Friday, 24 May, 2013

Geologic dating shows that water has been trapped more than 2 kilometers underground since before the Cambrian explosion. This water contains chemicals that support bacteria in other places. Could the deep biosphere contain relics of the most primitive life? Could such life exist on Mars?

What happens when people throw boiling water in the air on a cold day? You can watch videos on the web, but this is a great experiment to try at home, if you do it carefully and don’t burn yourself! On a day with very cold, dry air, throw a cup of boiling water into [...]

Rivers bring water. They house amazing biodiversity. And they are being polluted, tapped, dammed and diverted at a frightening rate. What does a new study of global rivers tell us about something we can’t afford to lose?

A small constriction in a buried pipe shows that the Maya were using pressurized pipes before year 750. It’s more proof that when it comes to water, people get inventive! And what did the Maya do with the New World’s oldest plumbing? How about storing water, supplying drinking water, and flushing toilets?

How much water is in the atmosphere? Water is an exceptionally interesting chemical with many important implications for life on Earth and the circulation of the atmosphere. It is the only chemical that naturally exists in all three phases (solid, liquid, and gas) in our atmosphere. Diagram: NOAA At any moment, the atmosphere contains an [...]

Because we teach them to hate it. There are plenty of cats that love water, according to Sandi Sawchuk, a clinical instructor at the School of Veterinary Medicine. Big, wild cats, especially those that live in hot, arid areas, often love to swim. An Asian species known as the fishing cat uses webbed paws to [...]

400 years ago, Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter. We discover water from 11 billion years ago, volcanoes at Titan, a moon of Saturn, and good reasons to shun light pollution.

It’s a boom time for studying Mars, and the perfect time for the be-all, end-all summer vacation. Ride a robot rover. Dune-buggy an unearthly dune field. Even meet-and-greet a real live Martian! All aboard for Mars!

Gills are the equivalent of a mammal’s lungs, says Jeffrey Malison, director of the aquaculture program at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Their primary purpose is to exchange gases, take oxygen in and release carbon dioxide out of the fish.” Both lungs and gills have a bed of very small blood vessels with thin walls that the [...]

Is bottled water safe and pure? Is bottled water better than tap water? Can you overdose on water? And where did the “8 glasses a day” myth originate?

Bright color, shape both suggest that water ran down 2 gullies on Mars in the past 7 years. Is there also water ice on our own moon?