Freshwater essential for lithium mining is found in parts of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, situated in the world’s “lithium triangle” on the Andean plateau, boasting half of all global lithium reserves.
A recent study in Communications Earth and the Environment revealed that available freshwater for lithium extraction in these regions is significantly lower than previously believed. With global demand for lithium expected to surge by 2040, this poses a challenge as it surpasses the limited annual rainfall supplying water to the dry lithium triangle.
Minimizing freshwater usage in the lithium industry is crucial to prevent disruption in mining activities. Extracting one ton of lithium requires approximately 500,000 gallons of water, which also sustains small indigenous communities and unique wildlife habitats in the region.
Water scarcity affects both the ecosystem and the industry in the lithium triangle, as lithium is a key component in batteries driving the global shift towards clean energy technologies. Despite the projected quadrupling demand for lithium batteries by 2030, delays in mining operations due to resource availability raise concerns about meeting this growing demand.
Freshwater plays a vital role in determining the supply of lithium available for mining in the lithium triangle. Rainfall washes lithium-rich minerals out of rocks, creating lagoons filled with lithium-rich water where mining companies extract the mineral. However, limited weather data and overestimation of freshwater supply in the region pose challenges to sustainable mining.
Research into water and resource availability for lithium mining operations is ongoing, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive understanding of the entire lithium supply chain. Studies in lithium-rich regions worldwide are essential to grasp the environmental and social impacts of lithium extraction.
Almost 500 buildings in the province’s capital get heat from clean, renewable sources deep in the ground.
It’s very easy to get into Boise’s hot water. After all, it’s Idaho, a state filled with hundreds of hot springs.
The city has used warm water in its natural environment to create a geothermal system that operates the largest local government in the country.
Nearly 500 Boise Business, Government Buildings, Houses, and Hospital and University Buildings; City Hall and YMCA. – Warmed by heat drawn directly from a hot water reservoir or aquifer below the ground. Idaho State University in Boise is the only US that uses geothermal heat. In winter, heat warms some sidewalks and raises the temperature of the hot tub to melt the snow.
50 states, 50 revisions This is a series about local solutions to environmental issues. I’ll come more this year.
Renewable, reliable and relatively free of pollution, but geothermal heating is possible due to fault lines that expose groundwater to hot rocks and heat the water to about 170 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 77 degrees Celsius. The water is drawn from a well in a nearby hilly area into a closed loop network of pipes reaching the building, then returned to the aquifer to reheat.
In each building, geothermal heat is transferred to the water through adjacent pipes, dispersing the heat throughout the building.
“We pumped water, borrowed heat for the building, then reverted it back to the aquifer,” said Tina Riley, Geothermal Development Coordinator at Boise.
The number of buildings that heat up the city of Boise in this way has increased more than six times over the past 40 years, and has grown along the way. One of the consequences of the expansion is cleaner air. In 2024, city officials calculated that their carbon footprint is 6,500 tons a year, equivalent to removing 1,500 vehicles from the road each year.
“There’s a lot of demand for clean, affordable local energy,” Riley said. “This also has the energy independence.”
Boiseans began using this natural resource to heat the buildings in the 1890s. It gave birth to hundreds of thousands of gallons of piping hot water a day after drilling the well into the aquifer. The water-heated pools and baths of local swimming pools, the Victorian mansion belonging to the head of the Water Company, and hundreds of homes in the area that baptized the Boise Warm Springs Water district.
Things may have ended because it wasn’t due to the oil crisis of the 1970s.
“At that point, the Boise Warm Springs area had been thriving for almost 100 years,” Riley said. “That’s what we saw. Then we say, ‘Let’s do the same thing.’ ”
Today, Boise has four individually operated geothermal hydrothermal systems. One is run by the city, the other is run by the Boise Warm Springs area, and two more serve the Capitol and the U.S. Veterans Affairs buildings.
The city’s system operates as a utility funded by the sale of water rather than taxpayers. Riley said the heat price is roughly comparable to that of natural gas, depending on the efficiency of the building, but it is less expensive when used in parallel with a heat pump.
In the Boise Warm Springs Water area, engineer Scott Lewis said it is particularly cost-effective for warming an old Victorian home where geothermal heat had not been weathered.
He said that because it uses minimal electricity, it means all the stress on the power grid is less. The district costs $1,800 a month to power water pumps that provide heat to more than one million square feet of space. The expansion of the geothermal network is limited by what aquifers can offer, but Lewis said the district is trying to add 30 more homes to the network to meet demand.
“It’s actually very desirable, especially around the area,” he said. “We see that a lot of people are really environmentally conscious around here.”
The heating system attracted visitors from Iceland, Croatia and Australia, making Boise the destination.
“We were from all over the world,” Lewis said. “We love to let everyone know about our little geothermal system here.”
It is explained in the paper published today journal Natural Astronomy the discovery means that habitable deplanets may have begun to form much earlier, before they were formed billions of years ago.
This artist's impression shows the evolution of the universe, beginning with the Big Bang on the left. After that, you will see the microwave background of the universe. The formation of the first stars ends the dark ages of the universe, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss/Harvard – Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“We had no oxygen before the first star exploded, so there was no water in space,” said Daniel Warren, an astronomer at the University of Portsmouth.
“Only a very simple nucleus survived the Big Bang: hydrogen, helium, lithium, trace amounts of barium and boron.”
According to Dr. Whalen and his colleagues, water molecules began to form shortly after the first supernova explosion known as the Population III Supernova.
These cosmic events that occurred on first generation stars were essential to creating the heavy elements (such as oxygen) needed for water to exist.
“The oxygen forged in the hearts of these supernovas combines with hydrogen to form water, paving the way for the creation of the essential elements needed for life,” Dr. Whalen said.
In their study, researchers looked at two types of supernovae. This produces corecrolaps supernovae, which produces a modest amount of heavy elements, and more energetic POP III supernovae.
They discovered that both types of supernovae form dense masses of rich gas in water.
The overall amount of water produced by these early supernovae was modest, but was highly concentrated in a gas-dense area called the cloud core, which is thought to be the birthplace of stars and planets.
These early, water-rich regions may have sown planetary formations at the dawn of space long before the first galaxy took shape.
“A significant discovery is that the primitive supernova formed water in the universe ahead of the first galaxy,” Dr. Hualen said.
“So water was already an important component of the first galaxy.”
“This means that the conditions necessary for the formation of life were in place faster than we could have imagined, meaning it was an important step in our early understanding of the universe.”
“The total water mass was modest, but it was very concentrated on the only structures that could form stars and planets.”
“And that suggests that before the first galaxy, a water-rich planetary disc could form at the dawn of space.”
The first water molecules could have formed just 100 million to 200 million years after the Big Bang – even the first galaxy kicked off the processes that led to life on Earth.
Shortly after the Big Bang, most of the problems in the universe were hydrogen and helium, with only traces of other lighter elements, such as lithium. Heavy elements like oxygen are not yet present, and water is impossible to form.
These early elements were combined into the first star and produced heavier elements through oxygen-containing fusion. When these stars reach the end of their lives, they explode as supernovae, releasing these heavier elements, allowing oxygen to mix and mix with existing hydrogen to combine H.2O – Water.
Previous research It shows that even the relatively small amount of oxygen produced by the earliest stars could create water molecules, but they say up until now they have not simulated exactly what happens when a protostar becomes a supernova, and how the elements it released blended with the cosmic environment in which the stars were formed. Daniel Warren At the University of Portsmouth, UK. “To do anything less, you just don't know what's going on,” he says.
To investigate this, Whalen and his team used computer models to simulate the birth and death of the first star in a realistic context. These early stars are thought to range from 13 times the massive range of the Sun to 200 times the size of the Sun, so researchers modeled both extremes.
As you can imagine, the larger stars spit out more oxygen and produced more water in the form of steam clouds around the Jupiter mass, while the smaller stars produced Earth's mass, says Whaleen.
Depending on the mass of the star, researchers discovered that water took between 3 million and 90 million years after the supernova explosion. In other words, the first water molecules were formed 100-200 million years after the Big Bang.
Importantly, however, the team discovered that this water was not simply spreading throughout the universe. Instead, gravity caused it, and the other heavy elements produced by the first star were clumped together. That meant these chunks were breeding grounds for the second generation stars, and perhaps the first planet. “It was a huge result,” Whalen says.
“Even before the galaxy took place, this idea of water forming essentially overturning decades of thought about the first emergence of life in the universe,” says Whalen. Team Members Muhammadratif At UAE University, researchers now say they will simulate whether water vapor can survive the destruction of the formation of the first galaxy and harsh radiation.
“We know that the chemistry of life we know requires liquid water and can only be obtained in objects with surfaces in the universe or atmospheric.” avi loeb At Harvard University. It would have been a lot of time before this initial vapor condense into liquid water, but he says it could have helped them to find second-generation stars and their planets using instruments like the James Webbspace Telescope to help them understand this process more, and perhaps these planets could have been habitable millions of years after the Big Bang.
This iron mineral, called ferihydrite, formed under oxidative conditions during cold, humid periods on early Mars, continuing its transition to the current overheating environment.
This image of Mars Express's high-resolution stereo camera shows Mars glove set on a dark background. The planet's disc has patches of yellow, orange, blue and green, all with a muted gray hue throughout, representing the various compositions of the surface. Image credits: ESA/DLR/FU BERLIN/G. MICHAEL/CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
Mars is easily identified in the night sky due to its prominent red tint.
Thanks to a fleet of spacecrafts that have been studying planets over the past decades, this red colour is known to be due to rusty iron minerals in the dust.
In other words, iron bound to the rocks of Mars reacted at one point with water and oxygen in the air, just as how rust on Earth formed.
For more than billions of years, this rusty material, iron oxide — has been broken down into dust around the planet by the wind, a process that continues today.
However, iron oxide has a lot of flavour and the precise chemistry of Mars' rust is heavily debated as it is a window into the environmental conditions of Earth at the time.
And what's closely linked to it is the question of whether Mars has been habitable to date.
Previous studies of the iron oxide components of Martian dust based solely on spacecraft observations found no evidence of water contained within it.
Therefore, planetary researchers say that this particular type of iron oxide is formed under hematite, which is formed under dry surface conditions through reaction with the Martian atmosphere for billions of years after an early wet period on Mars. I had concluded that it had to be.
However, new analysis of spacecraft observations combined with new laboratory techniques shows that Mars' red colour is better matched by iron oxides containing water known as ferihydrite.
Felihydrite usually forms quickly in the presence of cold water, so it must have been formed when Mars was still water on the surface.
The minerals hold a watery signature to this day, despite their spreading down to the ground.
Dr. Adomas Valantinas, a researcher at Brown University, said:
“Ferihydrite, mixed with volcanic rock basalt, has proven to be the most suitable for the minerals found in Martian spacecraft.”
“Mars is still a red planet. It's not only about understanding why Mars is red, but it also means that our understanding has changed.”
“The main meaning is that Mars was rusting faster than before, as ferrihydrite could only form when water was still on the surface.”
“In addition, under current conditions on Mars, ferrihydrite remains stable.”
Mars has acquired its iconic color from the combination of rust and erosion over its 4.6 billion years of history. Image credits: ESA/ATG Europe/Valantinas et al. , doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56970-z.
Other studies have also suggested that ferrihydrite may be present in Mars' dust, but the current study has been the first comprehensive study through a unique combination of space mission data and new laboratory experiments. Provide evidence.
The authors used an advanced grinder machine to create replica Mars dust, achieving realistic dust grain sizes equivalent to 1/100th of human hair.
To make a direct comparison, the samples were then analyzed using the same technology as the spacecraft orbiting the spacecraft, and ultimately identified ferrihydrite as the best match.
“This study is the result of a complementary dataset from a fleet of international missions exploring Mars at orbital and ground levels,” says Dr. Colin Wilson, PhD, Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) from ESA and Mars Express Project Scientist. said.
Mars Express's dust mineralogy analysis helped to show that even the highly dusty regions of the planet contain water-rich minerals.
Also, thanks to TGO's unique trajectory, you can see the same area at different lighting conditions and angles. Researchers can unravel the particle size and composition essential to replicate the correct dust size in the lab.
Data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ground-based measurements from NASA's Mars Rovers Curiosity, Pathfinder and opportunity also helped to assert ferrihydrite.
