Scientists find molecular-level evidence for two structures in liquid water (phys.org)

54 points by wglb 3 hours ago

18 comments:

by le-mark 2 hours 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!

by VladVladikoff 2 hours 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.

by wglb 3 hours ago

Study published in Nature Physics: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-026-03301-8

by mefistofeles an hour 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.

by roflmaostc an hour ago

Your linked preprint has been also published in Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3401

by harimau777 2 hours 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!)

by aand16 an hour 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.

by JumpCrisscross a minute ago

> for a while it worked better than "regular" medicine. At least it wouldn't kill you

Homeopathy was invented after the discovery of germ theory [1][2]. So not really. And homeopathy has always suffered from an adulteration problem.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_theory_of_disease

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

by vermilingua an hour ago

You can be sure they’ll start using this paper as “evidence” all the same.

by OutOfHere 2 hours 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.

by hyperhello 2 hours ago

Homeopathic medicine is already recommended by 1 out of 1000000000000000000 doctors.

by aeonik 20 minutes ago

Homeopathy actually works great depending on what you use it for: I've been trying homeopathic vodka and it's done wonders for my health.

by etchalon an hour ago

Stealing this forever.

by potatosalad99 2 hours ago

So the OTA firmware updates on my dehumidifier for when they discover a new kind of water will come in handy after all!

by felooboolooomba 2 hours 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!

by boothby an hour 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?

by jagged-chisel an hour ago

Only if the molecules have a hydration shell

by cwmoore 2 hours ago

Great to see progress on ice-9 /s

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