Constant access to a supply of freshwater is critical for life on this planet, as well as for the growth of industry, agriculture and modern-day economies. But natural water supplies are depleting in many parts of the world, with around 2.2 billion people lacking safely managed drinking water, according to United Nations estimates.

Many countries rely on converting ocean water into freshwater using desalination plants. But the reverse osmosis and thermal distillation techniques currently used are energy intensive and leave behind brine that raises the salt level of the water (and reduces oxygen levels), which can harm sea life.

Researchers from the University of Rochester have taken a new approach by developing a solar-thermal desalination process that’s less energy intensive, doesn’t generate brine and doesn’t require chemical additives to pre-treat the water.

“Today, about one quarter of the global population lacks safely managed drinking water; but at the same time the oceans contain an enormous resource of both water and valuable minerals,” explains lead researcher Chunlei Guo. “We wanted to develop a technology that could address these challenges together, producing freshwater sustainably while turning what is traditionally considered waste into a resource.”

The novel desalination technology, described in Light: Science & Applications, is based on a multi-functional superwicking black metal (SWBM) panel created via femtosecond laser processing. Desalination involves evaporating and distilling the water, removing the salt in the process. To do this, materials that absorb sunlight and heat up, while wicking water, are required. The SWBM panel proved effective at both.

The SWBM panel is highly attractive to water and can pull a thin film of water upwards across its surface, while absorbing almost all solar energy. This uphill pulling of water against gravity means that the panel can be placed in any orientation, enabling effective solar tracking.

The evaporated and distilled water can be extracted from the panel and the remaining salts are directed away from the panel’s active region and deposited in its passive (untreated) regions. This not only self-cleans the active region of the panel, but enables continuous desalination to produce distilled drinking water.

Harvesting valuable minerals

This approach means that concentrated brines are not deposited back into the ocean, and the solid salt can be collected and used to produce common table salt. The process also extracts other precious minerals such as lithium, which could be used in battery manufacturing. As traditional land-based mining becomes more expensive, extracting lithium directly from ocean water could prove a lower-cost, more sustainable option.

“The most important advance is that our system can desalinate real ocean water continuously using sunlight alone, without generating waste, with little to no maintenance and while recovering valuable minerals such as lithium,” says Guo. “By using a superwicking, self‑cleaning surface invented in my lab to move salts away from the evaporation region, we overcame the clogging bottleneck that has limited solar desalination until now. This is the first time we have achieved stable, low‑maintenance, high‑efficiency and nearly 100% salt-recovery performance with actual seawater.”

The self-cleaning mechanism is vital for use in real-world scenarios. Many desalination technologies work in the lab where the only mineral component is sodium chloride. Ocean water, however, contains many other materials, such as magnesium and calcium salts, that could crystallize on the panel and clog it. The self-cleaning process is driven by etched grooves that stop these minerals from staying on the panel. If oceans contain too high a mineral content, wider and deeper grooves can be etched into the panel by applying a higher laser power during fabrication.

The team tested the solar-thermal desalination panel using water samples from Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. When tracking the sun over a week to purify the ocean water, the panel demonstrated an average evaporation rate of 1.76±0.04 kg/m²/h and a salt harvesting rate of 61.74 ± 2.46  kg/m²/h under one sun illumination, corresponding to 74% solar-to-vapour conversion efficiency and near-100% salt extraction.

The researchers are now working to scale up the technology and integrate it with other mature platforms, such as solar cells. “We have made significant progress by demonstrating that the desalination process can be used to cool the solar cells, improving electrical output while simultaneously producing freshwater. This approach could lead to a synergistic water-energy system that operates sustainably,” Guo tells Physics World.

The post Solar-thermal desalination process operates at near 100% efficiency appeared first on Physics World.

A remarkable discovery has been made in East Africa’s Lake Malawi, one of the deepest bodies of water on the African continent.

Africa’s impressive lakes have long remained a focus of speculation for naturalists, involving folklore about strange creatures—including supposed holdovers from prehistoric times—alleged to inhabit some of their waters.

However, a much smaller discovery made by a team of researchers with the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) at Vancouver, Canada, is nonetheless challenging our past thinking on what kinds of life forms can be found lurking in the depths of some of Africa’s storied lakes.

In a remarkable discovery, a variety of lake fly larvae have been found descending into the very oxygen-deprived depths of Lake Malawi, where they hide more than 650 feet below the surface to avoid predators.