“We are eagerly awaiting the results of our upcoming missions, including ESA's Rosalind Franklin Rover and sample returns from NASA/ESA Mars.
“Some of the samples that have already been collected by NASA's Perseverance Rover and are waiting for their return to Earth contain dust. Putting these precious samples into the lab will result in dust. You can accurately measure the amount of ferihydrite contained and what this means to understand the history of water and the potential for life on Mars.”
“This research is an opening opportunity for the door,” said Dr. Jack Mustard, a planetary scientist at Brown University.
“It gives us a better opportunity to apply the principles of mineral formation and conditions and tap time.”
“More importantly, the return of samples from Mars, which are currently being collected through patience.”
Survey results It will be displayed in the journal Natural Communication.
____
A. Valantinas et al. 2025. Detection of ferrihydrite in the red dust of Mars records ancient cold and wet conditions on Mars. Nut commune 16, 1712; doi:10.1038/s41467-025-56970-z
A ridge in southeastern Sicily eroded by the Great Flood
Kevin Sciberras and Neil Petroni
The jumbled deposits of rocks found on a hilltop in southeastern Sicily are left behind by the Great Flood, the largest known flood in Earth's history, which refilled the Mediterranean Sea five million years ago.
Rock deposits and eroded hills in this part of the Italian island of Sicily are the first evidence found on land of a mega-flood, scientists say. pole curling at the University of Southampton, UK. “You can actually walk around and look at it,” Carling said.
About 6 million years ago, during the so-called Messinian salinity crisis, the Mediterranean Sea separated from the Atlantic Ocean and began to dry up. Vast salt deposits were formed during this period, and sea levels may have fallen by more than a kilometer.
About 5.3 million years ago, water once again began to flow through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. Researchers initially thought the giant waterfall near Gibraltar had been reclaimed over tens of thousands of years.
But in 2009, a massively eroded channel was discovered at the bottom of the strait, suggesting more sudden deluges could occur. Since then, this evidence has continued to grow.
Carling said the flood first filled the western basin of the Mediterranean Sea. The eroded topography of the ocean floor suggests that it then spilled into the eastern basin over an underwater ridge known as the Sicilian Sill.
team members Giovanni Barreca The professor at the University of Catania in Italy, who grew up in southeastern Sicily, suspected that the land there was also formed by the Great Flood. So he and his fellow researchers took a closer look at the rock samples and analyzed them.
Sure enough, we found that the intricate deposits near the tops of some hills contained rocks that had been eroded from deeper layers and somehow transported to the top of the hills. “You can tell by their nature that they come from a lower level,” Carling says. “And they were carried over this hill.”
Many of the hills themselves have a streamlined shape, resembling the hills of Montana carved out by the great floods caused by the bursting of ice dams at the end of the last ice age. “They're very distinctive,” Carling says. “And only a very large, massive flood could streamline a feature of this magnitude.”
Detail of a Sicilian ridge formed by a huge flood
Daniel Garcia Castellanos
The researchers estimated that at the peak of the flood, water was flowing at about 115 kilometers per hour, covering the top of the hill, which is about 100 meters above modern sea level, with about 40 meters of water.
Researchers also investigated the ocean floor around Sicily and found further evidence of the deluge, including eroded ridges and channels. Their modeling suggested that the entire Mediterranean Sea was backfilled between two and 16 years, but the main flooding event in Sicily probably lasted only a few days, Carling said.
Tap water in the Los Angeles area could be unavailable for some time due to concerns about damage to infrastructure and chemicals from wildfires, experts say. At least two water authorities have issued warnings about possible contamination from ongoing fires. Experts are worried about the risks to human health from chemicals and pathogens entering the water system, but accurate assessment may take time.
Residents in Pacific Palisades and neighboring communities have been advised to use bottled water for cooking, drinking, and other purposes due to potential contaminants like benzene entering the water system. The Pasadena Department of Water and Power has also instructed residents to switch to bottled water until further notice following concerns about debris impacting the water quality.
Drinking water systems can become contaminated after wildfires, as seen in past incidents in urban areas. Loss of water pressure in the system can be a sign of contamination, triggering careful analysis of the water quality. Environmental engineers are conducting tests in key areas to determine when the water will be safe to drink again.
While there is concern about potential contamination from flame retardants and ash from burnt materials, experts are mainly focused on monitoring benzene and other harmful chemicals due to their carcinogenic properties. Boiling water does not eliminate these chemicals, so the authorities have rescinded the “boil water” advisory. The testing process for dangerous chemicals can take weeks or even months to complete.
In cases of low contamination levels, flushing water pipes may eliminate the hazard, but in severe cases, pipe replacements might be necessary. Contamination around destroyed buildings poses the highest risk in the water distribution system. It is crucial for authorities to thoroughly assess and address the contamination to ensure public safety.
Eric Porth, director of the California Water Resources Institute, mentioned that having more water tanks in the Palisades area could have been beneficial. However, he noted that municipal water systems, like the one in place, are primarily used for extinguishing residential fires and not typically designed for larger scale emergencies. He emphasized that the current situation has resulted in a significant burn scar that is overwhelming the existing water resources.
Los Angeles officials have advised residents to reduce their water consumption in light of the ongoing fire situation. Quiñones, from the water department, highlighted the need for water conservation to ensure that fire departments have enough resources to combat fires effectively.
Furthermore, a 48-hour boil water notice was issued for a specific zip code that includes the Palisades area and neighboring communities due to declining water quality caused by the fire and ash particles in the system.
Ajami expressed concerns about potential water contamination due to the drop in water pressure during the fire. She pointed out that the compromised pipeline infrastructure could allow external contaminants to enter the system.
Mark Gold, director of water scarcity solutions at the Natural Resources Defense Council, emphasized the impact of climate change on the frequency and intensity of fires. He underscored the need to reassess infrastructure in order to better cope with such disasters.
President-elect Donald Trump has criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom for the wildfires in Los Angeles, attributing the situation to a policy dispute regarding water allocation in the state.
In response to Trump’s accusations, Governor Newsom’s communications director clarified that there is no such document as a Water Restoration Proclamation and emphasized Newsom’s commitment to prioritizing public safety and supporting firefighters.
Gold, formerly associated with the Newsom administration, identified infrastructure issues and environmental factors as key contributors to the water resource challenges in Southern California.
Wastewater treatment facilities are a major source of PFAS contamination in U.S. drinking water, estimated to contain enough “forever chemicals” to raise concentrations above safe levels for more than 15 million people. is being discharged. It also has the potential to release long-lasting prescription drugs into the water supply.
Although these plants purify wastewater, they do not destroy all the contaminants added upstream, and the remaining chemicals are released into the same waterways that provide drinking water. “This is a funnel into the environment,” he says bridger lyle at New York University. “We capture different things from different places and release them all in one place.”
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are of particular concern because they contain carbon-fluorine bonds and are highly persistent in the environment. Regular exposure to several types of PFAS is associated with an increased risk of many health problems, from liver damage to various forms of cancer. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently established strict drinking water limits for six of the most well-studied PFAS.
Wastewater treatment facilities are a known source of PFAS contamination worldwide. sewage sludge It is produced as a by-product and sometimes used as fertilizer. To determine whether similar contamination remained in treated water, Ruyle and his colleagues measured concentrations of PFAS and other molecules containing carbon-fluorine bonds in wastewater at eight large treatment facilities across the United States. .
Their findings suggest that wastewater treatment plants across the United States release tens of thousands of kilograms of fluorine-containing compounds into the environment each year, including significant amounts of PFAS. Once the treated wastewater leaves the facility, it mixes with natural water from rivers and lakes. “That would create downstream drinking water issues,” Lyle said.
Applying these numbers to a model of the U.S. drinking water system, the researchers estimated that wastewater could cause PFAS concentrations in the drinking water of approximately 15 million people to exceed EPA limits. In times of drought, as natural water for diluting wastewater decreases, models suggest that concentrations rise above the limit by up to 23 million people. And Ruyle says these may be conservative estimates. Their model assumes that natural water is already free of PFAS.
“This shows that wastewater treatment facilities are a very important source of these compounds,” he says. Carsten Plasse The professor at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland was not involved in the study. Although there are ways to remove or destroy PFAS in water, and more drinking water facilities are installing such systems, currently “our wastewater treatment plants are not set up to deal with this.” he says.
While chemicals alone will forever be a problem, researchers also found that PFAS only make up a small portion of the total amount of fluorinated chemicals emitted by facilities. Most were not PFAS, but other compounds used in common medications such as statins and SSRIs. These drugs are also a concern for ecosystems and people.
“Another person could be taking a cocktail of fluoridated prescription drugs,” Lyle says. But the effects of low doses and long-term exposure to such compounds are not well understood, he says.
“We need to start having a conversation about whether we should use more fluoride in medicines,” Ruiru says. Fluoridation is widely used in medicines to increase their effectiveness in the body, but “preventing widespread chemical contamination should also be important,” he says.
Despite conflicting with the results of some recent studies, this new discovery reinforces the claim that Jupiter-based comets like 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may have contributed to providing water to Earth. This finding has been confirmed.
This pseudocolor four-image mosaic consists of images taken on February 3, 2015, from a distance of 28.7 km from the center of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The size of the mosaic is 4.2 x 4.6 km. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.
Water is crucial for the formation and sustenance of life on Earth, and continues to be central to life on Earth today.
It is believed that some water was present in the gas and dust that formed our planet around 4.6 billion years ago, but due to Earth forming close to the sun’s intense heat, a considerable amount of water is thought to have evaporated.
The process by which Earth became abundant in liquid water is still a subject of debate among scientists.
Studies have indicated that a portion of Earth’s water originates from steam released by volcanoes, which then condensed and fell into the oceans.
Furthermore, evidence suggests that a significant percentage of our oceans resulted from the impact of ice and minerals from asteroids and potentially comets hitting Earth.
A series of comets and asteroids colliding with inner solar system planets 4 billion years ago could have facilitated this occurrence.
While there is a strong theory linking asteroid water to Earth’s water, the role of comets has perplexed scientists.
Multiple measurements of Jupiter-based comets have indicated a strong correlation between their water and that of Earth.
This connection is based on a fundamental molecular signature utilized by scientists to track the origins of water across the solar system.
The deuterium (D) to ordinary hydrogen (H) ratio in an object’s water serves as this signature, providing insights into the object’s formation location.
By comparing this hydrogen ratio in comets and asteroids to that of Earth’s water, scientists can discern a potential connection.
Deuterium-rich water is more likely to form in cold environments, resulting in objects formed farther from the Sun, such as comets, exhibiting higher concentrations of this isotope compared to objects formed nearer to the Sun, like asteroids.
Measurements conducted over the past few decades on the deuterium in the water vapor of various other Jupiter-based comets have revealed levels akin to Earth’s water.
“It seems increasingly likely that these comets play a significant role in delivering water to Earth,” commented Dr. Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
However, ESA’s Rosetta mission to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 challenged the notion that Jupiter-based comets aid in replenishing Earth’s water reservoirs.
Upon analyzing Rosetta’s water measurements, scientists discovered that it has the highest deuterium concentration among all comets, with approximately 100% more deuterium than Earth’s oceans (about 1 deuterium atom for every 6,420 hydrogen atoms), surpassing it by threefold.
“This was a significant revelation that compelled us to reassess everything,” remarked Dr. Mandt.
An advanced statistical computing approach was employed by the researchers to automate the laborious task of segregating deuterium-rich water from over 16,000 Rosetta measurements.
These measurements were taken within the gas and dust coma encircling 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by Rosetta.
For the first time, Dr. Mandt and collaborators analyzed all water measurements from the European mission.
The researchers aimed to comprehend the physical processes influencing the fluctuations in hydrogen isotope ratios detected in comets.
Studies on comet dust in laboratory settings and observations indicated that comet dust could impact the hydrogen proportion detected in comet vapors, potentially altering how the comet’s water compares to Earth’s water.
“So, I was curious to see if I could find evidence of this phenomenon occurring in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko,” added Dr. Mandt.
“This is one of those rare instances where a hypothesis is proposed and genuinely validated.”
In fact, scientists identified a distinct correlation between the deuterium measurements of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko within its coma and the amount of surrounding dust near the Rosetta spacecraft, indicating that measurements taken in certain regions of the coma near 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may not accurately represent the comet’s celestial composition.
As the comet traverses an orbit closer to the Sun, its surface warms, releasing gases from the surface, including dust particles with attached water ice fragments.
