If you, like me, have spent the past few decades watching battle after battle over environmental pollutants – from DDT to cigarette smoke, to ozone destroyers to greenhouse gases – it will all look familiar. New problems present new challenges, and science takes a while to work them out. But eventually, it does. Science’s unique and greatest strength is that it is self-correcting. The current battle among researchers of microplastics is the first salvo in that process.