Water, Water Everywhere

And now some more we can drink! Welcome back to Illuminations (hat tip to Ainy Rainwater for titling this series), and today, we're going to talk about water. Specifically, we're going to talk about cleaning water up.

Do you remember about 10 years ago, when the news started reporting on the dangers of BPA? It's a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics, and there are several studies that state it is Bad News for humans and other animals. Turns out, it's not so great for the environment, either, and there's a fair amount of it out in the water due to manufacturing and post-consumer waste. It inhibits plant growth and development and causes long-term damage to critters that live in the tainted water.

Never fear, science is here! Scientists at Rice University have put together something promising for pulling BPA out of water. They're tiny little spheres that essentially absorb the BPA and encircle it, forcing the BPA to degrade into something harmless.

The part I love best is how small all of this is. BPA particles are about 1000 times smaller than a human hair, and they're still getting sucked up and taken care of by these little beads of frilly ingenuity. Think of what else could be cleaned from the water supply!

It's so fluffy!