Research suggests that water containing deuterium has a higher tendency to adhere to dust particles compared to regular water.
When this ice on dust particles is expelled into a coma, it can create an illusion of the comet containing more deuterium than it actually does.
The researchers noted that by the time the dust reaches the outer regions of the coma, at least 120 miles away from the comet’s core, the coma depletes of water.
Once the deuterium-rich water dissipates, the spacecraft can precisely measure the amount of deuterium emanating from the comet’s core.
“This discovery holds profound implications not only for elucidating the role of comets in supplying water to Earth but also for comprehending comet observations that offer insights into the early solar system’s formation,” the researchers noted.
“This discovery provides a unique opportunity to revisit previous observations and prepare for future observations to better factor in the effects of dust.”
of study Published in a magazine scientific progress.
_____
Kathleen E. Mandt others. 2024. D/H of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko almost on Earth. scientific progress 10(46);doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adp2191
Observing people around your local park, office, or city center, you will likely see many individuals using reusable water bottles. This trend has become a fashion statement and a social connector, in addition to being an environmentally conscious choice. According to NHS health guidelines, drinking 6-8 glasses of water per day from reusable bottles can reduce environmental impact by cutting down on single-use plastic consumption.
However, while using a water bottle is seen as a positive and healthy choice for the planet, there are hidden risks associated with not cleaning them properly. A study by WaterFilterGuru revealed that if water bottles are not cleaned regularly, they can harbor bacteria and mold on their surfaces, leading to potential health issues if consumed.
What is living in your water bottle?
Water, even from a kitchen faucet, is not sterile and can promote bacterial growth within a few days of filling a bottle. Storing water at room temperature can increase microbial growth, while refrigeration can help reduce the proliferation of microorganisms. Microorganisms in water bottles can come from the water itself, but most are transferred from the consumer’s body or surrounding environment.
Various microorganisms found in water bottles include skin and oral bacteria such as Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, which are normally harmless but can cause infections if ingested. Additionally, water bottles can harbor gut bacteria like Escherichia Coli, which can lead to gastrointestinal issues if consumed. Pregnant women, children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to illnesses caused by contaminated water.
The type of liquid used in water bottles also influences microbial growth, with sugary or nutrient-rich drinks creating an optimal environment for bacteria and mold. Even carbonated water, while having antibacterial properties, requires regular cleaning to prevent the accumulation of harmful pathogens.
How to clean a water bottle
Regular cleaning of reusable water bottles is essential to prevent the buildup of bacteria and mold. Washing the bottle with hot water and detergent, letting it soak, and ensuring complete drying can help maintain hygiene. For heavily soiled bottles, a vinegar-water solution can be used for deeper cleaning. It is recommended to clean bottles and accessories like lids and straws after each use or at least several times a week to avoid contamination.
While proper hygiene practices are important to prevent illness, our immune systems are resilient and have evolved to protect us from various pathogens. By maintaining cleanliness and regular cleaning routines, we can continue to enjoy the benefits of using reusable water bottles while staying healthy.
Influencers are big fans of post-workout ice baths.
But a recent small study suggests that recreational athletes may perform better when using hot tubs instead of cold ones, especially during breaks in training like halftime in football or soccer games. The study was presented at the Integrative Exercise Physiology Conference at the University Park, Pennsylvania.
According to Mamoru Tsuyuki, the lead author of the study and a master’s student in sports and health science at Ritsumeikan University, hot water promotes blood flow, helps muscles repair, and increases power output. He recommends soaking in hot water for 15-20 minutes to improve performance in the second half of a workout. Despite the benefits of hot water, Tsuyuki acknowledges that cold water can still be beneficial for relieving muscle pain and treating injuries.
Further research is needed to compare the advantages and disadvantages of both hot and cold water treatments. Different types of exercises may yield different results with each temperature soak.
Why Hot Soaks are Beneficial
To explore the effects of hot and cold water in more detail, Tsuyuki and his team conducted a three-part study involving 10 young men. After high-intensity interval running, the men soaked in either a 104-degree or 59-degree bathtub for 20 minutes or sat in water without soaking.
The study results showed that jumping heights were higher after hot water immersion compared to cold water immersion. Muscle soreness was not significantly different between the two groups.
Although cold baths can be soothing for injuries involving heat and inflammation, they may have a negative impact on post-workout recovery for intense workouts, according to Amy Leighton, an associate professor of applied physiology at Columbia University. Hot water facilitates circulation and speeds up the recovery process after strenuous exercise.
Dr. Spencer Stein, an orthopedic and sports medicine specialist at New York University, acknowledges the benefits of cold water baths in reducing pain but notes that warm baths are preferred by professional teams before a game. David Putrino, a rehabilitation innovation director, advises athletes to experiment with different temperatures and observe how their bodies react to determine the most effective recovery strategy.
Putrino recommends soaking in hot water for 10-20 minutes at 98-104 degrees Fahrenheit and in ice water for 10-15 minutes at 50-59 degrees Fahrenheit. Start with a 5-minute soak if you are new to cold water treatment. Ultimately, the best temperature soak is the one that helps you recover the fastest, so individual experimentation is key.
A recent study has identified a new chemical byproduct that may be present in the tap water of approximately one-third of U.S. households. The potential dangers of this byproduct are still unknown.
Researchers are currently investigating the toxicity of this newly discovered chemical due to its similarities to other concerning chemicals.
A study revealed that around one-third of U.S. residents are consuming tap water containing a previously unidentified chemical byproduct. Concerns about the potential toxicity of this chemical have led scientists to closely examine it.
The newly identified substance, known as ‘chloronitramid anion’, is created during the water treatment process involving chloramine, which is produced by combining chlorine and ammonia. Chloramines are commonly used in municipal water treatment to eliminate viruses and bacteria.
Although the existence of this byproduct was discovered four decades ago, recent advancements in analytical techniques have now enabled scientists to determine its structure. It has only recently been identified.
While it may take several years to ascertain the potential dangers of the chlornitramide anion, researchers from the study published their findings in the journal Science to prompt further research on its safety.
Researchers noted that there is currently no conclusive evidence indicating that the compound is harmful, but its widespread detection and structural similarities to other concerning chemicals warrant thorough investigation.
Research showed that the chlornitramide anion is a byproduct formed as chloramine deteriorates over time, indicating that it is likely present in all water treated using this method.
The discovery of potentially hazardous byproducts in tap water underscores the importance of understanding the health implications of water treatment chemicals. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the safety of these substances.
Regulations requiring the monitoring and control of disinfectant byproducts are prompting water utilities to shift towards using chloramines over chlorine, as some chlorine byproducts have been linked to health risks.
While conclusive findings on the toxicity of the newly identified chemical may take years, ongoing research aims to minimize public exposure to potential health risks associated with water treatment chemicals.
Many water utilities in the U.S. disclose information on their treatment processes and potential byproducts, suggesting the use of activated carbon filters in household purifiers to remove disinfectant byproducts.
Eleven million years ago, an asteroid hit Mars, sending debris flying through space. One of these masses eventually crashed into Earth. During initial investigation of this object, lafayette meteoritescientists discovered that it interacted with liquid water while on Mars. Now, researchers from the US and UK have determined the age of minerals in meteorites that formed when liquid water was present.
The Lafayette meteorite was scraped off the surface of Mars and then spent about 11 million years flying through space. It finally ended up in a drawer at Purdue University in 1931 and has been teaching scientists about Mars ever since. Image credit: Purdue Brand Studio.
A meteorite is a solid time capsule from a planet or celestial body in the universe.
They carry bits of data that can be unlocked by geochronologists.
They are distinguished from rocks you might find on Earth by the crust they form as they fall into the atmosphere, often forming a fiery portal visible in the night sky.
“We can identify meteorites by studying what minerals are in them and the relationships between these minerals,” said researcher Dr. Marissa Tremblay. states. purdue university.
“Meteorites are often denser than Earth's rocks, contain metals, and are magnetic.”
“We can also look for things like the fusion crust that forms when we enter Earth's atmosphere.”
“Finally, we can use the chemical properties of meteorites (particularly their oxygen isotope composition) to determine which planet they came from or what type of meteorite they belong to. ”
According to the authors, some Martian meteorites, such as the 0.8 kg Nacritite meteorite called the Lafayette meteorite, contain minerals that were formed by interaction with liquid water while on Mars. That's what it means.
“So by dating these minerals, we can tell when in Mars' geological past there was liquid water on or near the surface of Mars,” Tremblay said. .
“We dated these minerals in the Martian meteorite Lafayette and found that they formed 742 million years ago.”
“At this point, we don't think there was an abundance of liquid water on the surface of Mars.”
“Instead, we believe this water comes from melting nearby underground ice called permafrost, and that permafrost thaw is caused by magmatic activity that continues to occur regularly on Mars. ”
Researchers say the age derived from the timing of water-rock interactions on Mars is robust and the chronometer used is not affected by events that happened to the Lafayette meteorite, which changed in the presence of water. It was proved that.
“This age could be due to the impact of the Lafayette meteorite being ejected from Mars, the heating Lafayette experienced during its 11 million years floating in space, or the heating Lafayette experienced when it fell to Earth and burned up a bit. “in Earth's atmosphere,'' Dr. Tremblay said.
“But we were able to demonstrate that none of these things affected the chronology of water quality changes in Lafayette.”
“This meteorite has unique evidence that it interacted with water,” said Dr. Ryan Ickert, also of Purdue University.
“The exact date of this is controversial, and our publication dates from a time when water existed.”
“We know this because after this meteorite was ejected from Mars, it was bombarded with cosmic ray particles in space, producing specific isotopes at Lafayette,” Tremblay said. said.
“Many meteoroids are produced by impacts on Mars and other planets, but only a handful end up falling on Earth.”
of findings Published in this month's magazine Geochemical perspective letter.
_____
MM Tremblay others. 2024. Dating recent water activity on Mars. Letter from a geochemical perspective 32;doi: 10.7185/geochemlet.2443
New Jersey’s governor issued a drought warning Wednesday.
State officials said the state is experiencing the driest conditions in nearly 120 years, prompting an increase in wildfires.
The extreme drought is part of a widespread drought plaguing the Northeast.
New Jersey’s governor issued a drought warning Wednesday, stating that the state could impose mandatory water restrictions if conditions worsen.
A record dry spell has left New Jersey at its driest in nearly 120 years, leading to a significant rise in wildfires, as reported by state officials during a news conference.
The New Jersey State Forest Fire Department has battled 537 fires that have scorched thousands of acres since early October, according to Governor Phil Murphy. This number is 500 more fires than the same period last year.
Murphy urged residents to heed the drought warnings seriously and voluntarily decrease their water usage.
“Each of us needs to do everything we can to conserve water,” he emphasized.
Tim Eustace, executive director of the North Jersey Regional Water Commission, criticized the state for not declaring a drought emergency, which usually restricts non-essential outdoor water use.
“I’ve always been against using potable water to water lawns. It’s a terrible waste of resources,” Eustace stated.
His commission supplies water to around a third of New Jersey, with the main reservoir, Wanaque Reservoir, at 45% capacity as of Wednesday.
Monday at Wanaque Reservoir in Ringwood, New Jersey. Ted Shafley/Associated Press
The state’s other major reservoir, Manasquan Reservoir, is at 51% of its capacity, while the Passaic River, a vital drinking water source, is at about 14% of its normal capacity, sufficient to meet demand, officials assured.
New Jersey American Water, serving approximately 2.9 million people in the state, issued conservation notices to customers on Wednesday. Mark McDonough, president of New Jersey American Water, clarified that the notice was described as “mandatory” to convey urgency but is not enforceable against violators.
“I’d like to limit movement if possible, but I don’t have the authority to issue tickets or inspect people’s lawns,” McDonough remarked. “If we can get our customers to focus on saving water, we can make a significant impact.”
Murphy mentioned that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s winter forecast predicts even drier weather ahead. Forecasting seasonal outlook Temperatures are higher than average, with precipitation chances remaining unchanged regardless of above or below average levels.
The dry conditions affecting New Jersey are part of a broader drought across the Northeast. In October, cities like Newark, New Jersey. Wilmington, Delaware. And Norfolk, Virginia, registered no rainfall at all. Southeast Regional Climate Center collects precipitation data nationwide. Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., set records for the most consecutive days without measurable precipitation.
