Highest ever winter water temperatures recorded

Tasmania's east coast is recording its highest-ever winter water temperatures of more than 13C up to 1.5C above normal due to a strengthening of an ocean current originating north of Australia. Satellites have given oceanographers an insight into a remarkable phenomenon a significant extens...

Bioethanol's impact on water supply 3 times higher than once thought

At a time when water supplies are scarce in many areas of the United States, scientists in Minnesota are reporting that production of bioethanol often regarded as the clean-burning energy source of the future may consume up to three times more water than previously thought. Their study appeared ...

Urban water ecology at the ESA annual meeting

Increasingly, human urban development overlaps with habitat for wild animals and plants, creating environments that degrade natural landscapes. But people, animals and plants all have in common the need for healthy, sustainable freshwater ecosystems. In a series of presentations at the Ecological ...

ADA releases position paper on food and water safety

CHICAGO The American Dietetic Association has released an updated position paper on food and water safety that reviews the current situation in this country, identifies new tools that can help decrease illness and encourages continued research, education and technological advances to keep the foo...

Key OSU water research receives national funding

STILLWATER, Okla. In a first to the state of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources will receive $226,890 in grant funding from the U.S. Geological Survey, provided through the Oklahoma Water Resources Research Institute. OWRRI and USGS of...

Researchers achieve major breakthrough with water desalination system

Concern over access to clean water is no longer just an issue for the developing world, as California faces its worst drought in recorded history. According to state's Department of Water Resources, supplies in major reservoirs and many groundwater basins are well below average. Court-ordered rest...

Army study improves ability to predict drinking water needs

AUDIO: When soldiers leave base for a three-day mission, how much water should they bring? Dr. Samuel Cheuvront of the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine t...

Waste water treatment plant mud used as 'green' fuel

Catalan scientists have shown that using mud from waste water treatment plants as a partial alternative fuel can enable cement factories to reduce their CO 2 emissions and comply with the Kyoto Protocol, as well as posing no risk to human health and being profitable. These are the results of an e...

Discovery of a water snake that startles fish in a way that makes them flee into its jaws

Forget the old folk tales about snakes hypnotizing their prey. The tentacled snake from South East Asia has developed a more effective technique. The small water snake has found a way to startle its prey so that the fish turn toward the snake's head to flee instead of turning away. In addition, th...

Discovery of the cell's water gate may lead to new cancer drugs

The flow of water into and out from the cell may play a crucial role in several types of cancer. Scientists at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now found the gate that regulates the flow of water into yeast cells. The discovery, which will be published in the journal PLoS Biology , rais...

Study shows transfer of heavy metals from water to fish in Huelva estuary

A team of researchers from the University of Cadiz has confirmed that zinc, copper and lead are present at high levels in the water and sediments of the Huelva estuary, and have studied how some of these heavy metals are transferred to fish. The study shows that zinc, cadmium and copper accumulate...

Scientific evidence of health problems from past contamination of drinking water at Camp Lejeune is limited and unlikely to be resolved with further study

WASHINGTON -- Evidence exists that people who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune Marine Base in North Carolina between the 1950s and 1985 were exposed to the industrial solvents tricholorethylene (TCE) or perchloroethylene (PCE) in their water supply, but strong scientific evidence is not available t...

Hidden genitalia in female water striders makes males 'sing'

In a study published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE June 10, Chang Seok Han and Piotr Jablonski at Seoul National University, Korea, report that by evolving a morphological shield to protect their genitalia from males' forceful copulatory attempts, females of an Asian species...

Contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune -- Report release June 13

Two chemicals -- trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) -- found to have contaminated drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune from the 1950s to 1985 have been linked to certain diseases and disorders, including various cancers. A new report from the National Research Counc...

Elevated water temperature and acidity boost growth of key sea star species: UBC researchers

New research by zoologists at the University of British Columbia indicates that elevated water temperatures and heightened concentrations of carbon dioxide can dramatically increase the growth rate of a keystone species of sea star. The study is one of the first to look at the impact of ocean a...

Double trouble for water life

Excess phosphorus and nitrogen produced by human activities on neighboring land is making its way into our coastal waters and degrading both water quality and aquatic life. Although historically the priority has been to control phosphorus, Professor Hans Paerl, from the University of North Carolin...

Monitoring water through a snake's eyes

Although most Americans take the safety of their drinking water for granted, that ordinary tap water could become deadly within minutes, says Prof. Abraham Katzir of Tel Aviv University's School of Physics and Astronomy. To combat the threat of contamination due to industrial spillage, natural ...

Scientists urge global action to preserve water supplies for billions worldwide

Melting glaciers, weakening monsoon rains, less mountain snowpack and other effects of a warmer climate will lead to significant disruptions in the supply of water to highly populated regions of the world, especially near the Himalayas in Asia and the Sierra Nevada Mountains of the western United ...

Wind, salt and water are leading indicators of land degradation in Abu Dhabi

Desert environments are characterized by poor vegetative cover, strong winds, dry, non-cohesive sandy soils, and hyper-arid conditions. In this context, the land resources of Abu Dhabi Emirate in the United Arab Emirates are subjected to various land degradation stresses, including wind erosion, s...

Better water use could reduce future food crises

If the overall water resources in river basins were acknowledged and managed better, future food crises could be significantly reduced, say researchers from Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, Stockholm Environment Institute and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Th...

