ScienceDaily: Nature of Water News

Beautiful 'flowers' self-assemble in a beaker

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:22:22 EDT

With the hand of nature trained on a beaker of chemical fluid, the most delicate flower structures have been formed in a laboratory -- and not at the scale of inches, but microns. These minuscule sculptures, curved and delicate, don't resemble the cubic or jagged forms normally associated with crystals, though that's what they are. Rather, fields of carnations and marigolds seem to bloom from the surface of a submerged glass slide, assembling themselves a molecule at a time.

Moth-inspired nanostructures take the color out of thin films

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:56:56 EDT

Inspired by the structure of moth eyes, researchers have developed nanostructures that limit reflection at the interfaces where two thin films meet, suppressing the "thin-film interference" phenomenon commonly observed in nature. This can potentially improve the efficiency of thin-film solar cells and other optoelectronic devices.

Nanoscavengers could usher in next generation water purification

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:15:15 EDT

A new synthetic nanoparticle could disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water and then get removed magnetically. This improves upon existing technologies through ultraresponsiveness to magnetism.

Observation of second sound in a quantum gas

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:15:15 EDT

Second sound is a quantum mechanical phenomenon, which has been observed only in superfluid helium. Physicists have now proven the propagation of such a temperature wave in a quantum gas.

Groundwater unaffected by shale gas production in Arkansas

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:38:38 EDT

A new study finds no evidence of groundwater contamination from shale gas production in Arkansas.

Friction in the nano-world: Physicists discover a new kind of friction

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:38:38 EDT

Whether in vehicle transmissions, hip replacements, or tiny sensors for triggering airbags: The respective components must slide against each other with minimum friction to prevent loss of energy and material wear. Investigating the friction behavior of nanosystems, scientists have discovered a previously unknown type of friction that sheds new light on some previously unexplainable phenomena.

Storage power plant on the seabed

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:53:53 EDT

A group of scientists aims to store electricity at the bottom of the sea. The energy will be stored with the help of high water pressure.

Bacterium counteracts 'coffee ring effect'

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:53:53 EDT

Ever notice how a dried coffee stain has a thicker outer rim, while the middle of the stain remains almost unsoiled? This 'coffee ring effect' also occurs in other materials. Researchers have now discovered how to counteract coffee rings with 'surfactants', i.e. soap. The key to the discovery was not a kitchen towel, but a bacterium that counteracts the coffee ring effect at the microscopic level.

Water governs cell movement: Aquaporins play key role, new research finds

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:53:53 EDT

Water gives life. Researchers now show how the cells in our bodies are driven mainly by water power -- a discovery that in the long run opens the way for a new strategy in cancer therapy.

Could carbon dioxide be injected in sandstone? Would it stay there?

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:53:53 EDT

As carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere top 400 parts per million, options such as storing the greenhouse gas in porous sandstone rock formations found in abundance on the sea floor are of increasing interest. But how do we know if carbon dioxide can be safely injected into spongy sandstone, and that once it is there, that it will stay there?

Mechanism that puts the curl in the curling stone revealed

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:52:52 EDT

Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden can now reveal the mechanism behind the curved path of a curling stone. The discovery by the researchers, who usually study friction and wear in industrial and technical applications.

Heady mathematics: Describing popping bubbles in a foam

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:21:21 EDT

Two applied mathematicians have found a way to mathematically describe the evolution and disappearance of a foam. Using these equations, they were able to generate a movie that shows the complex draining, popping and rearrangement of these bubbles as the foam vanishes.

New advance in biofuel production

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:37:37 EDT

Researchers have developed an enzyme-free ionic liquid pretreatment of cellulosic biomass that makes it easier to recover fermentable sugars for biofuels and to recycle the ionic liquid.

New mechanism converts natural gas to energy faster, captures carbon dioxide

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:48:48 EDT

Chemical engineering researchers have identified a new mechanism to convert natural gas into energy up to 70 times faster, while effectively capturing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

New device can extract human DNA with full genetic data in minutes

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:21:21 EDT

Engineers have created a device that can extract human DNA from fluid samples in a simpler, more efficient and environmentally friendly way than conventional methods.

Engineers manipulate a buckyball by inserting a single water molecule

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:33:33 EDT

Engineering researchers have developed a technique to isolate a single water molecule inside a buckyball and drive motion of the "big" nonpolar ball through the encapsulated "small" polar H2O molecule, a controlling transport mechanism in a nanochannel under an external electric field. This method could lead to new applications including effective ways to control drug delivery and to assemble C60-based functional 3D structures at the nanoscale level.