After spending their days in this deep-water “dead zone,” the larvae reemerge at night and feed—or at least some of them do, if they are lucky enough to escape the fish searching for a dinner of their own, while these tiny insects are commuting back to the surface.

A Surprising Discovery Deep in Lake Malawi

To chart the unusual daily cycle of these larvae, UBC researchers Dr. Philip Matthews and Dr. Evan McKenzie used sonar technologies, which were positioned deep within the lake.

While this provided an idea about where these tiny insects were going, it was dissecting the larvae that revealed how these remarkable little creatures have somehow evolved a respiratory system that contains two pairs of small air sacs, which function like ballast tanks, allowing the larvae to control their buoyancy.

Within these sacs, they discovered the presence of resilin, a material that can either expand or contract in proportion to changes in the pH of the sac’s walls. As a result, the larvae can change the volume of these unique air sacs, thereby controlling their buoyancy.

It is an unusual capability these creatures display, to say the least. Curious about how deep they might be able to go, the researchers placed several of the larvae within small pressure chambers to simulate the depths they might travel to before the sacs imploded.

Much to the team’s surprise, these natural buoyancy systems held out under conditions that would match depths of 400 meters (1,312 feet), which is much deeper than what the sonar data reveals about the larvae’s daily descents into Lake Malawi.

While it has long been assumed that insects, which often thrive in freshwater environments, do not live in open oceans due to such pressures associated with the depths of the world’s largest bodies of water, these African insect larvae reveal that such creatures can survive under such conditions.

Based on their findings, the UBC researchers hope to work on finding ways of simulating such capabilities, perhaps by creating pH-powered resilin smart materials, or even artificial systems that emulate the way muscles operate.

The team’s findings appeared in the new study, “Crush-resistant air sacs allow insect larvae to exploit aquatic habitats at extreme depth,” published in the journal Science.

Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.

There's one very stinky reason why Labour's ambitious housebuilding targets are doomed to fail, says Mike Wells: Britain's creaking sewers and drainage systems simply can't cope with all the demands of new homes.

The post There’s One Very Stinky Reason Why Labour’s Housebuilding Targets Are Doomed to Fail appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Water and spice influenced eating in opposite and unexpected ways during controlled meal experiments. A glass of water beside a meal is often treated as an easy way to eat less. The usual explanation is that the water stretches the stomach and creates a sense of fullness before too much food is consumed. A Cornell [...]

A new review of previous studies in the journal Appetite undercuts the popular belief that water fills you up at the table.

The post Researchers Challenge Long-Held Beliefs about Water, Spicy Food and Digestion appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A new study in npj Urban Sustainability points to the practical levers that determine whether stormwater systems actually deliver long-term sustainability. As cities expand and rainfall extremes intensify, green and nature-based infrastructure has been promoted to capture runoff, reduce flooding, and protect water quality. But the research warns that success is not automatic: design decisions and operational realities can make or break performance.

The authors, Sun, Randrup, Blecken and colleagues, analyze what they call “decisive factors” governing sustainable stormwater management. Their central message is that the most visible features—such as bioswales, permeable surfaces, or detention basins—only work when supported by the right planning assumptions and measurable hydrological outcomes.

A key technical theme is how stormwater must be matched to system capacity under changing conditions. The study emphasizes that system sizing, soil or media properties, and infiltration or storage behavior strongly influence whether the infrastructure can handle typical storms and rare, high-intensity events. When these factors are misestimated, treatment efficiency can collapse during peak flows.

Equally important are maintenance and lifecycle considerations. Sustainable stormwater is sensitive to clogging, sediment accumulation, vegetation health, and changes in catchment behavior. The research highlights the need for maintenance regimes that reflect likely failure modes, rather than generic schedules that ignore local hydrology and traffic or land-use impacts.

The paper also stresses the value of monitoring and model-informed decision-making. Reliable data on rainfall patterns, runoff routing, and pollutant loads allow managers to validate performance and adjust operations. This feedback loop helps prevent long-term degradation that otherwise remains invisible until issues become costly.

For cities seeking viral, widely transferable “what works” guidance, the authors’ findings offer a shortlist of priorities: realistic capacity planning, robust material characterization, design for multi-storm performance, and maintenance strategies tied to specific mechanisms. Together, these elements translate sustainability goals into systems that function under real weather and real urban change.

The study’s DOI is 10.1038/s42949-026-00448-4.

