#groundwater sampling

[geocyclist]

Toad, guardian of the pressure switch. (Safely relocated so I could collect my sample)

[glitchlight]

environmental science is very silly sometimes

[narwhalsarefalling]

ay y’all my job today is drilling a borehole within 100ft of a oil pipeline from wwii thats been known to explode randomly. so if i explode i love y’all o7

[reasonsforhope]

"The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer.

Texas researchers proposed in 2022 using these sticky natural polymers to clean up water. Now, they’ve found that okra and/or fenugreek extracts attracted and removed up to 90% of microplastics from ocean water, freshwater, and groundwater.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rajani Srinivasan and colleagues at Tarleton State University found that the plant-based polymers from okra, fenugreek, and tamarind stick to microplastics, clumping together and sinking for easy separation from water.

In this next stage of the research, they have optimized the process for okra and fenugreek extracts and tested results in a variety of types of water.

To extract the sticky plant polymers, the team soaked sliced okra pods and blended fenugreek seeds in separate containers of water overnight. Then, researchers removed the dissolved extracts from each solution and dried them into powders.

Analyses published in the American Chemical Society journal showed that the powdered extracts contained polysaccharides, which are natural polymers. Initial tests in pure water spiked with microplastics showed that:

One gram of either powder in a quart (one liter) of water trapped microplastics the most effectively.

Dried okra and fenugreek extracts removed 67% and 93%, respectively, of the plastic in an hour.

A mixture of equal parts okra and fenugreek powder reached maximum removal efficiency (70%) within 30 minutes.

The natural polymers performed significantly better than the synthetic, commercially available polyacrylamide polymer used in wastewater treatment.

Then the researchers tested the plant extracts on real microplastic-polluted water. They collected samples from waterbodies around Texas and brought them to the lab. The plant extract removal efficiency changed depending on the original water source.

Okra worked best in ocean water (80%), fenugreek in groundwater (80-90%), and the 1:1 combination of okra and fenugreek in freshwater (77%).

The researchers hypothesize that the natural polymers had different efficiencies because each water sample had different types, sizes and shapes of microplastics.

Polyacrylamide, which is currently used to remove contaminants during wastewater treatment, has low toxicity, but its precursor acrylamide is considered toxic. Okra and fenugreek extracts could serve as biodegradable and nontoxic alternatives.

“Utilizing these plant-based extracts in water treatment will remove microplastics and other pollutants without introducing additional toxic substances to the treated water,” said Srinivasan in a media release, “thus reducing long-term health risks to the population.”

She had previously studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater and thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’"

-via Good News Network, May 10, 2025

[lookingforcactus]

"The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer.

Texas researchers proposed in 2022 using these sticky natural polymers to clean up water. Now, they’ve found that okra and/or fenugreek extracts attracted and removed up to 90% of microplastics from ocean water, freshwater, and groundwater.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rajani Srinivasan and colleagues at Tarleton State University found that the plant-based polymers from okra, fenugreek, and tamarind stick to microplastics, clumping together and sinking for easy separation from water.

In this next stage of the research, they have optimized the process for okra and fenugreek extracts and tested results in a variety of types of water.

To extract the sticky plant polymers, the team soaked sliced okra pods and blended fenugreek seeds in separate containers of water overnight. Then, researchers removed the dissolved extracts from each solution and dried them into powders.

Analyses published in the American Chemical Society journal showed that the powdered extracts contained polysaccharides, which are natural polymers. Initial tests in pure water spiked with microplastics showed that:

One gram of either powder in a quart (one liter) of water trapped microplastics the most effectively.

Dried okra and fenugreek extracts removed 67% and 93%, respectively, of the plastic in an hour.

A mixture of equal parts okra and fenugreek powder reached maximum removal efficiency (70%) within 30 minutes.

The natural polymers performed significantly better than the synthetic, commercially available polyacrylamide polymer used in wastewater treatment.

Then the researchers tested the plant extracts on real microplastic-polluted water. They collected samples from waterbodies around Texas and brought them to the lab. The plant extract removal efficiency changed depending on the original water source.

Okra worked best in ocean water (80%), fenugreek in groundwater (80-90%), and the 1:1 combination of okra and fenugreek in freshwater (77%).

The researchers hypothesize that the natural polymers had different efficiencies because each water sample had different types, sizes and shapes of microplastics.

Polyacrylamide, which is currently used to remove contaminants during wastewater treatment, has low toxicity, but its precursor acrylamide is considered toxic. Okra and fenugreek extracts could serve as biodegradable and nontoxic alternatives.