Throughout the United States, October was declared One of the driest months on record according to NOAA. US Drought Monitor Data shows over half of the continental United States is facing some level of drought, with 56% of the Northeast impacted.
State climatologist Dave Robinson noted that New Jersey usually receives rainfall evenly over several months. However, some regions have not seen any measurable rainfall for 40 days, a first in nearly 150 years of record-keeping.
“We’ve experienced longer droughts before, but we’ve never encountered anything as exceptional as this prolonged dry period,” Robinson remarked.
He highlighted that New Jersey typically experiences heavy rainfall in October due to hurricanes, remnants of tropical cyclones, or nor’easters forming in the mid-Atlantic region.
Both weather patterns were absent this fall, with a ridge of high pressure dominating New Jersey and other Northeastern areas for weeks.
“There’s no significant storm to break through this ridge. It’s been a slow and frustrating process,” Robinson explained. “There are indications that the central part of the country, which has been relatively dry, is starting to see more moisture. …It appears to be gradually shifting eastward.”
November has marked the 12th consecutive month of above-average temperatures in New Jersey. Atmospheric warming can exacerbate droughts and heighten the chances of extreme rainfall.
“With a warmer climate system, there’s more energy that can hold moisture in the atmosphere. …If we can’t access that moisture source, a warmer climate will worsen dryness and lead to more severe droughts,” Robinson stated. “The system has become more volatile.”
Given New Jersey’s dry spell since mid-August, it would require several months of above-average, if not considerably above, rainfall to alleviate the drought, estimated Sean LaTourette, director of the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Some areas received about a quarter of an inch of rain on Sunday, but Murphy remarked that it was “far from adequate.”
Firefighters respond to a forest fire in Evesham, New Jersey, on November 6th. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (via AP)
Finally, a state of drought emergency was instated in New Jersey. The last time a drought warning was issued was in 2016, lasting over six months, LaTourette indicated.
Greg McLaughlin, New Jersey Forest and Fire Department’s Office of Forests and Natural Lands manager, mentioned that the current condition measures 748 out of 800 on a scale for forest floor dryness.
“These numbers are unprecedented in the 118-year history of the Forest Fire Service,” McLaughlin remarked. “The impact of this dryness on wildfires cannot be overstated.”
The Jennings Creek Wildfire along the New York-New Jersey border continued burning on Wednesday, with containment at 30%. Over 5,000 acres were destroyed in both states. An 18-year-old New York park worker lost his life to a falling tree while battling a fire in Orange County, New York, last Saturday.
“We sincerely appreciate his dedication and willingness to protect the residents of New York and New Jersey from these deadly fires,” Murphy expressed.
Difficult to separate oil and water without leaving behind impurities
Abaka Press/Alamy
A mixture of oil and water can be efficiently separated by pumping it through narrow channels between semipermeable membranes, paving the way for a cheaper and cleaner way to treat industrial waste. Experimental prototypes successfully recovered both oil and water with purity greater than 99.9 percent.
Various methods already exist for dividing such mixtures into their constituent parts, including spinning the mixture in a centrifuge, mechanically removing oil from the surface, and allowing some substances to pass through but These include dividing mixtures using chemicals, electrical charges, or semipermeable membranes that do not allow other substances to pass through. Membranes are the simplest method, but are currently incomplete and leave behind a stubborn mixture of oily water or watery oil.
now, Yang Haochen researchers from China's Zhejiang University have developed a more efficient method that uses two membranes – a hydrophobic layer to allow oil to pass through and a hydrophilic layer to allow water to pass through – to cleanly separate both. .
Yang said the idea has been tried before, but with less than impressive results. This is because when oil and water are removed from the mixture, the concentration of the components changes and the efficiency of the membrane decreases.
To overcome this, the research team injected the mixture into a narrow channel between the two layers. In this confined space, oil droplets are more likely to collide and accumulate. This means that oil droplets can be removed more efficiently by the hydrophobic membrane. This increases the proportion of water in the mixture, creating a beneficial feedback loop that ensures both clean oil and water are continuously removed.
“When you apply a membrane, [close] When you put them together, they influence each other and the process continues,” says Yang. “There is feedback between the two processes.”
In their tests, researchers found that as the channel width narrowed from 125 millimeters to 4 millimeters, total oil recovery increased from just 5% to 97%, and water recovery increased from 19% to 75%. I discovered it. The purity of the recovered oil and water is more than 99.9%, and only a small amount of waste remains, Yang said.
The team is in talks with industry, and Yang believes the process is so simple that it could be easily scaled up to a suitable level within a few years.
On Earth, solar radiation can travel up to several meters into the ice, depending on its optical properties. Organisms in the ice can harness the energy from photosynthetically active radiation while being protected from harmful ultraviolet radiation. On Mars, there is no effective ozone shield, so about 30% more harmful ultraviolet radiation reaches the surface compared to Earth. However, a new study shows that despite strong surface UV radiation, mid-latitude ice on Mars contains 0.01-0.1% dust, ranging from a few centimeters deep to several centimeters deep. It has been shown that a radioactive habitable zone exists with a range of up to 3000 m. Cleaner ice.
The white edges along these canyons on Mars' Terra Sirenum are thought to be dusty water ice. cooler others. It is thought that melt water could form beneath the surface of this type of ice, providing a potential site for photosynthesis. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.
“Today, if we are trying to find life anywhere in the universe, the icy outcrops on Mars are probably one of the most accessible places we should look,” said a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. said Dr. Aditya Kuler.
Mars has two types of ice: frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide.
Dr. Cooler and his colleagues investigated water ice. The ice masses were formed from snow mixed with dust that fell on Mars during a series of ice ages over the past million years.
That ancient snow has since solidified into ice and is still dusted with dust.
Dust particles can block light in deeper layers of ice, but they are the key to explaining how underground pools of water form within the ice when exposed to the sun.
The black dust absorbs more sunlight than the surrounding ice, causing the ice to warm and potentially melt several feet below the surface.
Mars scientists are divided on whether ice actually melts when exposed to the Martian surface.
It's thought to be caused by the planet's thin, dry atmosphere, where water ice sublimates and turns directly into gas, similar to dry ice on Earth.
But the atmospheric effects that make melting difficult on Mars' surface don't apply beneath the surface of dusty snowpack and glaciers.
On Earth, dust in ice can create what are called cryoconite holes. This is a small cavity that forms in the ice when windblown dust particles (called cryoconite) land there, absorb sunlight, and melt deep into the ice each summer. is.
Eventually, these dust particles stop sinking as they move away from the sun's rays, but they still generate enough heat to create pockets of melted water around them.
This pocket can foster a thriving ecosystem of simple organisms.
“This is a common phenomenon on Earth,” says Arizona State University researcher Phil Christensen.
“Rather than melting from the top down, thick snow and ice melts from the inside out, letting in sunlight that warms it like a greenhouse.”
In 2021, the authors discovered powdery water ice exposed inside canyons on Mars and proposed that many canyons on Mars are formed by erosion as ice melts into liquid water.
Their new paper suggests that powdery ice lets in enough light for photosynthesis to occur as deep as 3 meters (9 feet) below the surface.
In this scenario, the upper layer of ice prevents shallow underground pools of water from evaporating, while also protecting them from harmful radiation.
This is important because, unlike Earth, Mars does not have a protective magnetic field to protect it from both the Sun and radioactive cosmic ray particles flying through space.
“Water ice most likely to form underground pools would exist in tropical regions of Mars between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, in both the northern and southern hemispheres,” the researchers said.
of paper appear in the diary Communication Earth and Environment.
_____
AR cruller others. 2024. Possibility of photosynthesis on Mars in snow and ice. common global environment 5,583;doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01730-y
This article is a version of a press release provided by NASA.
The history of water on Mars is important for understanding the evolution of planets like Earth. Water escapes into space as atoms, but hydrogen (H) atoms escape faster than deuterium (D) (hydrogen atoms with a neutron in their nucleus), increasing the residual D/H ratio. The current ratio reflects the total amount of water Mars has lost.
These far-ultraviolet Hubble images show Mars near its farthest point from the Sun (aphelion) on December 31, 2017 (top), and Mars near its closest point to the Sun (perihelion) on December 19, 2016 (bottom). Images by NASA/ESA/STScI/John T. Clarke, Boston University.
There is ample evidence that Mars experienced an early wet period when liquid water flowed across the surface, leaving distinct erosion patterns and the presence of clay in the topsoil.
This wet climate period is thought to have ended over 3 billion years ago, and the fate of that water has attracted considerable interest.
As Mars cooled, some of the water remained trapped in the crust, some broke down into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and many of the atoms escaped into space through the upper atmosphere.
“There are only two places water can go: it freezes to the ground, or the water molecules break down into atoms and those atoms escape through the top of the atmosphere into space,” said Dr John Clark, a researcher at Boston University.
“To understand how much water there was and what became of it, we need to understand how the atoms escaped into space.”
In the new study, Dr Clark and his colleagues combined data from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to measure how many hydrogen atoms are escaping into space and the current rate of escape.
This information allowed the researchers to infer past rates of water escape and understand the history of water on Mars.
Specifically, the researchers measured hydrogen and its heavier isotope, deuterium.
Over time, more hydrogen than deuterium was lost, increasing the D/H ratio in the atmosphere.
Measuring this ratio today can give scientists clues about how much water may have been present on Mars during its warmer, wetter periods.
By studying how these atoms escape in the present, we can understand the processes that determined escape rates over the past 4 billion years and extrapolate back in time.
Most of the data comes from MAVEN, but the spacecraft is not sensitive enough to observe deuterium emissions throughout the entire Martian year.
Unlike Earth, Mars is farther from the Sun in its elliptical orbit during its long winters, making its deuterium emissions weaker.
The authors needed Hubble data to fill in the gaps and complete a three-Martian year (687 Earth days) annual cycle.
The Hubble Space Telescope also provided additional data going back to 1991, before MAVEN arrived at Mars in 2014.
Combining data from these missions provided the first complete picture of hydrogen atoms escaping Mars into space.
“In recent years, scientists have discovered that the annual cycle of Mars is much more dynamic than people would have expected 10 or 15 years ago,” Dr Clark said.
“The whole atmosphere is very turbulent, heating and cooling on short timescales of a few hours.”
“The brightness of the Sun on Mars varies by 40 percent over the course of a Martian year, causing the atmosphere to expand and contract.”
The team found that the rate at which hydrogen and deuterium are released changes dramatically as Mars gets closer to the Sun.
The classical view that scientists had until now was that these atoms would slowly diffuse upwards through the atmosphere until they reached a height where they could escape.
But that picture no longer accurately reflects the whole picture, because scientists now know that atmospheric conditions change very rapidly.
As Mars approaches the Sun, water molecules, the source of hydrogen and deuterium, rise rapidly through the atmosphere and release atoms at high altitudes.
The second discovery is that the transformation of hydrogen and deuterium is so rapid that the escape of the atoms requires additional energy to account for it.
At the temperatures of the upper atmosphere, very few atoms would be fast enough to escape Mars’ gravity.
When something gives atoms extra energy, faster (super hot) atoms are created.
These phenomena include the impact of solar wind protons entering the atmosphere and sunlight causing chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere.
of Survey results Published in the journal Scientific advances.
_____
John T. Clark others2024. Hydrogen and deuterium in the Martian atmosphere: seasonal changes and a paradigm for escape into space. Scientific advances 10(30);doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adm7499
Water is a key component of exoplanets, and its distribution – on the surface or deep inside – has a fundamental impact on the planet’s properties. A new study suggests that for Earth-sized planets and planets with more than six times Earth’s mass, the majority of water resides deep within the planet’s core.
Most of the water isn’t stored on the surface of exoplanets, but deep within their cores and mantles. Image courtesy of Sci.News.
“Most of the exoplanets known to date are located close to their stars,” said Professor Caroline Dohn of ETH Zurich.
“That means they consist mainly of hot worlds with oceans of molten magma that haven’t yet cooled enough to form a solid mantle of silicate rock like Earth’s.”
“Water is very soluble in these magma oceans, unlike, say, carbon dioxide, which quickly outgasssssssssssss and rises into the atmosphere.”
“The iron core is beneath a molten silicate mantle. So how does water partition between the silicates and the iron?”
“It takes time for the iron core to form. Most of the iron is initially contained in the hot magma soup in the form of droplets.”
