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Water squeezed in a new state: not liquid, nor solid or gas. Just pure quantum weirdness

Physicists have crammed water inside extremely small cracks about ten-billionth of a metre and found the molecules entered a never before seen state. In this brand new state, the water molecules don't adhere to strict laws of classical physics anymore, nor do they behave like a liquid, gas or solid.

Off-grid shower recovers and purifies 96% of water for you to use again

What's the most important resource on the planet? Water of course.

NASA finds vast quantities of frozen water on Pluto

New data provided by the New Horizons mission showed that water ice on Pluto is much more common than we thought.

Cheap water filter is fantastically efficient: absorbs heavy toxic metals and can recover gold

Water pollution is a big issue, and so far there isn't one single system capable of reliably filtering toxic heavy metals. These are either too small, or selectively filter certain metals when polluted water often contains a mix. Researchers at ETH Zurich claim they've hit a breakthrough. Using cheap, readily available materials they designed a filter that can retain over 99% concentration of mercury, gold cyanide or toxic potassium, to name a few. It can also absorb radioactive waste and help recycle gold.

High-resolution spectroscopy could revolutionize seawater uranium capture

New imaging techniques might revolutionize the technologies currently used to capture uranium from seawater, as researchers gain a better understanding of the way the compounds that bind the atoms interact with them.

Scientists reveal the first global groundwater map to date

A team of researchers has analyzed a swarm of data and created the first map that tries to estimate how much water is located beneath the Earth.

Do you know how much water goes to make your food?

Approximately 3.8tn cubic metres of water is used by humans annually with 70% being consumed by the global agriculture sector, according to a report issued by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME). Strikingly, up to 50% of all food is thrown away before it gets the chance to reach consumers, often out of frivolous reasons. In terms of water that's 550bn cubic metres that go to waste each year. At the same time, approximately 795 million people in the world are chronically malnourished and 1 in 10 lack access to clean water. While policy makers should take more notice and take measures to curb waste, there's much you can do yourself to cut on waste. Eglė Plytnikaitė, an illustrator from Vilnius, Lithuania made some insightful drawings showing how much water goes into some of the most popular foodstuff.

How the brain keeps your heat and water balance

What exactly makes you thirsty? Dehydration, obviously, but how does your brain know that your body needs water? And how does that grey, squishy lump resting in your cool and comfortable cranium, know when your body needs to heat up or cool off? Scientists at the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute (RI-MUHC) and Duke University have asked themselves just that, and being scientists, went ahead to find out.

California drought is so tough L.A. is throwing 96 million balls to shade a reservoir

Faced with the worst drought in recorded history, officials in California are turning to all sorts of creative methods to curb the rising water shortage. Most recently, 96 million black plastic balls were thrown in the LA Reservoir, which is filled with enough water to last the whole city of four million for weeks. Together, the millions of plastic balls act as a cover, shielding the water inside the reservoir from the sun's rays, especially the UV frequencies. This way, less water becomes evaporated or degraded through chemical means - about 300 million gallons of it.

Massive aquifers beneath the world's deserts might store more carbon than all living plants

Chinese researchers sampled water from an underground aquifer in the Tarim Basin and found these store vast quantities of carbon dioxide as a result of human activities. If the same holds true for all the desert aquifers around the world, the trapped carbon would amount to about a quarter more than the amount stored in living plants on land. Previously, the carbon trapped in aquifers was thought to be negligible. Clearly, this isn't the case and these should not be disturbed so that the carbon doesn't wash up into the atmosphere.

Canadian fish know how to party: getting high on cocaine

New research shows that wastewater discharged from wastewater treatment plants in the Grand River watershed of southern Ontario has the potential to contaminate sources of drinking water with drugs such as cocaine, morphine and oxycodone.

Drinking too much water can be fatal: just do it when you're thirsty

Just before sport camps and marathon training begins in the US, doctors report a new set of guidelines that should be reviewed to ensure athletes don't consume more water than they should. Drinking excessive amounts of water can result in potentially serious reductions in blood sodium a condition called hyponatremia. Last year, two high school football players died of exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH). So, what do you need to do to be on the safe side? Just drink water when you're thirsty. If you have to drink in advance for various reasons - say, if you're a marathon runner - keep the excess water at sensible levels.