“Utilizing these plant-based extracts in water treatment will remove microplastics and other pollutants without introducing additional toxic substances to the treated water,” said Srinivasan in a media release, “thus reducing long-term health risks to the population.”

She had previously studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater and thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’"

-via Good News Network, May 10, 2025

[mindblowingscience]

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, known commonly as PFAS, could take over 40 years to flush out of contaminated groundwater in North Carolina's Cumberland and Bladen counties, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. The study used a novel combination of data on PFAS, groundwater age-dating tracers, and groundwater flux to forecast PFAS concentrations in groundwater discharging to tributaries of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. The research is published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The researchers sampled groundwater in two different watersheds adjacent to the Fayetteville Works fluorochemical plant in Bladen County.

Continue Reading.

[lipglossanon]

Up the Bayou

Joe Baker x fem!reader

Commission from the lovely @porcelainseashore 💜 Word count: 2.3k

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, age gap, smut, oral (f receiving), dirty talk, breeding kink, unprotected sex, creampie

proofread but apology for any mistakes; title taken from a Cajun term found on this site

dividers: @/bernardsbendystraws

edited to add pics cause I forgot 😭

It’s day two of you trekking out into the wetland surrounding Dulvey Parish, and you’re starting to question your professor’s insistence on this particular area. Sighing, you bend down to collect murky water in one of the vials in your kit. Fieldwork isn’t new to you, but you wish it would have been closer to the university. 

Your professor also warned you against alligators, so you’ve kept your head on a swivel, not exactly eager to run into one of the scaly reptiles. It’s a little stressful, but you believe you’re more than up to the challenge.

That’s what you tell yourself, especially when your foot slips into a pocket-sized hole and sends you tripping forward. A light twinge radiates up your leg, and you just know you’ve sprained your ankle. Hissing under your breath, you slowly ease yourself back up to a standing position.

“Not too bad,” you mumble out loud, gently pulling your foot from the hole and bracing a bit of your body weight onto it. 

Shoulders dropping in relief, you smile. Taking a step forward, you go careening back down onto the swampy ground. Biting out a low cry, you pinch your eyes shut in pain. You can only hope you have the strength to limp back the way you came—a short thirty-minute walk looking more like an hour now.

“Oh, the vials!” You gasp, hands quickly reaching down to check the insulated bag clipped to your side.

Quickly undoing the zipper, you take careful stock of the water samples you’ve collected thus far. Thankfully, all are safe and sound. Rezipping your bag, you nearly trip over yourself again when a gruff voice calls out to you. 

“You lost or somethin’, girl?”

Turning your head, you catch sight of a man standing to your left. He blends right in, his rugged countenance looking at home amongst the scraggly trees and moss-covered undergrowth. His boots and coveralls are messy, covering a surprisingly clean white long-sleeved shirt. A corded necklace with dog tags hangs from his neck. You find him handsome in a rough-and-tumble kind of way. 

Introducing himself as Joe Baker, he offers to help you back to his homestead. Taking in his bearded face—expression made even more serious with a scar zagging down from his eyebrow and over his right eye—you debate your choices. 

“It’s closer’n tryin’ to fight your way outta the bayou,” he states, tone flat. “Wouldn’t be able to run from a gator even if ya needed to.”

Acquiescing to his logic, you let Joe wrap a beefy arm around your middle, allowing you to drape your arm across his broad shoulders. Your friends have always said you have book smarts but no street sense, and you’re beginning to think maybe this is one of those times you should’ve taken more time to think things through. 

“What brings you out all this way?” His brusque tone cuts into your inner thoughts.

“Oh, uh, I’ve been taking samples for water quality testing.” You nod down at the satchel on your side. “It’s to help environmental research towards diminishing pollution.” 

He hums but doesn’t say much else. After a few minutes, you decide to fill in the silence.

“Mr. Baker, did you know that the oxygen atom in water isn’t actually what supports organisms living in the water?”

Joe snorts, shifting his grip on your body to help you over a short incline.

“Is that right? Can’t say I know ’bout all’uh that.”

Smiling at his profile, you chatter on, “Sure! It’s really interesting. Dissolved oxygen is what supports aquatic life. The discharge from groundwater leaves dissolved oxygen behind, and that in turn is what fish breathe in. Not that I’ve seen any fish.”

You glance down at the murky water as Joe answers your unasked question.

“Haven’t been any fish for some time. They were all killed off.”

“Oh.” You wince, your ankle brushing against his leg. 

Joe shifts closer, taking the brunt of your weight with ease, making the walk to his place go by much more quickly. You keep up a cordial back and forth with him until you finally come face-to-face with where he lives. Seeing his home doesn’t exactly fill you with relief; it looks like a shack that’s been added onto over the years. 

