Print Interviews

Whether reviewing a new study by a peer that is about to be published, or giving my opinion on something in the field, sometimes I am asked for interviews that don’t directly relate to one of my studies. Here is a small sampling of some of my interviews on the general issue of plastic pollution.

Food and Wine

October 24, 2025

I was interviewed for Food & Wine about what microplastics are, how they get into our food and water, how we can reduce our exposure, as well as the health effects of consuming microplastics. This article was also picked up by AOL News. I did another piece for Food & Wine in June 2025 on important kitchen swaps to reduce microplastics exposure and a similar piece for Travel and Leisure in October 2025 as well.

New York Magazine

February 25, 2025

New York Magazine published a piece, both online and in their print magazine, on everything we know about microplastics so far, including the emerging science on their human health effects. The piece was one of the top 5 articles on their website and listed in their One Great Story newsletter as the one story that needed to be read that day. I was interviewed about my previous research, the general state of the science, and how I minimize microplastic exposure in my own life.

SANDSWA Profile

May 7, 2021

The San Diego Science Writers Association (SANDSWA) did a profile on me, my plastics science and scientific outreach, and how I stay optimistic in the process of studying something so daunting. This is one of my favorite interviews because it let me reflect on the importance of science journalism and how far we have come in the fight against plastic pollution even in my relatively short career.

I was interviewed by Matt Simon at Wired to give a retrospective on all the microplastics work that came out in 2019, and what I thought were the most important research directions in the field. He later interviewed me as one of the first interviews that became the foundation for his 2022 book on plastic, A Poison Like No Other. The book is excerpted here.

Wired

December 20, 2019

More Plastics Articles:

  • Similar to the pieces I did for Food and Wine and Travel and Leisure, I also was interviewed by Eating Well for an article entitled, “Scientists Share the Plastic Kitchen Utensils They Want You to Replace”

  • I talked to The Robin Report about the double threat of exposure in our food from microplastics and the plastics-associated chemicals like phthalates for an article entitled, “The Fast Food Microplastics Crisis.”

  • Martha Stewart’s website interviewed me for a fun article called “12 Clever Uses for Reusable Shopping Bags You Haven’t Tried." This highlights that even sustainable products can become wasteful clutter if we don’t use them well!

  • I was interviewed by Popular Mechanics about a new study, that said the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was much larger than originally thought. For interviews like this, I try to give my balanced opinions about the study, even when pointing out room for improvement in the experimental techniques.

  • I was interviewed by the BBC for an article they were writing, entitled "Are there any pollution-free places left on Earth?" They talked to a few scientists from around Scripps Institution of Oceanography that were experts on different ecosystems.