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Learning by Doing

Ellen Murphy, a high school student from Minnesota, and Chris Reddy, WHOI marine chemist, examine samples of plastic in Reddy’s laboratory in May 2008. Murphy, Reddy, and other lab technicians and students have been collecting plastic debris from Cape Cod beaches to examine their contents and origin. In this photo, Murphy is trying to figure out if the plastic is polypropylene or high-density polyethylene.

(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)