Saved on this device

Follow your curiosity

What discovery has been shared with you?

FACTREE gives you something interesting to discover every day — and something worth talking about together.

Start with one fact. Explore it, go deeper, then follow whichever branch catches your imagination.

Choose subjects for a surprise

Exploring any topic

Begin your discovery

Your next discovery is one click away.

Choose one or more subjects above, or leave Any Topic selected and let curiosity decide.

Environmental Science

How Ocean Gyres Concentrate Floating Plastic Debris

Quick fact

Each of the five major ocean gyres contains a slowly rotating accumulation zone in its center, and more than 90% of the plastic debris that enters the ocean is expected to be trapped inside these gyres, rather than spread evenly across the sea surface.

Why this is interesting

You've probably heard of the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch'—a floating island of plastic. But how does a vast amount of litter end up apparently in the middle of nowhere, far from any coastline?