Water

Filter-feeding mollusks respond to water pollution in a very detectable and measurable manner. With that fact in mind, scientists have created a water-quality-monitoring system that uses electronically augmented live mollusks as its sensors.

Drinking water in developed countries is pretty clean, but hidden nasties can still lurk. One mysterious “phantom chemical” has haunted drinking water for decades, and now researchers have identified it – and found it’s completely new to science.

It's ironic that even when surrounded by water, sailors who are lost at sea can still die of thirst. The QuenchSea 3.0 portable desalinator is designed to keep that from happening, and it requires no power source other than its user's arm muscles.

Although hot tubs may get all the glory, cold-plunge tubs are the ones that really help reduce muscle inflammation and soreness. The Snowcap tub makes that process more doable than ever, by chilling water without using any ice or refrigerants.

Scientists in Canada have demonstrated a promising new device that can purify a gallon of water a day, for just a few cents per gallon. Better yet, it’s made of old tires, and can even generate small amounts of electricity.

It's always best if farmers can detect drought stress before crop plants become wilted, weakened and lower-yielding. An experimental new portable device could help in that regard, as it uses ultrasound to spot such stress in its earliest stages.

We all know the equation – hydrogen plus oxygen equals water. But now scientists have captured molecular-scale video of that famous meeting in action, which could lead to a new way to generate large amounts of drinking water.

A humble little lizard has developed a clever escape route from predators – it blows a bubble over its nostrils and scuba dives to safety for 20 minutes or more. Now, a biologist has explored exactly how it works.

Proposed methods of removing toxic ‘forever chemicals’ from water have either only trapped the chemicals or broken them down. A new study has demonstrated a method that does both effectively. And it's quick and cheap.

While people are becoming concerned about microplastic pollution in their drinking water, it's one of those things that the average person can't check for themselves. That could soon change, however, if a new prototype device reaches production.

Aquaria Technologies, a San Francisco-based company founded in 2022, is looking to provide affordable, clean drinking water for the masses by pulling it out of the air.

The good news is that there's a vast ocean of water under the surface of Mars – enough to cover the entire planet to a depth of a mile (1.6 km). The bad news is that this repository is so deep and unreachable that it might as well be in another galaxy.