“The water trapped in this soup binds to these iron droplets and together they sink to the center. The iron droplets act like a lift force, being carried downward by the water.”
Until now, such phenomena were known to occur only under moderate pressures, which also exist on Earth.
It was not known what would happen on larger planets with higher internal pressures.
“This is one of the key findings of our study,” Professor Dorn said.
“The larger and more massive the planet, the more likely the water is to be integrated into the core, together with the iron droplets.”
“Under certain circumstances, iron can absorb up to 70 times more water than silicates.”
“But because of the enormous pressure at the core, the water no longer exists in the form of water molecules, but in the form of hydrogen and oxygen.”
The research was sparked by an investigation into the Earth’s water content, which four years ago led to a startling result: the Earth’s surface oceans contain only a tiny fraction of the planet’s total water.
More than 80 of Earth’s oceans may be hidden within it.
This is shown by simulations that calculate how water would have behaved under conditions when the Earth was young, so experiments and seismological measurements are compatible.
New discoveries about the distribution of water within planets will have a dramatic impact on the interpretation of astronomical observational data.
Astronomers can use telescopes in space and on Earth to measure the weight and size of exoplanets under certain conditions.
They use these calculations to create mass-radius diagrams that allow them to draw conclusions about the planet’s composition.
“Ignoring water solubility and distribution, as has been done in the past, can lead to a massive underestimation of the water volume, by up to a factor of ten,” Prof Doern said.
“There’s a lot more water on the planet than we previously thought.”
The distribution of water is also important if we want to understand how planets form and develop: any water that sinks to the core will remain trapped there forever.
However, dissolved water in the mantle’s magma ocean can degas and rise to the surface as the mantle cools.
“So if we find water in a planet’s atmosphere, there’s probably even more water in its interior,” Prof Dorn said.
Water is one of the prerequisites for life to develop, and there has long been speculation as to whether water-rich super-Earths could support life.
Calculations have since suggested that too much water could be detrimental to life, arguing that on such a watery world, an alien layer of high-pressure ice would prevent vital exchange of materials at the interface between the ocean and the planet’s mantle.
Current research has come to a different conclusion: Most of the water on super-Earths is locked away in their cores, rather than on their surfaces as previously assumed, so planets with deep aqueous layers are probably rare.
This has led astronomers to speculate that planets with relatively high water content could potentially form habitable environments like Earth.
“Their study sheds new light on the possibility that worlds rich enough in water to support life may exist,” the authors said.
of study Published in the journal Natural Astronomy.
_____
H. Luo othersThe interior as the main water reservoir of Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes. Nat AstronPublished online August 20, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02347-z
Chinese scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery in producing large amounts of water using lunar soil collected from the 2020 mission, as reported by state-run CCTV on Thursday.
The Chang’e-5 mission in 2020 marked a significant milestone in collecting lunar samples after a 44-year hiatus. Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences found high amounts of hydrogen in minerals present in the lunar soil. When heated to extreme temperatures, this hydrogen reacts with other elements to generate water vapor, according to China Central Television.
CCTV reported, “After extensive research and verification over three years, a new method has been identified for producing significant quantities of water from lunar soil. This discovery is anticipated to play a crucial role in designing future lunar research and space stations.”
This finding could have significant implications for China’s long-standing ambition to establish a permanent lunar base, amid the race between the United States and China to explore and exploit lunar resources.
On August 26, 2021, a small vial containing lunar soil brought back from the moon by China’s lunar probe Chang’e-5 was placed in Beijing.Ren Hui/VCG via Getty Images file
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has expressed concerns about China’s rapid progress in space exploration and the potential risk of Beijing controlling valuable lunar resources.
According to state media, the new technique can yield approximately 51-76 kilograms of water from one ton of lunar soil, enough to fill over 100 500ml bottles or sustain the daily water needs of 50 individuals.
China aims for its recent and upcoming lunar missions to establish a basis for constructing the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a collaborative project with Russia.
The Chinese space agency’s plan includes establishing a lunar “base station” at the moon’s south pole by 2035, followed by a lunar orbiting space station by 2045.
This discovery coincides with ongoing experiments by Chinese scientists on lunar samples obtained from the Chang’e-6 probe in June.
While the Chang’e-5 mission collected samples from the moon’s near side, Chang’e-6 gathered lunar soil from the far side, perpetually hidden from Earth.
The significance of lunar water surpasses sustaining human settlement; NASA’s Nelson mentioned to NPR in May that moon water could be utilized to produce hydrogen fuel for rockets, potentially fueling missions to Mars and beyond.
Water on Mars may be lurking beneath or even above the planet’s surface.
NASA/JPL/USGS
Mars isn’t as dry as it seems. Billions of years ago, oceans and rivers of liquid water rippled across its surface, but now it appears that all of that liquid has disappeared, leaving behind a dusty barren landscape. But as we explore Mars with probes, landers, rovers, and even distant telescopic images, more and more traces of water are popping up.
Each hint fascinates researchers about how important water is to life and how it could aid future exploration. Water has now been found in various forms all over Mars. Here are five places where water has been found.
1. Buried underground
The InSight lander, visualized here, recently discovered new potential water reservoirs on Mars.
NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology
Just beneath Mars’ dry surface lies an icy wonderland. These deposits are insulated by an overlying layer of dust, but erosion or meteorite impacts could expose them to the watchful eye of Mars orbiters. A single icy deposit recently identified using data from the Mars Express spacecraft appears to contain enough water to cover the entire Martian surface with an ocean 1.5 to 2.7 meters deep.
It’s not just ice buried under the orange sand. There’s a controversial theory that there’s a huge lake beneath Earth’s Antarctic pole. It could just be wet silt or volcanic rock. But… New Research Using data from the InSight lander, researchers have uncovered the possibility of another reservoir of water near the Martian equator. InSight found this water, buried 11.5 to 20 kilometers underground, by sensing Martian earthquakes and measuring the speed at which seismic waves travel. The results revealed that the rocks through which the earthquakes travel appear to be saturated with water.
2. Frost the pole
Frost in a crater on the North Plains of Mars
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Reaching buried water on Mars will be difficult. For future explorers, the more promising reservoirs are probably exposed on the surface. Mars has ice caps at both poles, just like Earth’s, and we’ve known about them for decades. Many of Mars’ craters also contain small ice sheets inside them, the only places on the Martian surface cold enough to hold ice.
However, at higher latitudes on Mars, the air is cooler and more moist, and temporary frosts can occur. On frigid Martian mornings, volcano peaks are also covered in frost, likely caused by water vapor in the atmosphere freezing.
Using new data about the Martian crust collected by NASA’s InSight spacecraft, geophysicists from the University of California, San Diego and the University of California, Berkeley estimate that groundwater could cover the entire planet to a depth of one to two kilometers. Groundwater exists in tiny cracks and pores in rocks in the mid-crust, 11.5 to 20 kilometers below the surface.
A cross section of NASA’s InSight lander and the data it collected. Image courtesy of James Tuttle Keane / Aaron Rodriquez.
“Liquid water existed at least occasionally in Martian rivers, lakes, oceans, and aquifers during the Noachian and Hesperian periods more than 3 billion years ago,” said Dr Vashan Wright of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues.
“During this time, Mars lost most of its atmosphere and therefore the ability to support liquid water on its surface for any sustained period of time.”
“Ancient surface water may have been incorporated into minerals, buried as ice, trapped as liquid in deep aquifers, or lost to space.”
For the study, Dr Wright and his colleagues used data collected by InSight during its four-year mission, which ends in 2022.
The lander collected information from the surface directly beneath it about variables such as the speed of Mars’ seismic waves, which allowed scientists to infer what materials exist beneath the surface.
The data was fed into a model based on mathematical theories of rock physics.
Based on this data, the researchers determined that the presence of liquid water in the Earth’s crust was the most plausible explanation.
“If we prove that there is a large reservoir of liquid water, it could give us insight into what the climate was or could be like at that time,” said Professor Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley.
“And water is essential for life as we know it. I don’t see why underground reservoirs wouldn’t be habitable environments. On Earth they certainly are. There is life in deep mines, there is life at the bottom of the ocean.”
“We still don’t have evidence of life on Mars, but we’ve identified places that could, at least in principle, support life.”
“A wealth of evidence, including rivers, deltas, lake deposits, and hydrologically altered rocks, supports the hypothesis that water once flowed on the planet’s surface.”
“But that wet period ended more than 3 billion years ago, when Mars lost its atmosphere.”
“Planetary scientists on Earth have sent many probes and landers to Mars to learn what happened to the Martian water (water frozen in the Martian polar ice caps does not explain the whole story), when this happened, and whether life exists or ever existed on Mars,” the authors said.
“The new findings indicate that much of the water has seeped into the crust rather than escaping into space.”
“The new paper analyzes the deeper crust and concludes that the available data are best explained by a water-saturated mid-crust beneath the InSight location.”
“Assuming the crust is similar across the planet, this mid-crustal zone should contain more water than would have filled the hypothetical ancient Martian ocean.”
of Survey results Appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
_____
Vashan Wright others2024. Liquid water exists in the central crust of Mars. PNAS 121 (35): e2409983121; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2409983121
In the UK, the NHS recommends 6 to 8 cupsThe Harvard Medical School recommends drinking 1.2 liters of fluid per day, and points out that you should also get some fluid from the food you eat. 4-6 cups per dayBut it's the more extreme advice – drinking two litres of water a day – that has taken off online.
In 2016, the idea that getting most of your hydration from water is beneficial was debunked by Dr Stuart Galloway, an associate professor of physiology, kinesiology, and nutrition at the University of Stirling. His research showed that a range of drinks, including diuretic drinks such as lager and instant coffee, It did not promote additional fluid loss compared to drinking normal amounts of water..
undefined
But because everyone has a different body type, diet, and activity level, and different environments (hot, dry, humid, etc.), it's impossible to really say how much everyone needs to drink. Most people can tell if they need more water by feeling thirsty, but this desire weakens as we age. If in doubt, for the majority of adults, the number of times you go to the bathroom can be a useful indicator of adequate hydration, says Galloway.
“It takes into account differences in fluid loss due to environment and activity level, as well as changes in fluid intake. A good rule of thumb is that if your fluid intake is adequate, you'll be going to the bathroom four to six times in a typical day.”
If you're peeing more than six times, you're overdoing it, if you're peeing less than four times, you probably need to drink more water.
“This method has some drawbacks, including influences such as changes in kidney function with age, certain medications, or ingredients in different drinks that can affect urine concentration and volume,” he warns. “So this is a rough rule of thumb rather than a precise guide.”
Urine color can also be helpful, he says, with a similar caveat: “For best results, don't rely on a single marker, but evaluate them in combination.”
About our expert, Dr Stuart Galloway
Dr Galloway is Professor of Exercise Physiology at the University of Stirling. He is also Group Leader of the University's Physiology, Exercise and Nutrition Research Group and has published over 90 peer-reviewed research articles, review articles, and book chapters. His research focuses on human nutrition and exercise metabolism, and fluid and electrolyte balance.
Mars A recent study indicates that the Earth may be hiding a global ocean beneath its surface, with cracks in rocks potentially holding enough water to form it.
Scientists believe that the water lies about seven to 12 miles (11.5 to 20 kilometers) deep in Mars’ crust, possibly originating from the planet’s ancient surface water sources such as rivers, lakes, and oceans billions of years ago, according to Vashan Wright, the lead scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
Despite the presence of water inside Mars, Wright noted that it does not necessarily mean that life exists there.
“However, our findings suggest the possibility of habitable environments,” he mentioned in an email.
The research team combined computer simulations with InSight data, including earthquake speeds, to suggest that groundwater is the most likely explanation. These results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.
Wright remarked that if InSight’s observations near the equator of Mars at Elysium Planitia are representative of the entire planet, there could be enough groundwater to fill a terrestrial ocean approximately a mile (1 to 2 kilometers) deep.
Tools like drills will be required to verify the presence of water and search for signs of microbial life.
Despite the InSight lander no longer being in operation, scientists are still analyzing the data collected between 2018 and 2022 to gain more insights into Mars’ interior.
Over 3 billion years ago, Mars was mostly covered in water, but due to the thinning of its atmosphere, it lost its surface water, becoming the dry and dusty world we see today. It is believed by scientists that the ancient water either escaped into space or remains hidden underground.