This computer clocks uses water droplets, manipulating information and matter at the same time

Computers and water don't mix well, but that didn't stop Manu Prakash, a bioengineering assistant professor at Stanford, to think outside the box. Using magnetic fields and droplets of water infused with magnetic nanoparticles, Prakash demonstrated a computing system that performs logic and control functions by manipulating H2O instead of electrons. Because of its general nature, the water clock can perform any operations a conventional CPU clock can. But don't expect this water-based computer to replace the CPU in your smartphone or notebook (electrons speed vs water droplet - not a chance). Instead, it might prove extremely useful in situations where logic operations and manipulation of matter need to be performed at the same time.

Autonomous underwater gliders plan missions and coordinate by themselves

Climate models and environmental monitoring missions are ever more reliant on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to scour the ocean depths and bring back valuable data like temperature, salinity, carbon levels and so on. Researchers at MIT have now upgraded the way AUVs perform their missions by adding an extra dimension to their autonomy. They demonstrate how a pack of AUVs, directed by a "captain" drone, is able to navigate obstacles and retrieve data with minimal intervention. This dramatically enhances performance and might revolutionize the way scientists study the oceans.

Swap a sweet drink for water and you get a 25% lower chance of diabetes

Swapping out a single daily sweet drink for water or unsweetened tea or coffee can lower the risk of diabetes by up to 25%, a new research suggests.

Just one billion years following the Big Bang, water may had been as abundant as it is today

Water may have been plentiful in some parts of the universe as early as one billion years after the Big Bang, a new model suggests. That's a lot earlier than scientists had previously presumed, seeing how at the very beginning the only elements were hydrogen and helium. Seeing how water is comprised of one oxygen atom (16 times heavier than hydrogen) and two hydrogen atoms, then we should have seen water much later, or so the thinking goes.

Sandwiching water between graphene makes square ice crystals at room temperature

In a most unexpected find, the same University of Manchester team that isolated graphene for the first time in 2003 found that water flattens into square crystals - a never encountered lattice configuration - when squeezed between two layers of graphene. The square ice qualifies as a new crystalline phase of ice, joining 17 others previously discovered. The finding could potentially improve filtration, distillation and desalination processes.

Mars may have had a huge ocean

Scientists have found tantalizing evidence regarding Mars' wet past - according to new research, the Red Planet may have once had a huge ocean, containing 5 million cubic miles of water with a depth of over a mile.

Asteroid Vesta once had flowing water

According to a new study, water once flowed on the surface of Vesta, the second-largest asteroid in the solar system. This took astronomers by surprise, as no one was really expecting to find this.

Laser-etching pattern turns any metal into a super-hydrophobic surface

A new generation of water-repellent products could be just ahead after researchers at University of Rochester demonstrated an amazing laser technique that etches tiny micro and nano grooves into a metal surface making it super-hydrophobic.

Earth may have generated its own water - geologically

A new study may have finally found where Earth’s water came from. There are currently two competing theories, with one claiming that our planet generated its own water geologically, while the other suggests that water was brought by icy comets or asteroids from outside. A new study concluded that most of the water we see […]

Adding water to solids can actually make them stronger, providing engineers with exciting new material composites

Some findings are just counterintuitive. I mean, you’d think that adding water to materials would always make them softer, right ? Well according to Yale researchers, that’s not necessarily the case. The team found that you could improve the strength of a composite by 30 percent by embedding droplets of water into its structure. Adding pockets […]

Water didn't come from comets, Rosetta analysis shows

As you might remember, a few days ago we were telling you about the fantastic success of the Rosetta mission – a spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency which orbited a comet and sent landed a probe on it. Now, we already have the first result: Earth’s water probably didn’t come from comets. Did […]

Simple, cheap purifying device provides clean water for 150,000 Kenyan students

Lack of clean water is a big problem in many poor areas of the world, and it’s also one of the most easily solvable major problems (not saying it’s easy, just that it’s relatively easy, compared to say curing malaria, which is another big problem in many poor areas). A new, innovative yet simple purifier has […]

Robot Underwater Gliders show How Antarctic Ice is Melting

Over ninety percent of all the world’s ice is in Antarctica, where it can run 4000-5000 meters deep. Yet, as a result of global warming, the ice sheet is melting at a rapid rate making it the most significant contributing factor to world sea level rise. It’s simple to throw in a label like global warming […]

All Solar Systems likely have Water (just like ours!)