“I know it don’t look like much, but she’s sturdy,” he cuts into your thoughts. 

A puff of laughter escapes your lips. “Are you a mind reader, too?”

He side-eyes you, hazel eyes bright in his tan face. 

“Your face is easier to read than a book, girl.” He sees your lips purse and tacks on, “No offense intended.”

A little grin tugs at your lips, and you shake your head. 

“None taken, Mr. Baker.”

Grunting, he helps you the rest of the way into his house, lifting you completely in his arms and carrying you through his door like a new bride. It sends butterflies fluttering through your tummy, slightly turned on by his strength. He sets you down on the end of what must be his bed and steps back.

“I think I got an old first aid kit somewhere.” He scratches his bearded cheek, eyes bouncing around the open room. “Think it’s out in the shed; be right back.”

Left alone, you take in his living arrangement. It’s modest; it looks as if he lives off-grid. It’s respectable, not an easy feat to accomplish by any means, especially in this day and age. Joe returns with a beat-up metal tin with a faded Red Cross on the front. Popping open the lid, he pulls out an elastic bandage. 

“This should do it.” He stops in front of you and gestures at your waders. “Need help with that?”

“If you don’t mind. Thanks, Mr. Baker.”

“Joe.” He catches your eyes. “None of that 'Mr. Baker' shit.”

You smile at his crotchetiness. “Then thanks, Joe.”

Helping you slip out of your waders, you don’t miss the way his eyes run over your body. Tugging your sock off, he wraps your ankle with the bandage. His warm hands have your heart racing. It’s sexy to have this brawny, capable man taking care of you. Heat throbs in your core—and feeling bold—you reach down to undo your pants. 

“What’re you doin’?” His gruff voice sends goosebumps trailing down your skin.

“Thought it would be easier on my ankle without my jeans in the way.”

His eyes don’t drop down from your gaze, even as you slip completely out of your pants, sitting on the edge of his bed clad only in your shirt and panties.

“S’that so?”

You bite your bottom lip before grinning at him. 

“Makes it easier for other things, too.”

With very little preamble, Joe manhandles you back onto his bed—shedding you of your clothing before kneeling between your legs. His forearms press down heavily on your thighs, keeping you spread open for him. He’s close enough; his beard grazes the lips of your cunt, sending tingles through your core. 

Using his thumbs, he spreads your pussy lips apart, whistling to himself at the strings of slick threading across to each side.

“Been a long time since I saw such a pretty sight,” he chuckles. “Mind if I give her a little kiss?”

You nod, hands clasping together under your breasts—nervous to reach out to him. “Please, Joe.”

“Good girl,” he mumbles, lips pressing to your clit as light as a feather.

Keening, you rock your hips up, and he presses his mouth against your pussy, his tongue licking against your slit. His beard rasps against your soft skin, heightening your senses to his every little move. Humming, he grinds his face into your wet cunt, tongue and lips driving you crazy. 

Joe leans back and spits on your clit, mouth following after to lap the swollen bud until you’re mewling and writhing against him. Tongue dragging through your slick, he licks into your drippy hole, groaning at the taste. Giving in to impulse, you tangle your fingers in his grey hair, tugging his face closer to your pussy.

His low chuckle vibrates your clit and makes you gasp, hips humping his mouth in stuttered thrusts. Pulling back with a wet slurp, he wipes the back of his hand across his mouth.

“Sure are a messy thing.” 

He toed his boots aside before tugging his coveralls off, dropping them onto the floor, leaving him only in his long-sleeved shirt and underwear. He quickly takes those off as well, leaving him naked and standing between your legs. Your eyes rake over his body; he’s stocky, but it’s from hard work more so than being overweight. Hair runs down from his pecs across his belly to the thatch above his thick cock.

Your cunt pulses in arousal, nipples stiff and aching for his touch. “Joe, please.”

“Need me to take care of you? Fill this pretty pussy up with my cum—s’that it?”

Clit throbbing like a heartbeat, you plead up at him, “Yes, yes, I need you inside me.”

“Thatta girl,” he croons, eyes dilated until the hazel is only a thin ring. “Don’t worry, I gotcha. Not gonna leave that sweet little cunt empty.”

Gripping the base of his uncut cock, he slaps it against your sopping wet slit. The tip parts your folds and grinds up against your swollen bud. Keening, you wrap your legs around his waist. He gives you a little half-smirk, rutting his cock from your clit down to your hole, dipping the head inside before sliding back up to your sensitive little bundle.

“Joe, come on,” you whine, hands grasping his pecs, fingers carding through his salt and pepper chest hair.

