The latest issue of Nature promises temporary relief to a planet where fresh water is quickly becoming scarcer and scarcer (photo: cc, from freeaussiestock.com). Vincent E.A. Post of Flinders University in Adelaide and his coauthors Jacobus Groen, Henk Kooi, Mark Person, Shemin Ge, and W. Mike Edmunds report the surprising news that outer continental shelves
Engineers at MIT–lead by Jongyoon Han–have developed a promising nano-tech system for separating charged salt ions from water, and which also separates out unicellular contaminants. But more challenges remain.
What might start out as one lick here and another lick there can turn into a full fledged salt addiction for woodland animals. Dear, porcupines, hares, birds, and other animals may all indulge in this habit. There is no shortage of salt to feed this addiction, with13 million tons applied to winter roads each year