Subject of Research: Sustainable stormwater management / urban sustainability
Article Title: Decisive factors in sustainable stormwater management
Article References: Sun, Z., Randrup, T.B., Blecken, GT. et al. Decisive factors in sustainable stormwater management. npj Urban Sustain 6, 104 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-026-00448-4
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-026-00448-4

It’s the first potentially habitable world known to host an atmosphere, making it a lead contender in the search for life beyond our solar system.

Apple TV on Thursday announced an all-new season five of the beloved, award-winning animated kids and family series “Stillwater,” premiering with five episodes on Friday, August 21, 2026. Based on the bestselling Scholastic “Zen” book series by Jon J Muth, “Stillwater” follows a wise panda who teaches three young siblings about the world and each other. The series centers on siblings Karl (Judah Mackey), Addy (Eva Ariel Binder) and Michael (Tucker Chandler), who encounter everyday challenges — big and small — which sometimes feel insurmountable. Fortunately for these three, they have Stillwater (James Sie), a wise panda, as their next-door neighbor. Through his example, stories and gentle humor, Stillwater teaches the children the concept of mindfulness, while offering them a deeper understanding of their feelings as well as tools that help them face their own day-to-day challenges. “Stillwater” is produced for Apple TV by Gaumont and Scholastic Entertainment.

Take a deep breath and embrace your inner peace by embarking on a fun adventure with the first four seasons of “Stillwater” available on Apple TV. Through breathing exercises, mindful moments and simple everyday practices, this uplifting, Peabody and Daytime Emmy Award-winning series invites you and your family to discover your own zen through each episode. “Stillwater” was produced through Apple TV’s changemakers initiative in collaboration with awareness and intention expert Mallika Chopra, author of “Buddha and the Rose” and the “Just Be” series for kids.

Gaumont and Scholastic Entertainment produce, with Sidonie Dumas, Nicolas Atlan, Terry Kalagian, Iole Lucchese, Caitlin Friedman, Jef Kaminsky, Jun Falkenstein and Rob Hoegee serving as executive producers. In addition, the series features the voice talents of Sie, Binder, Chandler and Mackey.

The exciting slate of recent offerings for kids and families on Apple TV also features “My Brother the Minotaur,” from Academy Award-nominated animation studio Cartoon Saloon and award-winning children’s media company Dog Ears; “Wonder Pets: In the City,” from Emmy Award winner Jennifer Oxley and produced by Nickelodeon Animation; animated adventure trilogy “WondLa,” based on the New York Times bestselling book series “The Search for WondLa” by Tony DiTerlizzi; highly anticipated kids and family series “Yo Gabba GabbaLand!” inspired by the hit, Emmy Award-nominated cultural phenomenon “Yo Gabba Gabba!”; season two of Emmy Award-winning “Shape Island,” based on the internationally bestselling picture books from Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen; animated fantasy adventure series “The Sisters Grimm,” based on Michael Buckley’s New York Times bestselling book series; the music-driven animated comedy series “BE@RBRICK” from DreamWorks Animation; “Goldie,” inspired by Emily Brundige’s award-winning 2019 short film of the same name, and many more.

Award-winning all-ages offerings now streaming globally on Apple TV also include the BAFTA Award and Emmy Award-winning live-action animated hybrid special “The Velveteen Rabbit,” BAFTA Award and Humanitas Prize-winning “El Deafo,” BAFTA Award-winning “Lovely Little Farm,” “Duck & Goose,” “Get Rolling With Otis,” Spin Master Entertainment’s “Sago Mini Friends,” Emmy Award-winning “Frog and Toad,” based on the Caldecott and Newbery Honor-winning books, Annie Award-nominated “Not a Box,” GLAAD Media Award-nominated “Pinecone & Pony,” The Jim Henson Company’s Emmy Award-winning “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock,” “Harriet the Spy” and “Slumberkins,” Sesame Workshop’s “Helpsters,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt, HITRECORD and Bento Box Entertainment’s “Wolfboy and the Everything Factory,” Jack McBrayer and Angela C. Santomero’s and Emmy Award-nominated “Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show.” Live-action offerings include “Me,” an elevated cinematic coming-of-age story from Barry L. Levy, Bonnie Hunt’s DGA Award and WGA Award-nominated “Amber Brown,” DGA Award-winning “Best Foot Forward,” “Surfside Girls,” WGA Award-winning “Life By Ella,” Sesame Workshop and Sinking Ship’s Emmy Award-winning “Ghostwriter,” Emmy Award and Environmental Media Association Award-winning “Jane,” and Scholastic’s “Puppy Place.” “Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth,” the Emmy Award-winning television event based on the New York Times bestselling book and TIME Best Book of the Year by Oliver Jeffers, is also featured.

