The University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo 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.
Remote sensing helps track carbon storage in mangroves
Mangrove forests store huge amounts of carbon but figuring out how much is stored globally is challenging. Now, researchers from Japan have developed a new model that uses remote sensing of environmental conditions to determine the productivity of mangrove forests. In a recent study in Scientific Reports, researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University […]
Researchers model ‘red snow’ algal blooming events
Red snow is a unique phenomenon caused by blooms of red algae that live on the surface of snow. Now, researchers from Japan have developed a model to predict the occurrence of red snow events. In a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, researchers from Institute of Industrial Science, The University of […]
A single molecule makes a big splash in the understanding of the two types of water
It plays a fundamental role in human existence and is a major component of our universe, yet there are still things we don't understand about water. To address the knowledge gaps, a collaborative team of Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Tohoku University investigated electron transport through a single water […]
Where on Earth is all the water?
There may be up to 70 times more hydrogen in Earth’s core than in the oceans.
Researchers calculate sources of uncertainty in flood risks to improve global flood predictions
A research team from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo has conducted a detailed analysis of the uncertainties associated with flood risk modeling at the global scale. They found large uncertainties were mainly associated with runoff data. Flood magnitude is large in wet regions, but uncertainties in flood depth is larger in […]
Ultrasensitive transistor for herbicide detection in water
A new polymer-based, solid-state transistor can more sensitively detect a weed killer in drinking water than existing hydrogel-based fluorescence sensor chips. The details were published in Chemistry-A European Journal. The sensor is a specially designed organic thin-film transistor based on semiconducting molecules of carboxylate-functionalized polythiophene (P3CPT). What's special about this particular device is that, unlike other […]
Water, water everywhere – and it’s weirder than you think
Researchers at The University of Tokyo have used computational methods and analysis of recent experimental data to demonstrate that water molecules take two distinct structures in the liquid state. The team investigated the scattering of X-ray photons through water samples and showed a bimodal distribution hidden under the first diffraction peak that resulted from tetrahedral […]
China, India economic development key to achieving MDG for safe drinking water
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) attempted from 2000 to 2015 produced mixed and debatable results. But there was at least one clear MDG victory: safe drinking water. MDG Target 7C sought to halve, by 2015, the ratio of the world's people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. In this, […]