Some 'green' hot water systems fail to deliver on promises, study shows

Wed, 01 May 2013 19:29:29 EDT

A new research paper reports that hot water recirculating systems touted as "green" actually use both more energy and water than their standard counterparts.

Shaking things up: Researchers propose new old way to purify carbon nanotubes

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:51:51 EDT

An old, somewhat passé, trick used to purify protein samples based on their affinity for water has found new fans: materials scientists are using it to divvy up solutions of carbon nanotubes, separating the metallic nanotubes from semiconductors. They say it's a fast, easy and cheap way to produce high-purity samples of carbon nanotubes for use in nanoscale electronics and many other applications.

Discovery of new gigantic swelling phenomenon of layered crystal driven by water

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:41:41 EDT

Scientists have discovered an intriguing phenomenon in which an inorganic layered crystal expanded and contracted by 100 times its original size in a few seconds in an aqueous solution, displaying a behavior similar to a living cell.

New research helps to show how turbulence can occur without inertia

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:21:21 EDT

For more than a century, the field of fluid mechanics has posited that turbulence scales with inertia, and so massive things, like planes, have an easier time causing it. Now, new research has shown that this transition to turbulence can occur without inertia at all.

Counter-intuitive behavior of microgel composed of soft polymer blobs

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:23:23 EDT

A new study explores the counter-intuitive behavior of a microgel composed of soft polymer blobs. Being a physicist offers many perks. For one, it allows an understanding of the substances ubiquitous in everyday industrial products such as emulsions, gels, granular pastes or foams. These are known for their intermediate behavior between fluid and solid. Paint, for example, can be picked up on a paintbrush without flowing and spread under the stress of the brush stroke like a fluid.

Mysterious catalyst explained: How tiny gold particles aid the production of plastic components

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:16:16 EDT

From methanol to formaldehyde -- this reaction is the starting point for the synthesis of many everyday plastics. Using catalysts made of gold particles, formaldehyde could be produced without the environmentally hazardous waste generated in conventional methods. Scientists now report in detail on what happens on the gold surface during the chemical reaction.

Keeping beverages cool in summer: I''s not just the heat, it's the humidity

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:24:24 EDT

Those drops on the outside of your drink don't just make the can slippery. Experiments show that in hot, humid weather, condensation heats a drink more than the surrounding air.

Battery low? Give your mobile some water

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:48:48 EDT

A power source for your mobile phone can now be as close as the nearest tap, stream, or even a puddle, with the world’s first water-activated charging device.

New device could cut costs on household products, pharmaceuticals

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:37:37 EDT

A new procedure that thickens and thins fluid at the micron level could save consumers and manufacturers money, particularly for soap products that depend on certain molecules to effectively deal with grease and dirt.

X-rays reveal coexisting structures in glass

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:12:12 EDT

Despite the long and rich history and widespread use of glass, surprisingly little is known about the interplay between the mechanical properties of glasses and their inner structures. For the first time, researchers have monitored subtle structural changes in a glass made from microscopic silica spheres, which they exposed to shear stress.

Liquid on liquid goes solid

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:11:11 EDT

Not all liquids are mixable. Researchers have investigated chemical processes with atomic resolution at the interface between two such liquids and have made an exciting discovery. They observed the formation of an ordered crystal of exactly five atomic layers between the two liquids, which acts as a foundation for growing even bigger crystals.

'Artificial leaf' gains the ability to self-heal damage and produce energy from dirty water

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:58:58 EDT

Another innovative feature has been added to the world's first practical "artificial leaf," making the device even more suitable for providing people in developing countries and remote areas with electricity. It gives the leaf the ability to self-heal damage.

Tin nanocrystals for the battery of the future

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:32:32 EDT

More powerful batteries could help electric cars achieve a considerably larger range and thus a breakthrough on the market. A new nanomaterial for lithium ion batteries could come into play here.

Natural soil bacteria pump new life into exhausted oil wells

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:22:22 EDT

Technology that enlists natural soil bacteria as 21st century roughnecks now is commercially available and poised to recover precious oil remaining in thousands of exhausted oil wells. The process has been termed microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR).