“Shh, I’ll stuff you full, don’t worry.”

Notching the head of his cock, he pushes into your slick hole with a low grunt. 

He bottoms out in one stroke, grinding his cock against your g-spot until your pussy spasms.

Your mouth falls open, breath exhaling shakily. His cock spreads you open, stretching your pussy in the best way. Once he bottoms out, your legs twitch, wrapping more tightly around his waist, fingernails digging into his chest. 

“Yes, so good,” you choke out, the fullness bringing tears to your eyes.

“Tight fit,” Joe mutters, “got my cock feelin’ like it’s in a silk glove.”

Arousal pulses hot and heady through you, body buzzing and brain tingling. He slowly rocks in and out of your pussy, easing his cock deeper into your fluttering hole. Pulling out halfway, he fucks you harder, thrusting his hips against yours with a smack. His pelvis rubs against your swollen clit with every rock, making your cunt clench down on him.

“Squeezing me so good,” his honey-coated praise sends chills down your spine. “Pretty pussy just begging to be knocked up.”

“Joe,” you whimper pitifully, “oh, god.”

“Yeah.” He crowds closer, forearms coming down on either side of your head, boxing you in against the mattress. “This slick hole’s gonna get a nice fat creampie. Leave you dripping.”

Eyes rolling back, you shudder, pussy walls fluttering wildly around his cock. His words light a fire in your brain, sending molten heat down to your core. His heavy frame squishes you into his bed, and you moan. Groaning in reply, Joe ruts his cock harder into your obscenely wet pussy, the sounds of your coupling fanning your arousal higher and higher.

He pinches the hood of your clit, cock bumping against the spongy spot at the front of your cunt, sending your eyes rolling back and your toes to curl. Hands moving from his chest, you shift to gripping onto his biceps, nails digging into the firm muscles.

“I-I’m close, oh god, I’m g’nna cum,” you pant, head digging into the bedding. 

“Your snug pussy keeps sucking me in,” Joe growls in your ear.

Pushing back onto his haunches, he grabs your thighs and places your legs over his shoulders. Hips rabbiting into your squelching pussy, he grunts as he rails you into his mattress. Keening high in your throat, you scratch at his arms, cunt fluttering and clenching around his dick. Joe’s chest heaves with every pant, eyes staring down at you before flicking to your stuffed pussy.

“It’s been a while since I’ve creamed a hole this good.”

Lashes clumped together from tears, your vision is bleary when you look up at him. He trails one hand to your mound, petting across the damp curls before his thumb seeks out your swollen clit. 

“Oh my god! Joe!”

Lightning zips through your veins, back arching at the sheer pleasure of his thumb circling your swollen bud. Between the digit pressing on your sensitive bundle of nerves and his cock grinding against your G-spot, your orgasm crests like a tidal wave. Babbling out nonsense, your body jerks and thrashes, climax overtaking your senses—whiting them out until only pleasure remains.

“Thatta girl,” Joe mutters, “takin’ me so good. You ready for me to breed this sweet cunt?”

Head bobbing jerkily, you mewl wantonly. “Please, please, wanna feel it.”

Cock pistoning into your hole a few more times, he buries himself as deep as possible, fat tip spurting rope after rope of hot, thick cum into your pussy. Whimpering, your legs squeeze his shoulders, cunt pulsing around his dick, milking him for every sticky drop of his seed. Joe runs his hands down the outside of your thighs, fingertips drumming against your hip. 

Blowing out a breath, he gently eases your legs off his shoulders and slips his half-hard cock from your puffy cunt. He spreads open your used pussy, watching his cum leak from your clenching hole. Nodding to himself, he moves to lie down next to you.

“Got an outdoor shower.” He rubs a calloused hand across your abdomen. “If you wanted to clean up some.”

“A shower sounds amazing,” you sigh, your muscles aching and your sprained ankle creeping back into your mind.

He snorts, “That ain’t a hardship.”

Snuggling into his chest, he hums, wrapping a thick arm around your body to rub your back.

“A nap might be nice,” you mumble into his pecs, nosing his sternum.

“Go on ‘n rest. I’ll wake ya up.”

Tucking into his body heat, you let yourself nod off.

[iteratorsex]

Five Pebbles Artificer Pearl Rewrites (Part 2)

Part 1

And I continue onwards...

Original pearl dialogue can be read here for comparison

Sky islands 2

This is a log of a Sliverist conversation group. Some of the replies are mine.

I don’t imagine you would have any understanding of who Sliver of Straw is. This is something privy to us iterators, and meaningless to beasts like you.

