded by salt and sunlight, that cover thousands of square miles of ocean. That’s harmful for most creatures, but oddly beneficial for others. Find out more about the Garbage Patch here.
The story of the lost ducks is a fascinating one, though. Check out this NPR interview with Donovan Hohn, who tracked the ducks worldwide. He wrote a book about it called Moby Duck, which is just about the best title for a book, ever.
danelabonte 