Microplastics are tiny, plastic fragments — many too small to see — found in the air, soil and water. Measuring their abundance in nature can direct cleanup resources, but current detection methods are slow, expensive or highly technical. Now, researchers publishing in ACS Sensors have developed a living sensor that attaches to plastic and produces green fluorescence. In an initial test on real-world water samples, the biosensor could easily detect environmentally relevant levels of microplastics.

Sweat and food stains can ruin your favorite clothes. But bleaching agents such as hydrogen peroxide or dry-cleaning solvents that remove stains aren’t options for all fabrics, especially delicate ones. Now, researchers in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering report a simple way to remove yellow stains using a high-intensity blue LED light. They demonstrate the method’s effectiveness at removing stains from orange juice, tomato juice and sweat-like substances on multiple fabrics, including silk.

Waking up with a pimple is no longer cause for panic, thanks to pimple patches — small, sticker-like bandages that cover and help heal the unwanted zit. A team of researchers publishing in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces has designed a two-stage pimple patch set with an array of tiny spikes that grabs onto the pimple and delivers antibacterial or anti-inflammatory compounds. Human clinical trials confirmed that the pimples completely disappeared after seven days of treatment.

Researchers have developed edible microbeads made from green tea polyphenols, vitamin E and seaweed that, when consumed, bind to fats in the gastrointestinal tract. Preliminary results from tests with rats fed high-fat diets show that this approach to weight loss may be safer and more accessible than surgery or pharmaceuticals. They will present their results at the ACS Fall 2025 Digital Meeting.

Computer modeling could solve the real-world problem of detecting designer drugs. These drugs are developed to replicate the effects of known drugs but evade law enforcement. The chemical structure variations that help these compounds avoid detection also make them unpredictable and potentially dangerous in the body. A research team has created a database of predicted chemical structures for improved designer drug identification. They will present their results at ACS Fall 2025.