She is one of a few who has been confirmed dead. Our creators had taken great measures to prevent this, as my kind are built to endure and last through the worst conditions for agonizingly lengthy periods of time.

No, what makes her stand above the other casualties is the Triple Affirmative. A broadcast that a solution had been found. While initially I had ignored this- as much of the “discussion” leaned towards being aimless and unproductive- the implications soon became obvious.

The Triple Affirmative is not a strict guideline. A problem can have multiple solutions. Perhaps by escaping this maze through death as she did, we can gain a new perspective.

 My motivations have been mistaken before, personal ascension and attempting to break taboo is seen as a selfish goal for an iterator. But I won’t bother to correct those bad faith, regressive arguments.

…

Did you even understand any of that?

Farm Arrays - Bright Red

Oh, this is a Small Plate written in an age long before the Void Fluid revolution.

It’s a text for spiritual guidance. It details how to shed oneself of the fourth natural urge, Gluttony, stylized as a poem. Standard for the time.

The natural urges were tricky to define, but my creators had a general understanding. It was the desire to lash out, reproduce, connect, eat, and survive. These are what bind all living organisms to life, including you and I. Though we are vastly different in how we experience such phenomena.

They had tried vigorously to rid of these urges. By disconnecting yourself from bodily wants, you could transcend your mind through realities beyond the material. Or, so they say.

Though myself and my kind cannot ascend through the same means of fasting or drowning in the Void Sea, I believe it can all be stripped down to perception.

But explaining that to you is pointless. You may be intelligent- admittedly more so than I assumed- but your mind could not comprehend this to the same degree I can.

Regardless, thank you. I have a fondness for artifacts such as this.

Farm Arrays - Deep Pink

On regards of the (by spiritual splendor eternally graced) people of the Congregation of Never Dwindling…”

I will spare you what little details are here. The data is an extremely verbose shipment confirmation to an automated farming plot.

Worse enough, the message was burned several thousand over through the lattice, making it essentially useless to recycle for more productive uses.

My creators had a special talent for wasting time.

Subterranean - Teal

It’s a blueprint for the Void Fluid filtration system beneath my facility.

My neighbor to the east of here was connected to an older pipe network that predates my construction. She was later rerouted into sharing my installation.

However, unlike our shared groundwater, nothing of note has come from this. Primarily due to the filter’s rapid decay to uselessness.

The source of the decay was not from water, wind, or fissures, but from the Void Sea- a vast well of the purest Void Fluid, and an entity of unfathomable scale.

Expensive filtration of Void Fluid obtained in upper rock layers is the only way to get pure samples. Any pipes that went further were quickly destroyed by the tidal forces of the abyssal ocean.

I wish I could tell you more, little beast. But those who lived in our lofty cities did not come into contact with the Void Sea themselves, so much of the research available to me is… old, lost, or poorly translated.

The collective ignorance to such an interesting discussion is upsetting, but not new.

Neither of us get the privilege of seeing the elusive substance, thankfully simulations have sufficed for me thus far. Any remaining puddles you might find in my city are going to be more dirt than Void.

Pipeyard - Deep Purple

An automated maintenance and production log from one of the forty-seven drills north of the farm arrays. It’s quite old. Older than my neighbor.

Its age is the only interesting detail about it. Those drills have been offline for a very long time, being replaced by underground systems.

Why it wasn’t demolished or re-integrated is beyond me. Nostalgia, perhaps? Those old mining sites are the remnants of a time of technological revolution! But I know full well they wouldn’t have cared about some rusty drills on the surface.

A petty criticism, but still wasteful. I sincerely hope the bugs are making more use of it than they ever had.

[rjzimmerman]

In a First, the E.P.A. Warns of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Sludge Fertilizer. (New York Times)

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday warned that “forever chemicals” present in sewage sludge that is used as fertilizer can pose human health risks.

In an extensive study the agency said that, while the general food supply isn’t threatened, the risk from contaminated fertilizer could in some cases exceed the E.P.A.’s safety thresholds “sometimes by several orders of magnitude.”

A growing body of research has shown that the sludge can be contaminated with manmade chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are used widely in everyday items like nonstick cookware and stain-resistant carpets. The chemicals, which are linked to a range of illnesses including an increased risk of cancer, do not break down in the environment, and, when tainted sludge is used as fertilizer on farmland, it can contaminate the soil, groundwater, crops and livestock.

Last year, The New York Times reported that 3M, which for decades has manufactured PFAS, found as early as 2000 that the chemicals were turning up in sludge samples from municipal wastewater plants across the country. In 2003, 3M told E.P.A. of its findings.

