Cornell University
Cornell University is a university that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
Study looks at effect of selenium to counteract mercury contamination in waterways
What if counteracting mercury contamination in waterways could be as simple as adding selenium? That proposition has gained traction among some scientists and governments, but new research from Cornell and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) suggests the idea is likely too good to be true. In the new study, published in Environmental Science & Technology, researchers exposed […]
Researchers develop low-cost method to produce green hydrogen and potable water from seawater
A Cornell-led collaboration has hit the trifecta of sustainability technology: The group developed a low-cost method to produce carbon-free "green" hydrogen via solar-powered electrolysis of seawater. A happy byproduct of the process? Potable water. The team's hybrid solar distillation-water electrolysis (HSD-WE) device, reported in Energy & Environmental Science, currently produces 200 milliliters of hydrogen per hour with 12.6% energy efficiency directly from seawater under […]
Southern Ocean warming leads to wetter East Asia, Western US
As global temperatures warm, the Southern Ocean – between Antarctica and other continents – will eventually release heat absorbed from the atmosphere, leading to projected long-term increases in precipitation over East Asia and the Western U.S., regardless of climate mitigation efforts. These teleconnections between the tropical Pacific and far-flung areas are reported in a Cornell-led […]
Floating solar can increase greenhouse gas emissions on small ponds, according to study
While floating solar – the emerging practice of putting solar panels on bodies of water – is promising in its efficiency and its potential to spare agricultural and conservation lands, a new experiment finds environmental trade-offs. In the first manipulative field study examining the environmental impacts of floating solar, published Dec. 6 in Environmental Science and Technology, […]
Leaves’ resilience to raindrops offer insights into energy harvesting potential
To a leaf, a falling raindrop is equivalent in mass to a bowling ball dropping on a person—so how does the leaf survive? New research elucidates the raindrop's impact and the physical dynamics that help the leaf respond, with potential applications for agriculture and renewable-energy harvesting. In the paper, "Resonance and Damping in Drop-Cantilever Interactions," published in Physical […]
Colorado River basins could face tipping point, drought study warns
Water from Colorado's West Slope basins plays a vital role in supporting the economy and natural environment across seven western U.S. states, but a new study finds that even under modest climate projections, the basins face a potential tipping point where traditional water delivery levels to Lake Powell and other critical areas may no longer […]
Engineering enzymes to break down microplastics in sewage and wastewater
There are over 5 billion tons of plastic waste accumulated across the planet, much of which are microplastics that may harm human health and pose a long-term threat to agricultural productivity and food security. The gargantuan task of cleaning up this pollution could be aided by a tiny protein: a specialized enzyme designed to break […]
Pond emission measurements improve climate predictions
There could be billions of shallow lakes and ponds on Earth, though lack of mapping systems makes it hard to know just how many exist. Together, they emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but emissions from these systems vary considerably and are not well understood. Now, a new study measures methane and carbon […]
Robot provides unprecedented views below Antarctic ice shelf
High in a narrow, seawater-filled crevasse in the base of Antarctica’s largest ice shelf, cameras on the remotely operated Icefin underwater vehicle relayed a sudden change in scenery. Walls of smooth, cloudy meteoric ice abruptly turned green and rougher in texture, transitioning to salty marine ice. Nearly 1,900 feet above, near where the surface of […]