Cry me a river of possibility: Scientists design new adaptive material inspired by tears

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:51:51 EDT

Imagine highly precise, self-adjusting contact lenses that also clean themselves. Scientists have just moved these enticing notions much closer to reality by designing a new kind of adaptive material with tunable transparency and wettability features.

Hydrogen from methane without CO2 emissions?

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:49:49 EDT

The production of hydrogen from methane without carbon dioxide emissions is the objective of a new project. Researchers are setting up a novel liquid-metal bubble column reactor, in which methane is decomposed into hydrogen and elemental carbon at high temperature.

3-D printer can build synthetic tissues

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:24:24 EDT

A custom-built programmable 3-D printer can create materials with several of the properties of living tissues, scientists have demonstrated.

Watching fluid flow at nanometer scales: Tiny nanowires can lift liquids as effectively as tubes

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:15:15 EDT

Imagine if you could drink a glass of water just by inserting a solid wire into it and sucking on it as though it were a soda straw. It turns out that if you were tiny enough, that method would work just fine -- and wouldn't even require the suction to start. New research has demonstrated for the first time that when inserted into a pool of liquid, nanowires naturally draw the liquid upward in a thin film that coats the surface of the wire.

Everything you know about osmosis is (probably) wrong

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:25:25 EDT

Even though the concept is important to plant and human physiology, osmosis is understood in biology and chemistry in simple -- and often incorrect -- way.

Manufacturing: Plasma treatments on a roll

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:24:24 EDT

A revolutionary atmospheric-pressure plasma boosts adhesion of polymer films for roll-to-roll solar-cell production has been developed.

Clays can expand under pressure

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:25:25 EDT

It was always believed that water is "squeezed" out of the clay structure under pressure but physicists in Sweden together with German colleagues show that this appear to be not always true if excess of liquid water is available around.

Engineers explain physics of fluids some 100 years after original discovery

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:53:53 EDT

Intuition says two or more jets of fluid should coalesce into a single stream of fluid, but that is not always the case. Velocity matters.

NASA's Kennedy Space Center Operations helps launch pad of the future take shape

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:11:11 EDT

The launch pad of the future is taking shape at NASA's Kennedy Space Center as the Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) Program office, along with Center Operations, continues with upgrades and modifications to Launch Pad 39B, where the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) will lift off with the Orion spacecraft atop it, sending humans to new destinations in the solar system.

Multi-purpose wonder can generate hydrogen, produce clean water and even provide energy

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:48:48 EDT

A new wonder material can generate hydrogen, produce clean water and even provide energy. Science fiction? Hardly, and there's more -- It can also desalinate water, be used as flexible water filtration membranes, help recover energy from desalination waste brine, be made into flexible solar cells and can also double the lifespan of lithium ion batteries. With its superior bacteria-killing capabilities, it can also be used to develop a new type of antibacterial bandage.

Los Alamos science sleuth on the trail of a Martian mystery

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:24:24 EDT

When it comes to examining the surface of rocks on Mars with a high-powered laser, five is a magic number for Los Alamos National Laboratory postdoctoral researcher Nina Lanza. At a recent conference, Lanza described how the laser-shooting ChemCam instrument aboard the Curiosity rover has shown what appears to be a common feature on the surface of some very different Martian rocks.

Nanoscale spinning magnetic droplets created

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:43:43 EDT

Researchers have successfully created a magnetic soliton -- a nano-sized, spinning droplet that was first theorized 35 years ago.

Chemical chameleon tamed: Researchers give floppy molecule a structure through solvent effects

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:50:50 EDT

How you get the chameleon of the molecules to settle on a particular "look" has been discovered by chemists in Germany. The molecule CH5+ is normally not to be described by a single rigid structure, but is dynamically flexible. By means of computer simulations, the team showed that CH5+ takes on a particular structure once you attach hydrogen molecules.

Extreme water in Earth's interior

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:54:54 EDT

Earth is the only known planet that holds water in massive quantities and in all three of the main phase states. But the earthly, omnipresent compound water has very unusual properties that become particularly evident when subjected to high pressure and high temperatures.

Device may lead to quicker, more efficient diagnostics

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:49:49 EDT

A twist on thin-film technology may provide a way to optically detect and analyze multiple substances simultaneously, leading to quicker diagnostics in such industries as health care and homeland security, according to researchers.

'Superheated' water can corrode diamonds

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:07:07 EDT

Novel discovery paves the way to improve waste degradation and laser-assisted etching of materials.

