Nature of Water News

May 2, 2024

Top Headlines

A Virus Could Help Save Billions of Gallons of Wastewater Produced by Fracking

Apr. 30, 2024 — An estimated 168 billion gallons of wastewater -- or produced water -- is generated annually by the Permian Basin fracking industry, according to a 2022 report. The major waste stream has proved both ...

Data-Driven Music: Converting Climate Measurements Into Music

Apr. 18, 2024 — A geo-environmental scientist from Japan has composed a string quartet using sonified climate data. The 6-minute-long composition -- entitled 'String Quartet No. 1 'Polar Energy Budget'-- is based on over 30 years of satellite-collected climate data ...

Octopus Inspires New Suction Mechanism for Robots

Apr. 18, 2024 — A new robotic suction cup which can grasp rough, curved and heavy stone, has been developed by ...

Physicists Explain--and Eliminate--Unknown Force Dragging Against Water Droplets on Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Apr. 16, 2024 — Researchers adapt a novel force measurement technique to uncover the previously unidentified physics at play at the thin air-film gap between water droplets and superhydrophobic ...

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The Big Quantum Chill: Scientists Modify Common Lab Refrigerator to Cool Faster With Less Energy

May 1, 2024 — Scientists have dramatically reduced the time and energy required to chill materials to temperatures near absolute zero. Their prototype refrigerator ...

Physicists Show That Light Can Generate Electricity Even in Translucent Materials

Apr. 29, 2024 — Some materials are transparent to light of a certain frequency. When such light is shone on them, electrical currents can still be generated, ...

Energy Trades Could Help Resolve Nile Conflict

Apr. 26, 2024 — Scientists have shed light on a new, transformative approach that could help resolve a dispute over the Nile river's water ...

How Light Can Vaporize Water Without the Need for Heat

Apr. 24, 2024 — Researchers discovered that light can cause evaporation of water from a surface without the need for heat. This 'photomolecular effect' could be important for understanding climate change and for ...

Laser-Treated Cork Absorbs Oil for Carbon-Neutral Ocean Cleanup

Apr. 23, 2024 — Researchers use laser treatments to transform ordinary cork into a powerful tool for treating oil spills. They tested variations of a fast-pulsing laser treatment, closely examining the nanoscopic ...

Trash to Treasure -- Researchers Turn Metal Waste Into Catalyst for Hydrogen

Apr. 16, 2024 — Scientists have found a way to transform metal waste into a highly efficient catalyst to make hydrogen from water, a discovery that could make ...

Tiny Plastic Particles Are Found Everywhere

Apr. 9, 2024 — Microplastic particles can be found in the most remote ocean regions on earth. In Antarctica, pollution levels are even higher than previously ...

Physics of Complex Fluids: Ring Polymers Show Unexpected Motion Patterns Under Shear

Apr. 4, 2024 — An international research team is attracting the attention of experts in the field with computational results on the behavior of ring polymers under ...

'Tug of War' Tactic Enhances Chemical Separations for Critical Materials

Apr. 3, 2024 — Lanthanide elements are important for clean energy and other applications. To use them, industry must separate mixed lanthanide sources into individual elements using costly, time-consuming, and ...

For Mining in Arid Regions to Be Responsible, We Must Change How We Think About Water

Apr. 3, 2024 — In an unprecedented study of the South American 'Lithium Triangle,' hydrologists discover that not all water responds the same way to environmental ...

Freeze Casting: A Guide to Creating Hierarchically Structured Materials

Apr. 25, 2024 — Freeze casting is an elegant, cost-effective manufacturing technique to produce highly porous materials with custom-designed hierarchical architectures, well-defined pore orientation, and ...

Water-Based Paints: Less Stinky, but Some Still Contain Potentially Hazardous Chemicals

Apr. 3, 2024 — Choosing paint for your home brings a lot of options: What kind of paint, what type of finish and what color? Water-based paints have emerged as 'greener' and less smelly than solvent-based ...

Intelligent Liquid

Apr. 3, 2024 — Researchers have developed a programmable meta-fluid with tunable springiness, optical properties, viscosity and even the ability to transition between a Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid. The ...