The E.P.A. has for decades encouraged the use of sludge from treated wastewater as inexpensive fertilizer with no limits on how much PFAS it can contain. But the agency’s new draft risk assessment sets a potential new course. If finalized, it could mark what could be the first step toward regulating PFAS in the sludge used as fertilizer, which the industry calls biosolids. The agency currently regulates certain heavy metals and pathogens in sewage sludge used as fertilizer, but not PFAS.

Add to this story the following excerpt from the Chicago Tribune from its article entitled, "EPA warns of toxic forever chemicals in sewage sludge used on farmland, including thousands of acres near the Chicago area."

Farmers who use sewage sludge as fertilizer and their neighbors face higher risks of cancer and other diseases, according to a new federal analysis that pins the blame on toxic forever chemicals.

The findings are particularly relevant for northeast Illinois, where more than 777,000 tons of sludge from Chicago and Cook County have been spread on farmland during the past eight years — in many cases near residential areas.

Only the Greater Los Angeles area distributed more sludge to farmers during the same period.

Officials at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago have known their sludge fertilizer is contaminated with forever chemicals since at least 2011, the Chicago Tribune reported in a 2022 investigation.

[typingatlightspeed]

TF2 Fanfic - Complex Carbohydrates

Following the events of Expiration Date, Engineer decides to invite Medic for a few beers out back of the base, as a final sort of come-down from everything they'd been through over the weekend. Some easy conversation and light flirting seems a pretty good way to celebrate being alive.

A giftie fic for @missjamiekaye, and thank-you for that lovely Sword Van piece! <3 They asked for some Engie and Medic being flirty bros. I hope this passes muster!

---------

It had taken hours, but finally, the last of the giant, mutant bread monster had been disposed of. Most of the work had been done by Pyro, if they were all honest. The firebug had delighted in torching that big mess of grains and tentacles, reducing it to ash which was then unceremoniously dumped in a nearby ravine, hopefully not polluting any groundwater after the fact.

Not like the groundwater here could get any more polluted than it already was, anyway. Not without changing its colour and viscosity, at least. The lead levels were already more than enough to scare even penny-pinching RED into supplying an external water source for its mercenaries, whom had never been known to be the recipients of much in the way of creature comforts from their employers.

Thank goodness the paychecks were huge.

Engineer hung his hardhat and goggles up on the pegs he'd installed next to the door in his quarters. He scrubbed a hand over the stubble of his shaven head and let out a long breath, now that everything was said and done. He was exhausted. It had been the longest three days of his life. Terror, shame, determination, panic, and entirely too little sleep had filled the time between the discovery of just what teleporting does to bread, and the discovery that what teleporting does, it just does to bread. He didn't think it possible to chug along on adrenaline for days on end, but now, as it leaked away, he wasn't just tired, he was weary.

Even so, he wasn't headed to bed just yet. There was something important he needed to do.

*

The door to the infirmary opened slowly but not quietly, the door's hinge squealing almost as a defense measure. Engineer made a mental note to oil the damn things tomorrow.

The room was only half-lit, theories and calculations still scrawled on the chalk board, wall, floor, anything chalk could cling to; evidence of their weekend-long desperate bout of research and development. Engineer hadn't worked that hard that fast since college, though he had to say, the company was much better. Medic was at least as much the mad genius as he was, and it had been nice to have someone on a similar wavelength to bounce ideas against.

"Hallo?" Medic asked, turning, bent over in front of his open refrigerator. Likely chilling what few samples he'd managed to wrangle after Pyro had befriended the small, angry loaf of mutant bread the doctor had managed to keep contained for most of the weekend.

"Hey there, Doc," Engineer greeted with an easy smile.

"Ah, Engie. I'm surprised to find you awake. I had assumed you'd be dead to the world at this point." Medic chuckled lightly, standing and closing the fridge.

"Still too wound up from it all. Exhaustion's finally crashin' in but my mind ain't done turnin' yet. You know how it is."

"Indeed I do." Medic took a deep breath, feeling the same fatigue creeping over him. His nose scrunched up in dismay. "Ach, this whole room smells like yeast."

Engineer chuckled at that. "Weren't gonna say nothin', but you ain't wrong. But speakin' of..." He lifted his hand, showing the gift he'd brought: a six-pack of frosty, cold beers. "How 'bout we go partake of some more yeast out back? Actually enjoy some of this weekend 'fore we gotta be up for work in the mornin'?"

"Those are the only carbohydrates I think I'll be interested in for some time," Medic chuckled. "My friend, once again you prove to be the idea man between the two of us." He gladly followed Engineer out the door, shutting the lights off in the infirmary behind him.