Apple TV offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 850 wins and 3,737 award nominations and counting including multi-Emmy Award-winning and history-making comedies “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” global cultural phenomenon “Severance,” Apple’s most-viewed drama “Pluribus,” Academy Award Best Picture winner “CODA” and Academy Award winner “F1,” the highest-grossing sports feature of all time.

MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $12.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.

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The post Apple TV’s beloved kids series ‘Stillwater’ set to premiere all-new fifth season August 21st appeared first on MacDailyNews.

A new analysis suggests the four sub-Earth exoplanets orbiting Barnard’s star -- the Sun’s nearest single-star neighbor -- are likely packed with the deep-Earth mineral periclase, stripped of their atmospheres and far too hostile to support life.

The post Barnard’s Star Planetary System May Be Filled with Water-Poor Rocky Worlds appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Physicists have debated which way a submerged sprinkler sucking in water would spin. Careful experiments provide an answer.

Four scientists could soon live and work beneath the Florida Keys for days.

The properties of water are unusual among liquids—it expands when it freezes, reaches its highest density just above freezing, and does not behave like the simple liquids chemists often use to understand matter.

Now, a new study in Communications Chemistry uses artificial intelligence to compare competing methods for measuring water’s hidden molecular order and determine which are truly effective.

Researchers at the University of Osaka developed a neural network to test 16 different ‘structural descriptors,’ which are mathematical tools for measuring how ordered or disordered water molecules are at the microscopic scale. Over the past 30 years, scientists have independently developed these descriptors, each with its own approach and scale, all aimed at explaining the same underlying puzzle.

Until now, researchers lacked a standard method for comparing them directly—a gap this study fills.

Water’s Split Personality

Distinguishing Hot From Cold

To establish a common standard, the Osaka team trained a neural network using molecular dynamics simulations of water at temperatures from 200 to 300 Kelvin. Using only the values from a single structural descriptor, it had to predict the temperature at which each molecular configuration was generated. If a descriptor captured meaningful structural information, the network could easily distinguish hot from cold.

“Past studies have shown that using machine learning to classify and understand structural data is effective,” says corresponding author Kang Kim. “We specifically wanted to incorporate a neural network model into this study to evaluate how accurate the descriptors were at capturing key structural information, in a way that is like human cognition.”

The network assessed each descriptor using a standard classification measure. To deepen their analysis, the team used an explainable AI technique called LIME. This method looks at how the model makes its decisions and checks whether its reasoning matches established physical principles, instead of relying only on statistical patterns.

Two Descriptors Pull Ahead

Out of the 16 descriptors tested, two stood out. The Local Structure Index (LSI) and another, referred to as zeta (ζ), both of which measure the distance between the first and second layers of neighboring molecules, achieved nearly perfect accuracy across the tested temperatures. Another group, based on how hydrogen bonds connect, also scored well but was not as accurate as the others. Older descriptors that rely on tetrahedral angles or interaction energies became less accurate at higher temperatures, where molecules move more, and the differences blur.

“The network used what it had learned to compare how 16 descriptors differentiated between LDL and HDL structures at different temperatures,” says senior author Nobuyuki Matubayasi. “In this way, we determined the most efficient descriptors.”

The LIME analysis backed up the network’s results with evidence consistent with scientists’ expectations. Molecules with high Local Structure Index and zeta values led the model to predict lower temperatures, which is consistent with the idea that more ordered, LDL-like structures appear as water cools. This suggests that the network captured more than just statistical correlations.

With a common framework for comparing descriptors in place, researchers could attempt to develop descriptors that directly identify HDL and LDL environments rather than infer them indirectly. Whether these new tools will finally solve one of water’s biggest mysteries, the point where its two proposed liquid forms fully separate, is something scientists are just starting to investigate.

Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a data analytics certification. His work focuses on breaking scientific developments, with an emphasis on emerging biology, cognitive neuroscience, and archaeological discoveries.

A team of physicists set out to recreate a 60-year-old quantum mystery using a large water tank. While their experiment produced the expected results, it also revealed an unexpected behavior in the water.

The experiment centered on the Aharonov–Bohm effect, a strange quantum phenomenon where electrons respond to a magnetic field even when they never actually pass through it. First predicted back in 1959, this effect has been notoriously difficult to confirm because the changes it causes in electron waves are incredibly subtle.