Crop models help increase yield per unit of water used

MADISON, WI, May 4, 2009 -- Crop water use efficiency (WUE, or yield per unit of water used), also known as crop water productivity, can be improved through irrigation management and methods, including deficit irrigation (irrigating less than is required for maximum yields) and supplemental irriga...

Weizmann Institute scientists develop a unique approach for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen

The design of efficient systems for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, driven by sunlight is among the most important challenges facing science today, underpinning the long term potential of hydrogen as a clean, sustainable fuel. But man-made systems that exist today are very inefficient an...

Hormone-mimics in plastic water bottles -- just the tip of the iceberg?

In an analysis1 of commercially available mineral waters, the researchers found evidence of estrogenic compounds leaching out of the plastic packaging into the water. What's more, these chemicals are potent in vivo and result in an increased development of embryos in the New Zealand mud snail. The...

Uvalde Center water research could have national, international applications

UVALDE Intensifying drought conditions in Texas and other parts of the U.S. plus increasing worldwide water consumption makes ongoing water conservation research at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Uvalde even more relevant, said the center's director. "Our research includes...

Keeping golf courses green when fresh water is limited

LAS VEGASExplosive population growth in southern Nevada has placed increasing demands on available water resources. In 2007, 80% of the state's residents lived in southern Nevada, where the population approached two million people. The dual concerns of this population boom and a climate that featu...

Research to secure a safe water supply

Berlin, 19 March 2009 World Water Day on Sunday, 22 March aims to raise public awareness of the increasing scarcity of clean drinking water on our planet. In a densely populated world, droughts and floods are causing more damage than ever before. Helmholtz scientists in the research field Eart...

Dancing 'adatoms' help chemists understand how water molecules split

RICHLAND, Wash. -- Single oxygen atoms dancing on a metal oxide slab, glowing brighter here and dimmer there, have helped chemists better understand how water splits into oxygen and hydrogen. In the process, the scientists have visualized a chemical reaction that had previously only been talked ab...

Forget the freezer: Research suggests novel way to control water behavior

Researchers may be able to "freeze" water into a solid, not by cooling but by confining it to narrow spaces less than one-millionth of a millimeter wide, according to new results from an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers. It's more than a neat trick -- a deeper understanding of...

Iowa student engineers develop hand-held water sanitizer for a thirsty world

What do you do when you learn that about one-sixth of the world's population -- nearly one billion people, according to UNICEF -- lack clean water on a daily basis? If you happen to be one of 15 student engineers at the University of Iowa, you roll up your sleeves and design a $5, hand-held dev...

ESA's water mission on track for launch

Following word from Eurockot that launch of the Earth Explorer SMOS satellite can take place between July and October this year, ESA, CNES and the prime contractor Thales Alenia Space are now making detailed preparations for the last crucial steps before ESA's water mission is placed in orbit. ...

NSF to fund water and environment technology center

The National Science Foundation has awarded a five-year, $1.24 million grant to The University of Arizona and two other universities to fund a research center to investigate new clean-water technologies. These new technologies include improved monitoring of large-scale water distribution system...

Substantial work ahead for water issues, say scientists at ACS' Final Report briefing

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2009 Scientists and engineers will face a host of obstacles over the next decade in providing clean water to millions of people caught up in a water shortage crisis, a panel of scientists and engineers said today at a briefing at the Broadcast Center of the National Press Bui...

Hypertension and cholesterol medications present in water released into the St. Lawrence River

This press release is available in French . Montreal, January 26, 2009 A study conducted by Universit de Montral researchers on downstream and upstream water from the Montreal wastewater treatment plant has revealed the presence of chemotherapy products and certain hypertension and cholest...

Study links water pollution with declining male fertility

New research strengthens the link between water pollution and rising male fertility problems. The study, by Brunel University, the Universities of Exeter and Reading and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, shows for the first time how a group of testosterone-blocking chemicals is finding its way i...

Using water to understand human society, from the industrial revolution to global trade

Water shapes societies, but it is a factor only just beginning to be appreciated by social scientists. The Norwegian professor, writer and film maker Terje Tvedt, of the Universities of Oslo and Bergen, argues that water has played a unique and fundamental role in shaping societies throughout h...

'Fish technology' draws renewable energy from slow water currents

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Slow-moving ocean and river currents could be a new, reliable and affordable alternative energy source. A University of Michigan engineer has made a machine that works like a fish to turn potentially destructive vibrations in fluid flows into clean, renewable power. The machi...

Urban trees enhance water infiltration

MADISON, WI, NOVEMBER 17, 2008 Global land use patterns and increasing pressures on water resources demand creative urban stormwater management. Traditional stormwater management focuses on regulating the flow of runoff to waterways, but generally does little to restore the hydrologic cycle disrup...

Measuring water from space

Observations from satellites now allow scientists to monitor changes to water levels in the sea, in rivers and lakes, in ice sheets and even under the ground. As the climate changes, this information will be crucial for monitoring its effects and predicting future impacts in different regions. ...

Fuels of the future may come from 'ice that burns,' water and sunshine

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2008 Move over, oil, gasoline, and coal. Researchers are describing key advances in developing new fuels to help supply an energy-hungry world in the 21st Century in the eighth and ninth episodes in the American Chemical Society's Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions series. ...

Polarized light guides cholera-carrying midges that contaminate water supplies

Cholera is a major killer and since the first pandemic in the early 19th century it has claimed millions of lives. According to Amit Lerner from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, the lethal infection is harboured by an equally infamous insect: chironomids (midges). Lerner explains that t...