The night sky stretched out for what seemed like forever, dampened only by the light pollution of a few stray lamps along the perimeter fence. Engineer switched off the porch light, saving their eyes a bit of strain in the dark, and settled on the edge of the dry, creaky old structure, the six-pack of beers separating him from Medic.

The cool breeze of the night air caressed them gently, neither chilling nor buffeting them, merely whispering past in a gentle sussurus that seemed to ferry away the stress of the prior three days. Engineer snatched up a beer and popped the cap on the edge of the porch, then handed the bottle to Medic before doing the same for himself. They lifted their beers and clinked the bottles together in a silent toast before taking a pull.

"Thank you for inviting me," Medic said with a wistful smile, watching a stray cloud drift past the moon, its light illuminating it with a silver halo.

"'Course," Engineer demurred. "After what we been through, some cold beers with a good buddy is just what this doctor ordered."

Medic snorted a laugh at that. "I'll admit, this is a far better way to spend time together than in utter, mortal terror, furiously experimenting for three days straight."

"Amen to that. If I'm gonna be experimentin' with you, I'd much rather it be relaxed, 'n after a couple of beers." He smirked against the lip of his bottle, a proper smile pulling at his lips as Medic blushed and tittered in reply.

Medic didn't look at him, a laugh caught in his voice. "So is that why you asked me out here?"

Engineer split into a crooked grin. "That depends on whether it's gettin' me anywhere."

Lifting an eyebrow, Medic took another swig from his bottle, letting the silence stretch on just a bit. "You know, one of these days I'm going to call you on your bluff and take you seriously."

"When that day comes we're both in for a lot of trouble."

"I worry far more for everyone else."

They shared a laugh at that, downing the rest of their beers. Medic glanced sidelong at Engineer. It had been a long, long weekend. Though, truly, even if their initial theory had held true and it had been the end for them, he could scarcely think of a better way to go, throwing science at the wall and trying to crack a nearly insurmountable problem with Engineer at his side. He was the only man he'd ever known whose ever-churning mind could keep up with his own. If he had just a few fewer morals he could even surpass him, which made Medic glad that his friend had at least some scruples left to his name, if only to save his own pride.

Engineer's thoughts must have followed a similar path. He withdrew another beer from the pack and gestured to Medic with it. "Still can't believe we both managed to jump to a conclusion like that. Somethin' affectin' bread like that sure is gonna be one-to-one with humans." He scoffed. "We were so wound up we straight skipped over where that didn't make a lick of sense."

Medic shrugged, nodding with the assessment. "To be fair, it isn't exactly like there are reams of research on the side effects of teleportation on the human body in the first place. Our daily use of them and the records kept about it is probably the closest thing to a study that's ever been done, which is hardly saying anything. Something, anything, showing a reaction like that is cause for concern, since it was such an anomaly. We were working with the data available, which was very incomplete." An impish grin crossed his too-white teeth, "We did manage to untangle the problem. After all, we had the two greatest minds of our generation working on the project."

"Shucks," Engineer demurred, blushing a bit. "I'm just glad this weren't the end. Would'a been a sad way for a bunch of hardened killers to go. All that fight in us just to die from tumors? Shame."

"Agreed. Even living as we do, it would be cutting everything far too short. Too much left undone, too much left unsaid," he took a sharp breath, realizing how personal that sounded, and quickly rejoined, "too much yet to learn and discover!"

Engineer let it slide, not taking the easy opening to needle his friend. "Ain't that right." He used the edge of the porch to finally open the bottle he was holding and offered it to Medic, "Doctor?"

"Doctor," Medic replied, accepting it gladly with a giggle.

Engineer opened his own beer and they clinked the bottles again. "To wheat."

"To complex carbohydrates!"

They chuckled and knocked back their beers, settling into a comfortable silence as they stared out across the desert, the pale, silvery light of the moon lighting up the rusty sand a fetching shade of blue.

"Y'know, Doc, I—"

"Ludwig."

Engineer turned to look at Medic, lifting an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"My name is Ludwig."

"Oh."

Medic finished his beer, taking the pause to sort out his thoughts. "We just stared Death in the face and watched him flinch so hard it was physically indistinguishable from a seizure. We spent three days with barely any food or sleep, experimenting and theorizing and calculating, around the clock. We've just been through a special Hell together; we deserve know one another's names, OPSEC be damned, don't you think?"

"Awful poetic of you," Engineer replied, his voice soft. He was a bit touched, truth be told. "Alright, Lou. You can call me Dell."

Medic smiled at that, more than a little amused by the American's immediate need to create a nickname for a name that was only two syllables long. "Dell. Sehr gut."