Instead of using electrons and a particle accelerator, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), along with collaborators in Oslo and Chile, recreated the effect using water waves, making an otherwise invisible quantum effect visible in a tabletop experiment. The team reported their findings in Communications Physics.

A 1980 Idea Gets a Modern Upgrade

“With waves traveling the opposite direction, you see a mirror image pattern,” says Jonas Rønning, co- author and former postdoc in the OIST unit. “The question for us was, what happens if you send waves from both directions at the same time? We thought that the patterns might cancel each other out, or both pitchfork-like patterns would be visible, but our intuition was completely wrong.”

Two Waves Walk Into a Vortex

The researchers constructed a custom tank, created a vortex at its center, and sent waves from opposite sides to meet in the middle. They used a high-speed camera to observe how the waves interacted on the water’s surface.

Without a vortex, the peaks and troughs remain in place. When the vortex is there, the standing wave breaks down. The vortex shifts the phase of the waves as they travel around it, altering the standing-wave interference pattern and creating rotating nodal lines. These are lines of momentarily flat water that spiral outward and turn in the opposite direction of the vortex.

“This was something new and unexpected,” says Aditya Singh, a PhD student in the Nonlinear and Non-equilibrium Physics Unit and co-first author of the study. “That’s what makes this fluid analogue system so valuable. It reveals topological effects — wave behaviors that occur across the whole system — that can’t be seen in quantum experiments.”

At first, the team suspected their equipment was causing the rotating lines. However, the same pattern also appeared in their computer simulations.

“When we first saw these lines, we thought they were an experimental artifact,” Singh says. “But when we also saw them in our simulations, we dropped everything and quickly worked out the mathematics underlying how they arise.”

More Speed, More Lines

As the strength of the vortex increased, more rotating nodal lines appeared, always moving in the direction opposite to the vortex. The study showed that the number of lines is quantized, meaning it is fixed to whole-number values determined by the vortex’s circulation. In other words, the topology of the vortex determines how many rotating nodal lines appear. This effect was observed across the entire wave field, not just near the vortex core as earlier models suggested.

This finding differs from Berry’s original experiment, which observed changes only near the vortex. In this case, the researchers discovered a non-local effect, a pattern that covers the entire system and depends on the overall setup. Instead of being limited to the area near the vortex, the rotating nodal lines appeared throughout the whole standing-wave pattern.

Although the practical uses of these newly discovered nodal patterns are not yet clear, the study shows that simple classical systems can reveal behaviors that are challenging to observe in quantum experiments. By making these effects visible, the researchers plan to explore more complex wave systems that could offer new insights into superconductivity and other quantum phenomena.

“One direction is to make the system more complex by introducing multiple vortices and arranging them into a lattice,” senior author Mahesh Bandi says. “That setup would mirror conditions in some superconducting materials, with the water waves behaving like a supercurrent. We don’t yet know what we’ll see — and that’s exactly what makes it worth doing.”

Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a data analytics certification. His work focuses on breaking scientific developments, with an emphasis on emerging biology, cognitive neuroscience, and archaeological discoveries.

Nearly 170 billion tons of ice melt off the Greenland Ice Sheet every year, but scientists don’t fully understand the process by which this melting occurs. Researchers in the past suggested that liquid water forms at the glacier’s surface, where warm air and sunlight melt the ice. This meltwater travels down through cracks in the glacier and along the bedrock beneath it and flows out to sea. 

However, some scientists view this model as too simple because it assumes water only flows downward and ignores how temperature affects water movement. They argue that an oversimplified melting model is unreliable for predicting how future ice sheets will behave.

One group of researchers tested this by investigating how water movement across Greenland is controlled by lakes beneath the ice sheet, called subglacial lakes. They monitored a newly discovered subglacial lake using high-resolution satellite images taken from 2012 to 2019 and 3D surface maps generated from the images. They focused on ice sheet changes from July 22 to August 1, 2014, during a suspected subglacial lake drainage event. A drainage event is like a water balloon that’s too full, bursting from excess pressure. 

They examined images of the Greenland ice sheet taken from Landsat-8, 3D surface maps from the Polar Geospatial Center, and data from ICESat and ICESat-2 taken in the summer of 2014. Based on these data, the researchers identified a 2-square-kilometer (0.8-square-mile) region of ice rising 10 to 15 meters (about 30 to 50 feet), forming a dome on the ice sheet’s surface. They suggested that this dome formed when a large, meltwater-fed lake developed on the bedrock beneath the ice sheet, pushing the ice upward. 

