Nature of Water News

November 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Thermochemical Tech Shows Promising Path for Building Heat

Nov. 19, 2024 — Energy stored in thermochemical materials can effectively heat indoor spaces, particularly in humid regions, according to ...

Researchers Develop Crystals to Harvest Water from Air, Inspired by Desert Life

Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new crystalline material that can harvest water from fog without any energy input. The design of the novel type of smart crystals, which the researchers named Janus ...

Study Tracks PFAS, Microplastics Through Landfills and Wastewater Treatment Plants

Nov. 19, 2024 — Scientists find that most of the microplastics and the 'forever chemicals' known as PFAS cycle through landfills and wastewater treatment plants and end up back in the ...

Modeling and Analysis Reveals Technological, Environmental Challenges to Increasing Water Recovery from Desalination

Nov. 18, 2024 — Using zero liquid discharge to increase water recovery from desalination is an emerging method to combat water scarcity, but is expensive, energy-intensive and comes with environmental risks. ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:12pm EST

Plugged Wells and Reduced Injection Lower Induced Earthquake Rates in Oklahoma, Study Finds

Nov. 13, 2024 — Wastewater injection resulting from oil and gas production in Oklahoma caused a dramatic rise in seismic activity in the state between 2009 and 2015. ...

Deciphering the Anomalous Properties of Water

Nov. 14, 2024 — Water, a molecule essential for life, has unusual properties -- known as anomalies -- that define its behavior. However, there are still many enigmas about the molecular mechanisms that would explain ...

Anti-Fatberg Invention Could Help Unclog City Sewers

Nov. 13, 2024 — Engineers have invented a protective coating for concrete pipes that could help drastically reduce the formation of fatbergs in ...

Microplastics Impact Cloud Formation, Likely Affecting Weather and Climate

Nov. 7, 2024 — Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. ...

New PFAS Testing Method Created

Nov. 6, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a new way to detect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. This marks an important step forward in creating testing devices that are simpler, more ...

Development of a Simple, Revolutionary Printing Technique for Periodic Nano/microstructures

Oct. 31, 2024 — A team of researchers has developed a printing technique capable of forming a periodic nano/microstructure on the surface of a polydimethylsiloxane ...

Farewell Frost! New Surface Prevents Frost Without Heat

Oct. 30, 2024 — In a new study, researchers discovered that tweaking the texture of any surface and adding a thin layer of graphene oxide prevents 100% of frost from forming on surfaces for one week or potentially ...

Researchers Unlock a 'New Synthetic Frontier' for Quantum Dots

Oct. 25, 2024 — A new technique for growing quantum dots has not only found a new, more efficient way to build a useful type of quantum dot, but also opened up a whole group of novel chemical materials for future ...

Watershed Moment: Engineers Invent High-Yield Atmospheric Water Capture Device for Arid Regions

Oct. 25, 2024 — As a megadrought stresses the water supply throughout the Southwest, revolutionary research is answering this problem with a groundbreaking ...

A New Spectroscopy Reveals Water's Quantum Secrets

Oct. 25, 2024 — Researchers have exclusively observed molecules participating in hydrogen bonds in liquid water, measuring electronic and nuclear quantum effects that were previously accessible only via theoretical ...

A New Hydrogel Semiconductor Represents a Breakthrough for Tissue-Interfaced Bioelectronics

Oct. 24, 2024 — The ideal material for interfacing electronics with living tissue is soft, stretchable, and just as water-loving as the tissue itself--in short, a hydrogel. Semiconductors, the key materials for ...

Scientists Unveil New Insights Into Air Pollution Formation

Oct. 21, 2024 — Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery in understanding how air pollution forms at the molecular level. Their investigation sheds light on the complex chemical processes occurring at the ...

Forever Chemicals Found in Bottled and Tap Water from Around the World

Oct. 17, 2024 — Scientists have discovered toxic 'Forever Chemicals' present in samples of drinking water from around the ...

The Expansion of Turbid Drops in Water

Oct. 17, 2024 — It is usually not possible to look inside cloudy liquids, but researchers have now managed to do ...