Texas environmental officials notified the company last week that Elon Musk’s SpaceX had discharged pollutants into or near Texas waters, violating environmental regulations.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality report came five months after the Environmental Protection Agency notified SpaceX that it had violated the Clean Water Act.
The breach could threaten SpaceX’s ambitions to increase StartShip launches from its StarBase facility.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has repeatedly discharged pollutants into or near Texas waters, violating environmental regulations, state officials said in a notice of violation that focused on the water discharge system at the company’s StarBase launch facility.
The notice from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) last week came five months after the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 6, which oversees Texas and surrounding states, also notified SpaceX that it was violating the Clean Water Act through similar activities.
The notice and related investigative records obtained by CNBC have not been previously reported.
TCEQ said its office in the South Texas city of Harlingen, near Boca Chica Starbase, received a complaint on Aug. 6, 2023, alleging that SpaceX was “discharging floodwaters without TCEQ authorization.”
“The Harlingen area received a total of 14 complaints alleging environmental impacts from the facility’s water discharge system,” regulators said in a written statement.
Aerospace companies, including SpaceX, generally comply with state and federal laws. Federal Aviation Administration SpaceX had been seeking permission to conduct up to 25 launches and landings per year of its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket at the Boca Chica facility. The notice of violation could delay those approvals and lead to civil fines, further investigations and criminal charges against SpaceX.
in Long post about XAfter this article was published, SpaceX said regulators told it it could continue launch operations despite the violation notice.
“Through ongoing coordination with TCEQ and EPA, we have specifically asked whether we should cease operations of the Deluge system and have been informed that operations can continue,” SpaceX wrote to EPA.
Neither regulator responded to CNBC’s questions about SpaceX’s statements.
SpaceX’s Starship in Brownsville, Texas on June 5. Brandon Bell/Getty Images file
Rushing to rebuild
On July 25, 2024, TCEQ environmental investigators “conducted an internal compliance records review” to determine SpaceX’s compliance with wastewater regulations. The investigation found that SpaceX had discharged industrial wastewater without a permit four times between March and July of this year.
A water system with flame deflectors would dissipate heat, sound and energy generated during orbital test flights and rocket launches, but SpaceX didn’t have one installed at its Boca Chica launch pad before it began test flights of Starship, the biggest rocket ever made.
The FAA did not give a reason for the delay and said a new date would be announced in the future.
In a new study, planetary scientists have found strong similarities between the soil of Gale Crater on Mars and that of the cold, sub-Arctic climate of Newfoundland, Canada.
X-ray amorphous material comprises 15-73% by weight of the sedimentary rocks and eolian deposits in Gale Crater. This material is siliceous and high in iron and low in aluminum. The presence of volatiles is consistent with the presence of early weathering products. To better understand the impact of this material on past water conditions on Mars, Feldman and others used bulk and selective dissolution techniques, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy to investigate the formation and lifetime of X-ray amorphous material in terrestrial iron-rich soils of different ages and environmental conditions. Image courtesy of M. Kornmesser / ESO.
Scientists often use soil to portray environmental history, as the minerals it contains can tell the story of a landscape's evolution over time.
Understanding more about how these materials formed could help answer long-standing questions about the Red Planet's historical conditions.
The soil and rocks in Gale Crater are a record of a climate that existed 3 to 4 billion years ago, when Mars was relatively water-rich, coinciding with the time when life first emerged on Earth.
“Gale Crater is an ancient lake bed and clearly water was present, but what were the environmental conditions like when the water was there?” said Dr Anthony Feldman, a soil scientist and geomorphologist at the Desert Institute.
“We'll never find a direct analogue on the Martian surface because conditions on Mars and Earth are so different, but we can look at trends under Earth conditions and apply them to problems on Mars.”
NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring Gale Crater since 2011 and has found large amounts of soil material known as X-ray amorphous material.
These components of soil lack the typical repeating atomic structure that characterizes minerals and therefore cannot be easily characterized using traditional techniques such as X-ray diffraction.
For example, when a crystalline material like diamond is hit with X-rays, the rays scatter at characteristic angles based on the mineral's internal structure.
However, X-ray amorphous materials do not produce these characteristic fingerprints.
This X-ray diffraction method was used by the Curiosity rover to demonstrate that soil and rock samples tested in Gale Crater consisted of 15-73% X-ray amorphous material.
“Think of X-ray amorphous material as being like jelly, which is a soup of different elements and chemicals that slide around one another,” Dr. Feldman said.
Curiosity also conducted chemical analysis of soil and rock samples and found that the amorphous material was rich in iron and silica and deficient in aluminum.
Beyond limited chemical information, scientists don't yet understand what this amorphous material is or what its presence means about Mars' historical environment.
Uncovering more information about how these enigmatic materials formed and persist on Earth could help answer long-standing questions about the Red Planet.
Dr. Feldman and his colleagues visited three locations in their search for similar X-ray amorphous material: the Tablelands of Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland, the Klamath Mountains in Northern California, and western Nevada.
All three sites contain serpentinite soils that the researchers predicted would be chemically similar to the X-ray amorphous material in Gale Crater, meaning it would be rich in iron and silicon but poor in aluminum.
The three locations also recorded ranges of rainfall, snowfall and temperatures, which could help provide insight into the types of environmental conditions that produce amorphous material and promote its preservation.
At each site, the team examined the soil using X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy, allowing them to see the soil material at a more detailed level.
The subarctic climate of Newfoundland produced materials chemically similar to those found at Gale Crater, but lacked the crystalline structure, whereas soils produced in warmer climates such as California and Nevada did not produce the crystalline structure.
“This tells us that you need water there to form these materials,” Dr. Feldman said.
“But to preserve the amorphous material in the soil, the average annual temperature needs to be cold, close to freezing.”
Amorphous materials are often considered to be relatively unstable, meaning that at the atomic level, the atoms have not yet organized into a final crystalline form.
“Something is happening in the rates, or kinetics, of the reactions that slows them down so that these materials are preserved over geological timescales,” Dr Feldman said.
“What we're suggesting is that very cold conditions, close to freezing, are the specific kinetic limiting factors that allow these materials to form and be preserved.”
“This research improves our understanding of the Martian climate.”
“The results suggest that the abundance of this material in Gale Crater is consistent with subarctic conditions similar to those found in Iceland, for example.”
Team work Published in a journal Communication Earth and the Environment.
_____
A.D. Feldman othersIn 2024, iron-rich X-ray amorphous material will record Mars' past climate and the persistence of water. Community Global Environment 5, 364; doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01495-4
This article is based on a press release from the Desert Research Institute.
Antarctica’s melting ice sheet could retreat faster as warmer ocean water invades underneath it, and rising ocean temperatures could trigger a “runaway” feedback effect that pushes warm water further inland, melting even more ice and accelerating sea-level rise.
As the climate warms, the future of Antarctica’s vast ice sheet remains uncertain, and predictions vary widely about how quickly it will melt and therefore how much it will contribute to sea-level rise. One dynamic that researchers have only recently begun to recognize as a key factor is the intrusion of warmer ocean water beneath the ice.
“The mechanisms of invasion are much more powerful than we previously understood.” Alexander Bradley At the British Antarctic Survey.
Such intrusions are driven by density differences between the freshwater flowing out from beneath the ice sheet and the warmer waters where the ice meets the sea floor, known as the grounding line. They are difficult to observe directly because they occur hundreds of meters beneath the ice, but simulations suggest that in some places the warm waters could extend several kilometers inland.
One model by Alexander Lovell Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta found that widespread ice-sheet intrusion could add heat from below, lubricating ice flow along bedrock and more than doubling ice loss from the ice sheet.
Bradley and his colleagues Ian Hewitt Using their model, Oxford researchers explained how the shape of cavities in the ice changes as the ice melts, altering how ocean water flows in.
The researchers found that once ocean water reaches a certain temperature threshold, ice from the ice sheet melts faster than it can be replaced by outflowing ice. If this cavity grows larger, more water could flow under the ice sheet and penetrate further inland, creating a so-called “runaway” positive feedback effect.
“Small changes in ocean temperature lead to dramatic changes in how far warm water can intrude,” Bradley said. The ocean warming needed to cause this effect is within the range expected this century, he said, but models cannot yet predict it for specific ice sheets, and not all ice sheets are equally susceptible to such intrusions.
“This positive feedback could lead to much more intrusion than we thought,” Lovell says. “Whether that’s a tipping point that leads to unrestrained intrusion of ocean water beneath the ice sheet is probably a stretch.”
Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi masterpiece Dune: Part 2 The film hits theaters in the US in spring 2024. The movie follows the power struggles of the noble families of the desert planet Arrakis. But what if humanity had become an empire that spanned thousands of worlds in the distant future, as depicted in the film? Sand Dunes How common are desert planets or planets with no water at all in movies and novels?
In the search for these planets, a good place to start is with the most common stars: astronomers have observed what are called small, faint, cool, reddish stars. Red dwarf They make up most of the stars in the galaxy. Astronomers who study planets around stars other than the Sun estimate that every star has at least one planet. About half of the planets around red dwarfs are small, rocky planets with compositions similar to Earth. On the ground planet. Therefore, the most common type of terrestrial planet is thought to be around a red dwarf star.
For decades, astronomers have thought that red dwarfs are too cold for liquid water to exist on their surfaces. To reach the temperature range needed to support liquid water, planets around cooler stars need to orbit closer to their host stars than planets around hotter ones. But unlike stars like the Sun, which have a constant brightness, red dwarfs are born hotter and brighter than their final state for most of their lives.
The terrestrial planets formed with 15 to 70 times more water than Earth, most of it coming from drifting icy comets. But the heat of the young red dwarf star causes the water on these planets to evaporate, turning from liquid to gas in their atmospheres. In the planet's atmosphere, the intense starlight breaks down the water vapor into oxygen and hydrogen. Photolysis. The heavier oxygen stays on the planet while the lighter hydrogen drifts away, and astronomers estimate that as a result, planets around red dwarf stars lose tens of times as much water as Earth's oceans over their first billion years.
A team of Japanese scientists led by Hiroshi Kawamura challenged the paradigm that planets around red dwarfs should lose all their water in this way. They proposed that two factors could significantly reduce the initial water loss of planets orbiting dwarf stars. First, water is decomposed by the intense light in the planet's atmosphere, but some water is produced in the atmosphere when reactive free hydrogen mixes with hydrogen superoxide. Second, the decomposition of water in the atmosphere produces oxygen gas, which protects the water from further intense light.
Kawamura's team used software called the Photochemical and Radiation Transport Model to Proteus To test whether the planet would lose less water if these two factors were taken into account. The researchers calculated the water loss for an Earth-like planet with a water vapor-filled atmosphere and huge oceans. The planet orbits the dwarf star at a distance about 2% of the distance it orbits around the Sun, relative to TRAPPIST-1, shown in the featured image above. The researchers assumed that the only chemical reaction occurring in the planet's atmosphere is between hydrogen and oxygen. Kawamura and his team ran the model once to see if the results differed from previous studies and how they changed depending on the altitude of the planet's atmosphere.
The team found that the model planet's atmosphere turned out as expected: It had a very high layer of atmosphere, where starlight split water into free hydrogen and oxygen atoms, with the hydrogen escaping into space, and a layer of oxygen gas formed below, reducing the intensity of the starlight at lower altitudes, and the free hydrogen mixed with hydrogen superoxide in a chemical reaction to produce more water.
Ultimately, they calculated that the amount of water lost to space was only about seven times that of Earth's oceans. This means that even if a terrestrial planet started at the low end of the water content range, it could still have eight times as much water as Earth's oceans after its first billion years of existence. The researchers suggested that their findings imply that rather than a galaxy filled with planets with little water, like Earth, the universe could contain worlds with vast oceans orbiting dwarf stars. In other words, future humans are likely to discover Arrakis, but not Caladan. Still, they suggested that future researchers should test planetary water loss models with different atmospheric compositions, alternative cooling processes, and water trapped in the planet's rocks and magma.
Using high-resolution color images from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Trace Gases Orbiter (TGO) and Mars Express missions, planetary researchers have found evidence of morning frost deposits in the calderas of the Tharsis volcanoes on Mars (Olympus Mons, Arsia Mons, Ascleius Mons and Ceraunius Turus).
This image, taken with the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano not only on Mars but in the entire Solar System. Image credit: ESA / DLR / Free University Berlin.