A Simple Way to Harvest More 'Blue Energy' from Waves

Apr. 3, 2024 — As any surfer will tell you, waves pack a powerful punch. Now, we are one step closer to capturing the energy behind the ocean's constant ebb and flow with an improved 'blue energy' ...

New Approach to Monitoring Freshwater Quality Can Identify Sources of Pollution, and Predict Their Effects

Mar. 28, 2024 — Analysing the diversity of organic compounds dissolved in freshwater provides a reliable measure of ecosystem health, say ...

With a New Experimental Technique, Engineers Probe the Mechanisms of Landslides and Earthquakes

Mar. 25, 2024 — Researchers developed a method for 3D experiments that can reveal how forces are transmitted through granular materials, and how the shapes of the grains can dramatically change the outcomes. This ...

New All-Liquid Iron Flow Battery for Grid Energy Storage

Mar. 25, 2024 — A new iron-based aqueous flow battery shows promise for grid energy storage ...

Revolutionizing Hydrogen Production: Economical and Efficient Solutions Unveiled

Mar. 22, 2024 — Scientists introduce superaerophobic three-dimensional nickel nanostructured catalysts for accelerated water ...

Research Suggests How Turbulence Can Be Used to Generate Patterns

Mar. 20, 2024 — Physicists show how patterns can emerge from chaos in turbulent ...

Molecular Crystal Motors Move Like Microbes When Exposed to Light

Mar. 19, 2024 — At first glance, Rabih Al-Kaysi's molecular motors look like the microscopic worms you'd see in a drop of pond water. But these wriggling ribbons are not alive; they're made from ...

Plasma Oscillations Propel Breakthroughs in Fusion Energy

Mar. 15, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a new class of plasma oscillations -- the back-and-forth, wave-like movement of electrons and ions. The research paves the way for improved particle accelerators and ...

Dolphin-Kick Swimming Maximizes Water-Flow Utilization With Increasing Speed

Mar. 14, 2024 — Researchers investigated the propulsion mechanism by visualizing water flow around a swimmer during underwater dolphin-kick swimming in a water channel via particle image velocimetry. Their findings ...

An Electricity Generator Inspired by the Drinking Bird Toy Powers Electronics With Evaporated Water

Mar. 14, 2024 — Inspired by the classic drinking bird toy, scientists have developed an engine that efficiently converts energy from water evaporation into electricity to power small electronics. The device produces ...

Water Droplet Spun by Sound Screens for Colon Cancer

Mar. 13, 2024 — Mechanical engineers have devised a diagnostic platform that uses sound waves to spin an individual drop of water up to 6000 revolutions per minute. These speeds separate tiny biological particles ...

Revolutionary Phenomenon in Liquid Crystals

Mar. 13, 2024 — Scientists have unveiled a new principle of motion in the microworld, where objects can move in a directed manner simply by changing their sizes periodically within a substance known as liquid ...

You Didn't See It Coming: The Spontaneous Nature of Turbulence

Mar. 12, 2024 — Scientists have shown in theoretical models of turbulence that even molecular motions can create large-scale patterns of randomness over a defined period of ...

Cicadas' Unique Urination Unlocks New Understanding of Fluid Dynamics

Mar. 11, 2024 — While most small insects and mammals urinate in droplets, cicadas urinate in jets. Researchers say the finding could be used to create better robots and small ...

Breakthrough in Nanostructure Technology for Real-Time Color Display

Mar. 11, 2024 — New groundbreaking technology enables the real-time display of colors and shapes through changes in ...

Nanodevices Can Produce Energy from Evaporating Tap or Seawater

Mar. 6, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that nanoscale devices harnessing the hydroelectric effect can harvest electricity from the evaporation of fluids with higher ion concentrations than purified water, ...

Aluminum Nanoparticles Make Tunable Green Catalysts

Mar. 5, 2024 — A nanotechnology pioneer has uncovered a transformative approach to harnessing the catalytic power of aluminum nanoparticles by annealing them in various gas atmospheres at high ...