We live in a solar system filled with water. Not only does liquid water cover 72% of our planet Earth, we have also found ice water in asteroids and comets, on the Moon, on Mars, and even in the shadows of craters on Mercury; while Europa and other moons of Jupiter and Saturn almost certainly […]

Neptune-sized alien planet found to harbor water vapor in its atmosphere

Astronomers have discovered water vapor in the atmosphere of a new exoplanet - a planet from outside our solar system - roughly the size of Neptune, orbiting a star 124 light-years away. This is the first time water vapor has been found on an alien planet smaller than Jupiter. The discovery is set to improve scientists' understanding of how planet forms and which planets may be best suited to support alien life.

Geologists find changes in well water chemicals prior to earthquakes

A team of geologists from Iceland, Sweden and Saudi Arabia has found changes in groundwater chemicals prior to earthquakes. They emphasize that they haven’t found a precursor to earthquakes, but there seems to be a connection between these chemical changes and incoming earthquakes. There is no reliable earthquake warning system, and there almost certainly won’t […]

Underwater glue inspired by shellfish might help repair ships

Taking inspiration from nature, scientists at MIT have engineered a new sort of glue that acts like a powerful adhesive even in underwater conditions and can cling on to virtually any surface, be it metal or organic. The glue might prove to be useful to repair ships or seal wounds and surgical incisions. The strongest […]

US drinking water contaminated with gas because of faulty wells, but not fracking

Stanford researchers traced back methane leaks from contaminated drinking water in Pennsylvania and Texas to shale gas wells. However, they note that they did not find a link between the contamination and the technique used to drill for shale gas itself, called hydraulic fracturing or more commonly known as fracking. Instead, the researchers concluded that […]

California issued rights for five times the water it actually has

California is facing one of its direst drought streaks, and only last year it came out of its warmest winter on record. Clearly, things aren’t looking that good and the most vulnerable resource to these conditions is at the same time the most valuable: water. Desperate times, call for desperate measures, and this means in […]

A 14-year-old girl invented a cheap water purifying system that could help millions

Deepika Kurup, a 14 year-old girl who was awarded the  $25,000 prize in The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, is living proof of how nurturing talent can help young, bright people go very far. While still in the 8th grade, Kurup viable solution for the global water crisis and invented a water purification system that […]

A simple, elegant and effective way of getting water out of thin air

Most people would are surprised when they hear that 768 million people don’t have access to clean water. That’s twice and over the population of the US, and 50% more than that of the European Union! Something as simple and basic as access to water is denied (or greatly hardened) for them. Italian designer Arturo Vittori […]

Condensing towers could make water from thin air in the driest places on Earth

The Namib desert is one of the vastest and driest deserts in the world. There is little water to be found here, so the few critters calling the desert home had to learn to adapt in order to survive. One particular beetle species stands out through the ingenuity with which it manages to quench its […]

Water found on dwarf planet Ceres may erupt from ice volcanoes

It takes the form of vapor plumes erupting into space and the theory the scientists have agreed upon is that the main cause could be the ice geysers on the planet surface functioning similarly to volcanoes. The scientific explanation of the fact is detailed in the journal Nature on January 22, where it is explained […]

People show up at the hospital with burns after trying boiling-to-freezing water trick

This week a big part of North America was paralyzed after powerful winds and freezing gusts swept the continent in the aftermath of the polar vortex. Well, that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun. Apparently, throughout the Midwest people have tried to recreate a neat trick where your boil water and then quickly throw […]

Signs of water found in the atmosphere of 5 alien planets

Using the Hubble telescope, astronomers have identified faint signals of water in the atmosphere of five exoplanets. The alien planets, however, are classed as hot-Jupiters – huge planets with a surface temperature too hot to support life. Finding water on planets light years away from Earth is definitely of great note and marks a step […]