Feeling the Heat: New Approach to Controlling Heat Flow in Crystals

Oct. 17, 2024 — Researchers have developed a method to control the direction of heat flow in crystals. This miniature device could eventually be used to create advanced thermal-management systems in electronic ...

Mechanism of Cobalt-Manganese Catalysts Deciphered

Oct. 16, 2024 — Conventional catalysts for hydrogen production via water electrolysis usually contain precious metals and are expensive. However, cheaper alternatives have been developed -- for example, ...

Scientists Cut Harmful Pollution from Hydrogen Engines

Oct. 10, 2024 — Scientists have discovered a low-cost method to significantly reduce this pollution from hydrogen internal combustion engines by improving the efficiency of their catalytic converters. The ...

It Could Take Over 40 Years for PFAS to Leave Groundwater

Oct. 10, 2024 — Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, known commonly as PFAS, could take over 40 years to flush out of contaminated ...

Snowflake Dance Analysis Could Improve Rain Forecasts

Oct. 10, 2024 — Research observing the physical motion of falling ice crystals could help scientists better estimate where and when these crystals will melt into ...

Researchers Develop New Technique to Measure Previously Undetected Airborne PFAS

Oct. 9, 2024 — For decades, scientists knew there was a huge swath of undetected and unaccounted for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the atmosphere, often referred to as PFAS dark matter, but no one ...

Ice Cream-Inspired Physics: Team Uncovers a Quantum Mpemba Effect, With a Host of 'Cool' Implications

Oct. 8, 2024 — Researchers have just described the existence of the paradoxical Mpemba effect within quantum systems. Initially investigating out of pure curiosity, the discovery has bridged the gap between ...

A Novel Method to Split Water to Create Hydrogen -- A Clean Source of Fuel

Oct. 7, 2024 — Researchers have developed a novel method using facet-selective, ultrafine cocatalysts to efficiently split water to create hydrogen -- a clean source of ...

Nanostructures in the Deep Ocean Floor Hint at Life's Origin

Oct. 3, 2024 — Researchers have discovered inorganic nanostructures surrounding deep-ocean hydrothermal vents that are strikingly similar to molecules that make life as we know it possible. These nanostructures are ...

New Theory Demystifies Crystallization Process

Oct. 2, 2024 — A new theory 'demystifies' the crystallization process and shows that the material that crystallizes is the dominant component within a solution -- which is the solvent, not the solute. The ...

Mystery of Uruguay's Amethyst Geodes: New Model to Explain Amethyst Formation

Oct. 2, 2024 — Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz which has been used as a gemstone for many centuries and is a key economic resource in northern Uruguay. Geodes are hollow rock formations often with quartz ...

Watch Water Form out of Thin Air

Sep. 30, 2024 — Palladium, a rare metallic element, can rapidly generate water from hydrogen and oxygen. Researchers witnessed this process at the nanoscale for the first time with an electron microscope. By viewing ...

Mars' Missing Atmosphere Could Be Hiding in Plain Sight

Sep. 25, 2024 — New research suggests Mars' missing atmosphere -- which dramatically diminished 3.5 billion years ago -- could be locked in the planet's clay-covered crust. Water on Mars could have set off ...

To Make Fluid Flow in One Direction Down a Pipe, It Helps to Be a Shark

Sep. 25, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a new way to help liquid flow in only one direction, but without using the flaps that engines and our circulatory system rely upon to prevent fluid backup. The team ...

Creating Full-Taste, Reduced Alcohol Wine and Spirits: New Trial Opens Realm of Possibilities

Sep. 18, 2024 — A new study has successfully used porous liquids to achieve liquid-liquid separation for the first time, creating exciting potential for advancing both environmental sustainability and public ...

In Step Toward Solar Fuels, Durable Artificial Photosynthesis Setup Chains Two Carbons Together

Sep. 17, 2024 — A key step toward reusing CO2 to make sustainable fuels is chaining carbon atoms together, and an artificial photosynthesis system can bind two of them into hydrocarbons with field-leading ...