Microplastics have been found in the deepest recesses of the ocean, atop Mount Everest, in fresh Antarctic snow, in our blood and lungs and now, for the first time, in the clouds. In a study published in Environmental Chemistry Letters, researchers in Japan found microplastics in mists that shrouded the peaks of Mount Oyama and Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain. Researchers analyzed samples collected between heights of 1,300 to 3,776 metres altitude and found nine different types of polymers and one type of rubber, ranging in size from 7.1 to 94.6 micrometres. They hypothesized that the high-altitude microplastics could influence cloud formation and possibly modify the climate.