Ketchup turns somersaults

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:46:46 EST

Blood, paint or ketchup are complex liquids composed of several different components. For the construction of pumps, or the improvement of technical processes scientists and engineers need description models. They make the special properties of such liquids predictable. Researchers have now developed such a model.

Pancakes with a side of math: A physiological model for sap exudation in maple trees

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:07:07 EST

The mechanisms behind sap exudation in sugar maple trees -- processes that trigger pressure differences causing sap to flow -- are a topic of much debate. In a new paper, researchers shed light on this subject by proposing a mathematical model for the essential physiological processes that drive sap flow.

Herbal defluoridation of drinking water

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:09:09 EST

Researchers in India have developed a filter system based on a medicinal herb, which they say can quickly and easily remove "fluoride" from drinking water. The technology uses parts of the plant Tridax procumbens as a biocarbon filter for the ion.

Vortex loops could untie knotty physics problems

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:08:08 EST

Physicists have succeeding in creating a vortex knot -- a feat akin to tying a smoke ring into a knot. Linked and knotted vortex loops have existed in theory for more than a century, but creating them in the laboratory had previously eluded scientists.

Working at the extreme edge of cosmic ice

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:58:58 EST

Behind locked doors, in a lab built like a bomb shelter, Perry Gerakines makes something ordinary yet truly alien: ice. This isn't the ice of snowflakes or ice cubes. No, this ice needs such intense cold and low pressure to form that the right conditions rarely, if ever, occur naturally on Earth. And when Gerakines makes the ice, he must keep the layer so microscopically thin it is dwarfed by a grain of pollen. These ultrathin layers turn out to be perfect for recreating some of the key chemistry that takes place in space.

How do bacteria clog medical devices? Very quickly

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:11:11 EST

A new study demonstrates that bacteria can quickly and catastrophically clog medical devices by forming slimy ribbons that tangle and trap other cells.

Trackable drug-filled nanoparticles: Potential weapon against cancer

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:34:34 EST

Tiny particles filled with a drug could be a new tool for treating cancer in the future. Scientists show how such nanoparticles can be combined to secure the effective delivery of cancer drugs to tumor cells -- and how they can be given properties to make them visible in MR scanners and thus be rendered trackable.

Renewable energy: Nanotubes to channel osmotic power

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:35:35 EST

The salinity difference between fresh water and salt water could be a source of renewable energy. However, power yields from existing techniques are not high enough to make them viable. A solution to this problem may now have been found. Researchers have discovered a new means of harnessing this energy: osmotic flow through boron nitride nanotubes generates huge electric currents, with 1,000 times the efficiency of any previous system.

Atoms with quantum-memory

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:02:02 EST

Order tends towards disorder. This is also true for quantum states. Measurements show that in quantum mechanics this transition can be quite different from what we experience in our daily lives.

Fluid mechanics: Bubble impacts caught on film

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:46:46 EST

When a bubble of air rising through water hits a sheet of glass, it doesn't simply stop -- it squishes, rebounds, and rises again, before slowly moving to the barrier. An international research team with high-speed cameras reveal the complex physics at work as air meets water and glass.

New anti-frost and anti-fog coating for glass

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:20:20 EST

In an advance toward glass that remains clear under the harshest of conditions, scientists are reporting development of a new water-repellant coating that resists both fogging and frosting. Their research on the coating could have uses ranging from automobile windshields to camera lenses.

Computed tomography provides real-time 3D pictures showing how oil and water flow in porous rock

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:58:58 EST

For the first time, experiments using computed tomography have allowed scientists to observe in 3-D the flow of oil and water in real rock on an unprecedented scale. The new approach trailed and the information gathered by the experiments contribute to an improved understanding of multiphase flow and transport in porous media.

Protecting fish from antidepressants by using new wastewater treatment technique

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 08:11:11 EST

Researchers have developed a new technique to prevent pharmaceutical residues from entering waterways and harming wildlife.

Laser mastery narrows down sources of superconductivity

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 14:29:29 EST

Uncovering the mechanism behind high-temperature superconductivity -- a phenomenon with tremendous value to advances in energy efficiency and sustainability -- remains one of the greatest and most pressing puzzles in physics. Now, using precise laser pulses and atomically perfect 2-D materials, scientists have ruled out one possible source of HTS: Fleeting fluctuations called charge-density waves.