O-Score proof
Microplastics are falling with fresh snow even in remote parts of the Sierra Nevada, a UC Riverside study finds
10O-Score10 · Fully overlooked0 of 13 major U.S. outlets by our publish date · See proof →Method note: Score reflects coverage as of publish date; changed Nov 2, 2026. Only articles dated on or before our publish date (Nov 3, 2026, ET) count. Later articles are listed as pickups and never lower the score.
Status history (2 events, ET)
- O-Score check: 10 (Fully overlooked) · 0 of 13 outlets counted
- Published
The math
- Outlets checked: 13 major U.S. national outlets.
- Confirmed reports of this story dated on or before our publish date: 0.
- 0 found → O-Score 10 (Fully overlooked). Higher means more overlooked.
| Score | Meaning | Major U.S. outlets that covered it |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Fully overlooked ← this story | 0 of 13 outlets |
| 8 | Barely covered | 1 outlet |
| 6, 5 | Lightly covered | 2 outlets (6) · 3 outlets (5) |
| 4, 3 | Covered | 4 outlets (4) · 5 outlets (3) |
| 2, 1, 0 | Widely covered | 6–7 outlets (2) · 8–10 outlets (1) · 11–13 outlets (0) |
Provisional: Google News (5 term variants for AP, Reuters and The Washington Post; 3 for the others) and Bing News (5 variants, outlet domain only) were both used. AP, Reuters and CBS News block direct site search, and the other 10 outlets’ site search only loads in a live browser. A single search engine can miss articles, so this score may go down on recheck.
Checked Nov 3, 2026, 3:12 AM ET · search window: 40 days back from the check.
Every outlet
| Outlet | Result | Searches run |
|---|---|---|
| AP apnews.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" google-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" google-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: HTTP 403 (could not use) |
| Reuters reuters.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" google-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" google-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: HTTP 401 (could not use) |
| The New York Times nytimes.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" 8 search hit(s) read and rejected as not about this story
Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
| The Washington Post washingtonpost.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" google-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" google-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
| The Wall Street Journal wsj.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
| CNN cnn.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
| Fox News foxnews.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
| NBC News nbcnews.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" 3 search hit(s) read and rejected as not about this story
Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
| CBS News cbsnews.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: HTTP 406 (could not use) |
| ABC News abcnews.go.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
| NPR npr.org | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" 1 search hit(s) read and rejected as not about this story
Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
| USA Today usatoday.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
| Bloomberg bloomberg.com | Not found | google-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" google-news:"microplastics fresh snow" google-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"microplastics snow Sierra Nevada" bing-news:"microplastics fresh snow" bing-news:"Karapetrova microplastics" bing-news:"UC Riverside microplastics snow" bing-news:"Sierra Nevada snow plastic" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use) |
Pickups
We published: Nov 3, 2026 (ET).
No major-outlet pickup after our publish date yet.
Check history
| Checked (ET) | Check | O-Score | Confirmed outlets | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 3, 2026, 3:12 AM ET | initial | 10 Fully overlooked | 0 | No change |
Search terms
“microplastics snow Sierra Nevada”, “microplastics fresh snow”, “Karapetrova microplastics”, “UC Riverside microplastics snow”, “Sierra Nevada snow plastic”
Method
- bing-news site: (5 term variants per outlet)
- google-news site: tried once per outlet; partly available
- direct open of every possible match on the outlet’s site
- extra Bing News headline searches for wire copies on other outlets
- editor read of every candidate headline
A match counts only if the outlet’s own article is about this story, not a passing mention. “Not found” means not found by these methods; search engines index only part of each site. Stories are rechecked daily for pickups; the score itself is locked to coverage as of our publish date.