10 comments

  • le-mark 1 hour ago
    Somewhat related is the hydration shell around molecules especially proteins. It’s been shown that semi structured water around proteins help guide molecules to reaction sites. Water is an amazing thing!
  • VladVladikoff 1 hour ago
    >The boundary between them is thought to terminate at a "second critical point." This deeply supercooled region is so hard to study experimentally because water crystallizes rapidly

    This sounds like the type of thing that could be used for some future technology that doesn’t exist yet and I can’t comprehend. Some sort of process that takes advantage of being in this second critical state.

  • wglb 2 hours ago
    Study published in Nature Physics: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-026-03301-8
  • mefistofeles 57 minutes ago
    Sadly paper is behind paywall. But I question the choosing of the water model to be a 4-site, and why that specific 4-site one (TIP4P) instead of others that have shown to be more accurate such as OPC. Also, there seem to be previous experimental work (https://arxiv.org/abs/1304.2877) showing some evidence that apparently is not even referenced in this new paper. I wonder how does that compare, if at all.
  • boothby 51 minutes ago
    So if liquid water is really a mixture of water and water, is it safe to say that this paper establishes that water is wet?
    • jagged-chisel 19 minutes ago
      Only if the molecules have a hydration shell
  • potatosalad99 1 hour ago
    So the OTA firmware updates on my dehumidifier for when they discover a new kind of water will come in handy after all!
    • felooboolooomba 1 hour ago
      Nah, IFIFY: So the OTA firmware updates on my dehumidifier is for when they make a new kind of dehumidifier that they want me to buy!
  • harimau777 1 hour ago
    It would be hilarious if homeopathy turned out to be right!

    (To be clear, I don't think that will actually happen, but it would be hilarious if it did!)

    • vermilingua 28 minutes ago
      You can be sure they’ll start using this paper as “evidence” all the same.
    • hyperhello 1 hour ago
      Homeopathic medicine is already recommended by 1 out of 1000000000000000000 doctors.
      • etchalon 57 minutes ago
        Stealing this forever.
    • OutOfHere 1 hour ago
      There is no basis to suggest that any product uses this property of water. As for homeopathy, it isn't one thing. The effects, if any, can vary greatly by the substance and the concentration. Some low-dilution products work and many high-dilution products don't. There is such a thing as excessive dilution. Anyone who is painting a simpler picture of it is almost certainly wrong.
    • aand16 40 minutes ago
      Don't know about right, but for a while it worked better than "regular" medicine. At least it wouldn't kill you, when the alternative was intensive bloodlettings and purgatives.
  • cwmoore 1 hour ago
    Great to see progress on ice-9 /s
  • appreciatorBus 1 hour ago
    [flagged]