The Leidenfrost effect and a cool water maze

Last week we showed you some great fluid dynamics at work – water bridges between two beakers connected to high voltage current. Water and fluids in particular sometimes behave in amazing ways under certain conditions. Today, I’d like to show another dazzling display: the Leidenfrost effect. This is a phenomenon that occurs when liquid, say […]

Amazing physics: floating bridges of water

The experiment: two identical glass beakers filed with deionized water are put into contact. A voltage is applied ( 10,000 to 15,000 volts DC ) to the water inside the beakers and these glasses are slowly moved apart. An amazing physical phenomenon is then observed – a water bridge between the two beakers is formed, as […]

The real color of water is blue -- here's why

While relatively small quantities of water appear to be colorless, water's tint becomes bluer and bluer as its thickness increases.

Peruvian engineers create water out of thin air through billboards

The Peruvian capital of Lima, along with its outskirts, is plagued by a vicious drought, which coupled with pollution and unsanitary water extraction methods, has made the water there stagnant, dirty and dangerous. Doing what they know best – fix problems – engineers at Peru’s University for Engineering and Technology have devised an resourceful system that […]

Water demand for energy to double by 2035

Water and energy are two of the things we pretty much take for granted – but we shouldn’t. Water is not infinite, and if you consume it at a high enough rate, it will run out; meanwhile, there’s a tight connection between living standard and energy consumption – and as the population continues to increase […]

Just by adding water to silicon nanoparticles, scientists almost instantly produced hydrogen

Hydrogen is an extremely appealing energy source, despite the immense hurdles than come with storing it. Still fuel cells based on hydrogen are extremely useful, and a team of researchers at University at Buffalo may have found the fastest and most effective way of obtaining this element. Basically, it’s as easy as adding water. The scientists […]

A computer made from water droplets

If you thought the computer devised out of soldier crab swarms was cool, wait till you hear what scientists at Aalto University managed to make. In a recently published study, the researchers built a hydrophopic set-up through which they channeled water droplets, and in the process encoded information, practically building a computer. The researchers used the term […]

Is it better to run or walk in the rain to stay as dry as possible? A lifelong physics question

You just got out of the office, looking to head home to a soothing dinner, only to find that it’s raining cats and dogs outside – and you forgot your umbrella of course. Do you walk or run to your car to stay as dry as possible? It might sound trivial, but this is a […]

Icy moon rains water on Saturn

For the past 14 years, astronomers have been scratching their heads trying to find out just where does the water in Saturn’s upper atmosphere comes from; now, ESA’s Herschel space observatory has solved that mystery – the water is expelled from Enceladus, one of the planet’s moons. Enceladus is eliminating about 250 kilograms of water […]

Enormous water reservoir found in space is bigger than 140 trillion earth oceans

Astronomers have discovered the largest body of water so far known, a reservoir of water floating in space around a ancient distant quasar,  holding 140 trillion times the mass of water in the Earth’s oceans. Remarkably enough, the find was dated as being 12 billion light years away, only  1.6 billion light years farther from […]

"Super sand" is five times more purifying than regular one. Turns toxic water into drinkable water

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s super sand! *tadam Researchers from Rice University have managed to develop a new kind of filtering sand, dubbed “super sand”, which has five times the filtering properties of regular sand. The advancement could provide an indispensable, cost-effective solution for the current water crisis in developing countries where […]

The moon's interior is wet, amazing new study shows

Two years ago, NASA’s LCROSS probe was looking for signs of water when it smashed into Cabeus crater at the moon’s south pole. It turned out to be one of those incredible fail moments, since not only did researchers found there was water from the data transmitted back, but that the surface was actually wetter […]

The PeePoo bag: don't poop where you eat

Nairobi, Kenya is home to one of the world’s biggest slums, more than one million people living in subhuman conditions in the African state capital. I’ve seen and read a lot of reports from there, and other African states alike, and the situation is indeed dire. Imagine having nothing to eat – now imagine having […]
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