The Tharsis region of Mars contains numerous volcanoes, including Olympus Mons and the Tharsis Mountains (Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons).
Many of these volcanoes are enormous, towering above the surrounding plains at heights between one (Mont Pavonis) and three times (Mont Olympus) higher than Earth’s Mount Everest.
At the summit of these volcanoes are large cavities called calderas, which were formed when magma chambers were emptied during past eruptions.
“We thought it would be impossible for frost to form near the equator on Mars because of the relatively high temperatures both on the surface and on mountain tops, caused by a combination of sunlight and a thin atmosphere. On Earth, we would expect frost to form on mountain tops, but that would not be the case near the equator on Mars,” said Dr. Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University.
“Its presence here is intriguing and suggests that there are exceptional processes at work that allow frost to form.”
The frost patches appear for a few hours before and after sunrise, then evaporate in the sunlight.
Although it is thin, perhaps only one-hundredth of a millimeter thick (about the thickness of a human hair), it covers a vast area.
The amount of frost is equivalent to about 150,000 tonnes of water that moves between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere every day during the cold season, which is roughly the equivalent of filling about 60 Olympic swimming pools.
The researchers propose that air circulates in a special way above Tharsis, creating a unique microclimate within the volcano’s caldera there and allowing the frost patches to form.
“Winds move up the mountain slopes, carrying relatively moist air from close to the surface to higher altitudes, where it condenses and falls as frost,” said Dr Nicolas Thomas from the University of Bern, principal investigator of TGO’s Colour Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS).
“We actually see this happening on Earth and other parts of Mars, where the same phenomenon causes the seasonal elongated clouds on Mars’ Arsia Mons.”
“The frost we see on the summits of Martian volcanoes appears to have accumulated in the shadowed parts of the calderas, where temperatures are particularly cool.”
Scientists have found frost on the Tharsis volcanoes of Olympus, Arsia, Mount Ascraeus and Ceraunius Turus.
By modeling how these frosts form, scientists could potentially unlock more of Mars’ mysteries, like where any remaining water on Mars resides, how it moves between reservoirs, and even understanding the dynamics of the planet’s complex atmosphere.
This knowledge is essential for future exploration of Mars and the search for signs of extraterrestrial life.
“The discovery of water on the surface of Mars is always an exciting prospect, both for scientific interest and for its implications for human and robotic exploration,” said Dr Colin Wilson, ESA’s project scientist for both ExoMars TGO and Mars Express.
“Even so, this discovery is particularly intriguing because Mars’ low atmospheric pressure creates the unusual situation where Martian mountaintops are typically less cold than the plains. But moist air blowing up the mountain slopes can still condense into frost, a phenomenon that is clearly similar to Earth.”
“This discovery was made possible thanks to successful collaboration between ESA’s two Mars rovers, as well as additional modelling.”
“Understanding exactly which phenomena are the same and which are different on Earth and Mars will really test and improve our understanding of the fundamental processes occurring not only on our home planet but elsewhere in the universe.”
A. Valantinus othersEvidence for episodic morning frost accumulation at the Tharsis volcano, Mars. National GeographyPublished online June 10, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01457-7
Pachystropheus reticulum One of the last thalattosaurs, it was a large marine lizard with otter-like behaviour that could move on land, but was likely a primarily marine predator with a different ecological niche from contemporary marine reptiles (placodonts, ichthyosaurs) and carnivorous fishes (hybodont sharks, actinopterygii).
Restoration of Life Thalattosaurus alexandraePhoto courtesy of: Nobu Tamura, translation:.
Pachystropheus reticulum It is a type of thalattosaur that lived in the Late Triassic deposits of Britain and continental Europe.
Although known for a long time, this ancient reptile still remains shrouded in mystery.
For many years, is assumedPachystropheus reticulum the first chorusAnother group of marine reptiles similar to crocodiles.
In the new study, paleontologist Jacob Quinn of the University of Bristol and his colleagues Pachystropheus reticulum Since 1935.
They called this PachistropheusKnown as Annie, the cave contains hundreds of bones from several different humans.
“Thalattosaurs existed throughout the Triassic Period, some of which reached lengths of up to four metres (13 feet) and would have been terrors of the seas,” Quinn said.
“But our Pachystropheus reticulum Its body was just over a metre (3.3 feet) long, half of which was its long tail.”
“It had a long neck, a tiny head the size of a matchbox (which has yet to be found) and four paddles.”
“If it was like its relatives, it would have had lots of sharp little teeth that were ideal for catching fish and other small, mobile prey.”
“Before Pachystropheus reticulum “This dinosaur was the first to be identified as a member of the Choristoderes, another group of crocodile-like marine reptiles, and was held in great importance because it was the oldest,” said Professor Mike Benton, from the University of Bristol.
“Jacob said some of the bones were from fish and others were actually Pachystropheus reticulum “That indicates that it was in fact a small thalattosaur.”
“So what was thought to be the first of the choristoderes has now been identified as the last of the thalattosaurs.”
“Pachystropheus reticulum “It probably lived a similar lifestyle to modern otters, feeding on small fish, shrimp and other invertebrates,” said Dr David Whiteside.
“This slender reptile had a long neck, a flattened tail for swimming, and surprisingly strong forelimbs for a marine animal. Pachystropheus reticulum They may have come onto land to feed or to avoid predators.”
“At the time, the Bristol area, and much of Europe, was covered by shallow waters and these animals likely lived in large populations in the warm, shallow waters around the islands.”
of result Appears in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
_____
Jacob G. Quinn othersRelationships and paleoecology Pachystropheus reticuluman enigmatic marine reptile (diapsid: Thalattosaurinae) from the Late Triassic period. Journal of Vertebrate PaleontologyPublished online June 4, 2024; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2350408
Geologists have analysed 4-billion-year-old zircon crystals from Jack Hills in Western Australia’s mid-west region to date the emergence of fresh water back just a few hundred million years after the Earth formed.
Artistic conception of early Earth. Image by Simone Marchi/NASA.
On the early Earth, extensive interactions between flowing (fresh) water and the emerging continental crust may have been key to the emergence of life, but when the water cycle first began is unclear.
In the new study, Curtin University scientist Hamed Gamaleldien and his colleagues used the oxygen isotope composition of zircon crystals from Jack Hills in Western Australia to determine when the water cycle began.
Their findings suggest that meteoric water appeared on Earth about 4 billion years ago, 500 million years earlier than previously thought.
“We were able to date the origins of the hydrological cycle, the ongoing process by which water moves around Earth and is essential for maintaining ecosystems and supporting life on Earth,” Dr Gamalerdien said.
“By examining the age and oxygen isotopes of microscopic crystals of the mineral zircon, we discovered an anomalously light isotopic signature that dates back 4 billion years.”
“These light oxygen isotopes typically result from hot freshwater altering rocks several kilometers below the Earth’s surface.”
“The evidence for the presence of fresh water this deep in the Earth casts doubt on existing theories that the Earth was completely covered by oceans 4 billion years ago.”
“This discovery was crucial for our understanding of how Earth formed and how life began,” said Curtin University scientist Hugo Orioluk.
“This discovery not only sheds light on the early history of Earth, but also suggests that land and freshwater systems provided the foundation for life to thrive within a relatively short time frame – less than 600 million years after Earth’s formation.”
“This discovery represents a major advance in our understanding of Earth’s early history and opens the door to further exploration of the origin of life.”
H. Gamaleldine othersThe Earth’s water cycle began 4 billion years ago or sooner. National GeographyPublished online June 3, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01450-0
Accurate assessments of global river flows and water storage are important to inform water management practices, but current estimates of global river flows represent a significant spread, and river storage Estimates remain sparse. Estimates of river flow and water storage are hampered by uncertainty in land runoff, an unobserved quantity that provides water withdrawal to rivers. In a new study, geoscientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and elsewhere leverage an ensemble of global streamflow observations and land surface models to create a globally gauge-corrected monthly streamflow and storage dataset. Generating. They estimate the average global river storage capacity to be 2,246 km .3 (This is equivalent to half of the water in Lake Michigan, about 0.006% of all fresh water, which itself is equivalent to 2.5% of the Earth's volume) and 37,411 km of the world's continental streams.3 per year.
collins other. Estimates flows through 3 million river segments characterized by intense human water use, including the Colorado River, Amazon River, Orange River, and parts of the Murray-Darling River basin (shown here in gray) identified locations around the world. Image credit: NASA.
Rivers are considered the most renewable, most accessible, and therefore most sustainable sources of fresh water.
Therefore, several studies have attempted to quantify the world's river waters.
However, surprisingly little is known about the average and temporal variation in global river water storage, and even more so, about the temporal variation in global river discharge.
“Over the years, researchers have made numerous estimates of how much water flows from rivers to the ocean, but estimates of how much water rivers collectively hold (known as water storage) “There are fewer and more uncertainties,” said Dr. Cedric David. A researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“We don't know how much water we have in our accounts. Population growth and climate change are further complicating the problem.”
“There are many things we can do to manage our water usage and ensure there is enough water for everyone, but the first question is: How much water do we have? It's the basis of everything else. is.”
In this study, Dr. David and colleagues used a new methodology that combines flow meter measurements with computer models of about 3 million river segments around the world.
They identified the Amazon Basin as the region with the most river water storage, with approximately 850 km of water storage.3 Water amount – approximately 38% of global estimates.
The same basin discharges the most water into the ocean: 6,789 km3 per year. This corresponds to 18% of the emissions into the world's oceans, which average 37,411 km.3 Years from 1980 to 2009.
Although it is impossible for a river to have a negative flow rate, the study's computational approach does not take into account upstream flows, but it is possible that some river segments receive less water than they enter. It may leak.
Researchers found similar findings in parts of the Colorado, Amazon, and Orange river basins, as well as the Murray-Darling basin in southeastern Australia. These negative flows mainly indicate heavy water use by humans.
“These are places where we see evidence of water management,” says Dr. Elissa Collins, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
of study Published in a magazine natural earth science.
_____
Elle Collins other. Global patterns of river water storage dependent on residence time. nut.earth science, published online March 15, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01421-5
Continued use of drugs such as cocaine and morphine is thought to affect the way the brain prioritizes the body’s basic needs, but we are only now understanding how this happens.
When people repeatedly misuse drugs, they can experience long-term behavioral changes, where they choose to take drugs instead of doing what they need to do, such as eating or drinking.
A brain pathway called the mesolimbic reward system is thought to be involved in this process, but few studies have directly compared the system’s response to drug intake and its response when its innate needs are not met.
now, bowen tan from Rockefeller University in New York and colleagues showed that the same neurons are activated in these two situations. They revealed this using sophisticated microscopy equipment that can track the activity of individual neurons in the brains of mice in a state of withdrawal after repeated exposure to these drugs.
“There has long been a debate in this field about whether there are specialized cell types that encode only drug value and specialized cell types that encode only natural reward value,” Tan said. To tell. “What we saw is that these drugs of abuse typically activate the same set of neurons as natural rewards.”
The researchers also observed that after giving mice cocaine or morphine, their food and water intake decreased, while the neural responses needed to satisfy basic needs were disrupted.
“What’s really remarkable about this finding is that the strong neural responses to food and water are almost replaced by responses to drugs,” he says. Jeremy Day At the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “[This suggests] Drug rewards can override the way the brain converts desire states into behaviors that satisfy those desires.”
Tan and his team also identified a gene called.Rev which appears to be necessary for the drug to have this effect. Rev Because it is part of a cell signaling pathway that is also found in humans, future research could explore how inhibiting this pathway could be used as a treatment for substance misuse, he said. To tell.
The upwelling of cold water from the deep ocean to the surface can be deadly to marine animals, and such events are becoming more frequent due to climate change.
In March 2021, hundreds of dead seafood, squid, octopus, manta rays, and bull sharks washed up on South African beaches.
The animals were fleeing high water temperatures from a marine heatwave hitting South Africa's coastal waters.
However, during their escape, they were caught in a sudden burst of cold water from the region's Agulhas Current, causing ocean temperatures to plummet.
“These upwelling events occurring on the banks of the Agulhas River could cause temperatures to suddenly drop by about 10 degrees Celsius.” [18°F] “within 24 hours” Zoe Jacobs At the UK National Marine Centre. “This is a very intense, short-term event.”
