China’s efforts to slow land degradation and climate change by planting trees and restoring grasslands have shifted water around the country in huge, unforeseen ways, new research shows. Between 2001 and 2020, changes in vegetation cover reduced the amount of fresh water available for humans and ecosystems in the eastern monsoon region and northwestern arid … Read more
Tremendous tilts of Mars’ rotational axis during the past 20 million years may have dried out the planet, according to a new study. The findings may help solve the mystery of how Mars, which once contained lakes, rivers and possibly oceans, lost its water. Dry, dust-filled deserts cover much of Mars’ surface today. Astronomers think … Read more
There might be a hidden ocean’s worth of liquid water below the surface of Mars, seismic evidence suggests. According to a new paper published April 25 in the journal National Science Review, recordings of seismic waves from deep within the Red Planet indicate that a layer of liquid water may be lurking in the Martian … Read more
Constant gusts of particles from the sun may be creating water molecules on the moon, a new NASA-led experiment hints. Scientists have detected traces of water molecules — as well as hydroxyl (OH) molecules, a component of water — on the surface of the moon through multiple space missions. The source of this water has … Read more
Nearly three fourths of Earth is covered by oceans, making the planet look like a pale blue dot from space. But Japanese researchers have made a compelling case that Earth’s oceans were once green, in a study published in Nature. The reason Earth’s oceans may have looked different in the ancient past is to do … Read more
For the first time, scientists have observed water molecules splitting in real time to form hydrogen and oxygen. And right before they split, the molecules did something completely unexpected: They flipped 180 degrees. This micro acrobatic stunt takes energy, which offers a crucial explanation for why splitting water takes more energy than theoretical calculations suggested. … Read more
We may have been wrong about how Mars got its characteristic red hue, a new study reveals. The Red Planet owes its ruddy complexion to rusted iron minerals, dispersed across billions of years by winds, throughout the planet’s dust. Past spacecraft observations of Martian dust led scientists to believe that this rust emerged in dry … Read more
Scientists have discovered evidence that liquid water was once exposed to the air in ancient, shallow lakes on Mars. The finding is evidence that not all water on the Red Planet was covered in ice, as some Martian climate models suggest. Planetary geologists and astronomers studying Mars have known for decades that water was once … Read more
Scientists in China have discovered water molecules trapped in lunar rocks, upending past assumptions that the moon’s surface is dry. The rock samples, collected from the moon’s surface and brought back to Earth by China’s Chang’e 5 mission in 2020, contain crystals filled with “hydrated molecules,” according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Samples brought … Read more
Scientists have identified a water-loss mechanism on Venus that could explain how the once water-rich world became completely parched. In the newly identified process, linked to a previously overlooked molecule high in Venus’ atmosphere, water escaped Venus at double the rate previously estimated. As faster water loss means less time is needed to boil away … Read more