They also saw that on July 22, 2014, the dome began to collapse. Over the next 10 days, it dropped by 85 meters (about 280 feet), forming a basin. Using the dome’s dimensions, the researchers estimated that 90 million cubic meters, or about 3 billion cubic feet, of water drained from the lake at an average rate of 100 cubic meters, or about 3500 cubic feet, per second over the 10 days. This is roughly equivalent to 36,000 Olympic swimming pools draining at a rate of 1 pool every 25 seconds! 

The researchers also found that during the collapse, 40-meter-high (130-foot) ice blocks were uprooted about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) downstream from the basin, followed by 6 square kilometers (about 2 square miles) of smooth ice. The researchers hypothesized that these features formed when water burst through the ice, flowed along its surface, and then reentered the ice sheet.

Next, they used data from Landsat 5, Landsat 9, the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and the U.S. Geological Survey to demonstrate that the drainage event also affected the surrounding environment. When the water reentered the ice sheet, it flowed beneath the Harding Glacier downstream. This influx of fast-moving water reduced pressure at the glacier’s base, slowing its movement. Simultaneously, the increased drainage beneath the Harding Glacier caused 500 to 600 meters (about 1,600 to 2,000 feet) of ice to break off its end. 

In response to these changes, the researchers hypothesized that subglacial waters rose to the surface rather than sinking to the bedrock because the ice sheet was frozen to it. To test this, they simulated temperatures at the base of the ice sheet using computer-generated thermal models. They input a range of likely bedrock temperatures and ice thicknesses to simulate possible conditions under the ice sheet. They found that all the simulations predicted the glacier’s base would remain below -5°C (23°F). At such low temperatures, the ice would be frozen to the bedrock before subglacial water could drain out. Since water couldn’t flow under the glacier, it was forced to travel upward. 

The researchers used these findings to develop a new conceptual model of how glacial meltwater moves. First, surface ice melts and flows into a subglacial lake. As meltwater accumulates, pressure builds at the base of the ice sheet, forming a dome on the surface. A drainage event causes the dome to collapse. As water moves downward through the glacier, it is blocked from reaching the base because the ice is frozen to the bedrock. The water then moves upward, bursts through the surface, travels across it, and eventually reenters the glacier before draining to the ocean.

The team concluded that water movement above, through, and below glaciers is interconnected. Destructive upward flow of meltwater, followed by downward flow beneath glaciers, can weaken ice sheet structure and alter downstream glacier dynamics. Their work highlights the need for more scientists to consider the processes driving glacial ice loss.

The post How do ice sheets melt? appeared first on Sciworthy.

They suck up energy and water, and blast out heat. Just who is better off from all this investment – aside from tech bros?

The two great existential threats of our time – the climate crisis and AI – come hurtling together in the explosion of datacentres across Australia and around the world.

You can hardly avoid hearing about them these days, either with awed reverence of the promised benefits to humankind or with fear and anger given the implications for the climate, inflation, jobs and even housing affordability.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

© Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

© Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

Readers respond to an article about Erin Brockovich’s battle against datacentres and voice their fears for the environment

What are the benefits obtained from AI’s massive use of electricity and water (‘We’re up against forces that have all the money in the world’: Erin Brockovich on her battle against AI datacentres, 29 June)? Analysis shows that the top four uses of AI are “therapy/companionship”, “technical assistance and troubleshooting”, “fun and nonsense”, and “fan fiction and storytelling”.

AI use for therapy, and due to loneliness, appears not to reduce loneliness. AI provides affirmation, but at the expense of reducing the social skills needed to interact in the real world. Teachers report that students’ use of AI reduces their capacity for critical thinking.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS carries a chemical fingerprint unlike anything in our Solar System, and it may have formed 10 to 12 billion years ago, before our Sun even existed, according to two papers published in the journal Nature.

The post Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Formed Up To 12 Billion Years Ago, New Observations Suggest appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

The main-belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, a heavily cratered fragment born from a catastrophic breakup 155 million years ago, appears to wobble through space while preserving clues to the migration of water-rich worlds in the early Solar System, according to a new analysis of images and data from NASA’s Lucy spacecraft.

The post Asteroid Donaldjohanson is Wobbly, Peanut-Shaped Object with Watery Past, Scientists Say appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A pilot program is building solar panels over irrigation canals to generate electricity. As a bonus, the shade prevents water from evaporating.

© Nathan Weyland for The New York Times

A pilot program is building solar panels over irrigation canals to generate electricity. As a bonus, the shade prevents water from evaporating.