Nicholas Lubitz Professors at Australia's James Cook University used 41 years of sea surface temperature data and 33 years of sea surface temperature data to assess cold water upwelling in two regions affected by the Agulhas Current and the Australian Current, which meanders along Australia's east coast. I studied wind records.
They conclude that stronger ocean currents and changes in wind patterns associated with climate change are increasing both the frequency and strength of cold water upwelling in both regions.
Most marine organisms that live near these currents are adapted to sudden fluctuations in water temperature and can therefore cope with these changes.
However, the study warns that migratory species such as bull sharks, which pass through these waters and are unprepared for sudden changes in temperature, are at risk.
Bull sharks struggle to survive when water temperatures drop below 19°C (66°F) for extended periods. Lubitz and colleagues used data from 41 tagged bull sharks in southern Africa and Australia to study their migration patterns.
As soon as summer ends and water temperatures begin to drop, sharks migrate to warmer tropical waters. During migration, they appear to take steps to avoid cold water upwelling by moving to warmer surface waters as they swim through upwelling zones, or by seeking refuge in estuaries and bays during migration. .
But as upwelling events increase in frequency and intensity, researchers warn that it will become increasingly difficult for bull sharks and other migratory species to avoid them.
But Jacobs, who was not involved in the study, said the effects may be limited to the two areas studied. “These two particular regions of hers are very special cases because the upwelling that occurs there is a very short and intense phenomenon,” she says. Other global upwelling systems are more permanent or seasonal, and marine species are better adapted to withstand or avoid changes in water temperature, she says.
Claire Jacobs captured a rare moment with a gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) Spray water at a swooping white-tailed eagle (Harrietus albicilla) on the Isle of Wight. Image credit: Claire Jacobs.
Claire Jacobs witnessed a white-tailed eagle swoop toward the surface at high tide.
As the eagle approached, an adult gray seal emerged from the water directly beneath the predator.
This unusual event occurred in the waters of the Newtown Estuary of the Newtown River called Cramerkin Brook or Cramerkin Lake.
The encounter was caught on camera, with the gray seal initially emitting a warning call, but then resorting to an unprecedented defensive tactic: spitting a stream of water directly at the eagle.
“However, my year was enriched by being able to capture such rare and never-before-seen interactions.”
“Sightings of gray seals and white-tailed eagles are now common on the Isle of Wight, but interaction between these two species has so far not been reported,” said Megan Jacobs, daughter of Claire Jacobs and a palaeontologist at the University of Portsmouth. says Mr. .
“This is the first record of an interaction between these two top predators, and the first report of a gray seal using spit as a means of defense or deterrence against an airborne enemy.”
“White-tailed eagles directly compete for fish stocks, so spitting may be a strategy to eliminate them from competition for prey.”
The white-tailed eagle, also known as the Steller's sea eagle, is the largest species of European eagle.
Their wingspan can reach up to 2.6 meters, but is usually smaller, with males measuring about 2.26 meters and females about 2.37 meters.
White-tailed eagles went extinct on the Isle of Wight in 1780, but a bold reintroduction program began introducing young white-tailed eagles from breeding pairs in Scotland in the summer of 2019.
“Spitting is a rare behavioral activity among vertebrates, which is why this event is so fascinating,” said Megan Jacobs.
“This challenges our existing understanding of animal defense mechanisms.”
“Spits are commonly found in humans, camels, llamas, and alpacas, but are also used in some snakes to deliver venom, and may also be used to capture prey by archers, so there is no photographic evidence I'm excited to have gotten this fish. “
○One of the most harmful myths about digital technology is that it is somehow weightless or immaterial. Remember the early talk about “paperless” offices and “frictionless” transactions? And of course, our personal electronic devices Several Electricity is insignificant compared to a washing machine or dishwasher.
But even if you believe this comforting story, you might not survive when you come across Kate Crawford’s seminal book. Atlas of AI or impressive Structure of an AI system A graphic she created with Vladan Joler. And it definitely won’t survive a visit to the data center. One giant metal shed houses tens or even hundreds of thousands of servers, consuming large amounts of electricity and requiring large amounts of water for cooling systems.
There are currently between 9,000 and 11,000 such data centers around the world. Many of them are old-style server farms with thousands or millions of cheap PCs that store all the data our smartphone-driven world generates, including photos, documents, videos, and recordings. It’s starting to look a little outdated. In such casual abundance.
what i was reading
shabby philanthropist Read Deborah Doan’s book sharp review for alliance Tim Schwab’s critical book magazine, bill gates problem.
final write Veteran commentator Jeff Jarvis think about giving up “About old journalism and its legacy industry,” in a BuzzMachine blog post.
slim picking In his blog No Mercy/No Malice, Scott Galloway suggests that AI and weight loss drugs have a lot in common.
The ancient relationship between Mexico City and water dates back to the city’s origins. Situated on a former lakebed that was drained after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the city now relies on underground aquifers and a network of canals, dams, and reservoirs from the Kutsamara water system for its main water supply.
Approximately 70% of the city’s water comes from underground sources, with the remaining 30% supplied by the Cuzamara system to the Mexico City metropolitan area and the Toluca Valley. However, increasing urbanization and overuse of aquifers have led to land subsidence, causing the city to sink at a rate of about 20 inches per year since 1950 due to continued groundwater extraction.
Despite efforts to repair and upgrade aging infrastructure, Mexico City’s water system struggles to keep pace with the demands of a rapidly growing population. Climate change further exacerbates the water crisis, with persistent drought and rising temperatures leading to decreased precipitation and limited water replenishment for aquifers and dams.
This water scarcity crisis has sparked protests and unrest among residents, with many areas facing severe water shortages. Efforts to conserve water and prioritize its usage have been urged by local authorities, as communities like Iztapalapa struggle to cope with limited water access.
For residents like Hernández Villa, conserving water has become a daily challenge, with measures like reducing laundry frequency and bathing in containers to stretch their limited water supply. The urgent need for sustainable water management and infrastructure upgrades is evident, as Mexico City grapples with a worsening water crisis.
Dennis Chou reported from New York City and Alvinson Linares from Mexico City.
Water molecules are key components in the formation of planetary systems. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected water vapor in the disk around the young star HL Taurus, where planets may be forming. Their analysis suggests that the hard lower limit for water vapor availability within the interior 17 astronomical units of the Taurus HL system is 3.7 Earth Oceans.
This ALMA image shows water vapor (blue tints) in the protoplanetary disk around HL Taurus. Near the center of the disk, where young stars live, the environment is hotter and the gas brighter. The red ring is a previous ALMA observation showing the distribution of dust around the star.Image credits: ALMA / ESO / National Astronomical Observatory of Japan / NRAO / Facchini other.
Water molecules are undoubtedly one of the most important molecular species in the entire universe.
Water is a highly efficient solvent, so it played a key role in the emergence of life as we know it on Earth.
For this reason, chemical characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres often focuses on detecting this specific molecule.
Water, formed from common hydrogen and oxygen atoms, is so abundant in both gas and ice form that it plays a fundamental role in the physics of planetary system formation.
Dr Stefano Facchini, an astronomer at the University of Milan, said: “We never imagined that we would be able to image oceans of water vapor in areas where planets are likely to form.”
The HL Taurus system is believed to be less than 100,000 years old and has a radius of about 17.9 billion km. It is located 450 light years away in the direction of the constellation Taurus.
The protoplanetary disk of HL Taurus is unusually large and bright, making it a perfect place to look for signs of planet formation.
New ALMA observations reveal that there is at least three times more water inside the disk than in Earth's entire ocean.
Dr Leonardo Testi, an astronomer at the University of Bologna, said: “It is truly amazing that we can not only detect water vapor 450 light-years from us, but also obtain detailed images and spatially resolve it.” said.
Spatially resolved observations with ALMA allow astronomers to determine the distribution of water in different regions of the disk.
“Participating in such an important discovery of the iconic HL Taurus disk was beyond my expectations given my first research experience in astronomy,'' said Dr. Mathieu Vander Donk, an astronomer at the University of Liege. he said.
Dr Facchini said: “Our recent images reveal that significant amounts of water vapor are present at distances from the star that include gaps where planets may now be forming.” said.
“This suggests that this water vapor could influence the chemical composition of planets that form in those regions.”
“To date, ALMA is the only facility capable of spatially resolving water in cold planet-forming disks,” said Professor Wouter Bremings, an astronomer at Chalmers University of Technology.
ESO astronomer Dr Elizabeth Humphreys said: “It's really exciting to be able to witness first-hand in photographs the ejection of water molecules from icy dust particles.”
“The dust particles that make up the disk are the seeds for planet formation, colliding and clumping together to form even larger bodies orbiting the star.”
“Our findings show how the presence of water influences the development of planetary systems, similar to our own solar system about 4.5 billion years ago,” Dr. Facchini said.
of findings It was published in the magazine natural astronomy.
_____
S. Facchini other. HL Resolved ALMA observations of water in the inner astronomical unit of the Tau disk. Nat Astron, published online on February 29, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02207-w
New technology allows water droplets to be guided precisely around obstacle courses to trigger chemical reactions
Jonathan Knowles/Getty Images
By placing tiny magnetic particles inside ordinary water droplets, you can turn them into liquid acrobats. Droplets can climb steps, jump over obstacles, and initiate chemical reactions. This level of control could be useful for drug delivery and the creation of more complex lab-on-a-chip technologies.
Fan Shilin He and his colleagues at Sun Yat-sen University in China created a surface with tiny grooves and covered it with a superhydrophobic, or wet-resistant, varnish. They know that a water droplet resting on such a groove can spontaneously jump up due to the pressure difference between the bottom of the droplet, which is deformed by the small groove, and the rounded and less constrained top part. I did.
The researchers wanted to create this pressure difference on demand. They added small magnetic particles to each droplet and placed an electromagnet beneath the groove. When the electromagnet was turned on, some of the particles, or droplets, were drawn into the groove. When I turned it off, the water droplet shape bounced and flew upwards as if from a slingshot.
Using this technique, the team was able to enable droplets to hop down millimeter-scale stairs and overcome small obstacles. The researchers were also able to direct a droplet into the narrow space between two wires and connect a circuit to light a light bulb.
Xiao Yan Researchers from China’s Chongqing University say this is a creative way to control pressure-based droplet jumps and could become a valuable tool for precisely transporting chemical droplets. It has said.
In one experiment, researchers plunged and mixed droplets into a liquid chemical sample under a microscope lens, allowing them to observe the resulting chemical reaction from start to finish. Another experiment involved mixing two droplets with a third in a closed box, which would have been ruined if the researchers had had to open the box to let air in. The reaction was initiated remotely.
Such precise chemical control can be applied to drug delivery. Huang hopes the technology will also advance “lab-on-a-chip” technology, an effort to miniaturize complex biochemical experiments that typically require a lot of space and glassware. He proposes a “lab-on-stacked chip” in which droplets jump vertically between levels to generate many reactions in parallel.
Most microplastics in tap water can be removed by boiling.
Yuri Nedopekin/Alamy
Boiling tap water before use can remove at least 80 percent of the potentially harmful small plastic particles it contains.
Nanoplastics and microplastics (NMPs) are pieces of plastic such as polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene that range in diameter from 0.001 to 5 millimeters. Although the health effects are still being studied, researchers suspect they may be harmful to humans.
Eddie Zen and colleagues from China's Jinan University took samples of tap water and measured levels of NMP and found that the average concentration was 1 milligram per liter. The samples were then boiled for 5 min and then cooled. NMP levels were then remeasured and found to have decreased by more than 80%.
“NMP intake from boiled water consumption was estimated to be two to five times lower than the daily intake from tap water,” Zeng said. “This simple but effective boiling water strategy can 'decontaminate' NMPs from household tap water and potentially harmlessly reduce human exposure to NMPs through water consumption.”
Zeng said NMP was removed by being incorporated into the crystalline structure of limescale, which is formed from calcium in the water. Hard water, which contains more calcium, removed more particles than soft water, which contains less calcium.
Bringing water to its boiling point was a major contributing factor to how efficiently these crystal structures were created. “Boiling water has several other benefits, including killing bacteria and parasites and removing traces of heavy metals,” he says.
“The way they demonstrated how things are deposited through the boiling process was amazing,” he says. caroline goshott lindsay At the University of Glasgow, UK. But the world should seek to solve the problem of microplastics in drinking water long before they reach homes, she added. “We should consider modifying drinking water treatment plants to remove microplastics,” she says.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