"Nice to meetcha," Engineer teased. He finished his beer and set about cracking the last two, handing Medic his and lifting his own for a final, silent toast.

Medic grinned, and their bottles clinked, and the chirping of crickets filled the easy quiet that settled there as the exhausted, trimphant mercenaries spent the last hours of their weekend enjoying one another's company.

[geocyclist]

Test of full field setup of the power box for the higher powered DC submersible sampling pump. The power box (wood) was modified to include the ammeter shunt inside, while the gauge was connected by an exterior port that was previously used for <20 amp pumps.

Power is normally provided to the pump speed controller by connecting clamps directly to a battery, my power box has recessed posts that relocate these connections safely.

30 amp DC circuit breaker under the hood next to the battery on a set of conveniently unused threaded holes, a much needed safety upgrade. The wood mount should have enough room for a future DC to DC charger for a larger deep cycle battery.

Questions, comments welcome!

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Shocking spherules on Mars

Last week, the Perseverance Science Team were astonished by a strange rock comprised of hundreds of millimeter-sized spheres… and the team are now working hard to understand their origin.

It has now been two weeks since Perseverance arrived at Broom Point, situated at the lower slopes of the Witch Hazel Hill area, on the Jezero crater rim. Here, a series of light- and dark-toned bands were visible from orbit, and just last week the rover successfully abraded and sampled one of the light-toned beds. It was from this sampling workspace where Perseverance spied a very strange texture in a nearby rock.

The rock, named "St. Pauls Bay" by the team, appeared to be comprised of hundreds of millimeter-sized, dark gray spheres. Some of these occurred as more elongate, elliptical shapes, while others possessed angular edges, perhaps representing broken spherule fragments. Some spheres even possessed tiny pinholes! What quirk of geology could produce these strange shapes?

This isn't the first time strange spheres have been spotted on Mars. In 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity spotted so-called, "Martian Blueberries" at Meridiani Planum, and since then, the Curiosity rover has observed spherules in the rocks of Yellowknife Bay at Gale crater. Just a few months ago, Perseverance itself also spied popcorn-like textures in sedimentary rocks exposed in the Jezero crater inlet channel, Neretva Vallis.

In each of these cases, the spherules were interpreted as concretions, features that were formed by interaction with groundwater circulating through pore spaces in the rock. Not all spherules form this way, however. They also form on Earth by rapid cooling of molten rock droplets formed in a volcanic eruption, for instance, or by the condensation of rock vaporized by a meteorite impact.

Each of these formation mechanisms would have vastly different implications for the evolution of these rocks, so the team is working hard to determine their context and origin. St. Pauls Bay, however, was float rock—a term used by geologists to describe something that is not in-place.

The team are now working to link the spherule-rich texture observed at St. Pauls Bay to the wider stratigraphy at Witch Hazel Hill, and initial observations have provided tantalizing indications that it could be linked to one of the dark-toned layers identified by the team from orbit. Placing these features in geologic context will be critical for understanding their origin, and determining their significance for the geological history of the Jezero crater rim and beyond!

TOP IMAGE: This image from NASA's Mars Perseverance rover, a fusion-processed SuperCam Remote Micro Imager (RMI) mosaic, shows part of the "St. Pauls Bay" target, acquired from the lower Witch Hazel Hill area of the Jezero crater rim. The image reveals hundreds of strange, spherical-shaped objects comprising the rock. Perseverance acquired this image on March 11, 2025, or sol 1442—Martian day 1,442 of the Mars 2020 mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP

LOWER IMAGE: NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the "St. Pauls Bay" target (the dark-toned float block in the right of the view) using its Left Mastcam-Z camera, one of a pair of cameras located high on the rover's remote-sensing mast. Perseverance acquired this image on March 13, 2025—sol 1444, or Martian day 1,444 of the Mars 2020 mission—at the local mean solar time of 11:57:49. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

[americangeophysicalunion]

What is the age of groundwater venting at submerged karst sinkholes?

Dear AGU,  

Mysteries abound regarding ground water composition, inventories and fluxes. This is particularly true for the age of ground water venting from submarine and sublacustrine vents such as the submerged karst sinkholes in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Currently, we have no idea if the groundwater venting out of nearshore and offshore sinkholes in Lake Huron is days, years, centuries, or even many millennia old – even though this know-how is key to understanding aquifer recharge and turnover, assessing its contribution to lake levels and the potential for groundwater contamination and its transfer to the lake’s interior.

            Here onboard NOAA’s R/V Storm, divers have just brought up groundwater samples in airtight Van Dorn bottles from the bottom of Middle Island Sinkhole (~23 m depth). Working underneath the shade of an umbrella, research technician Tony Weinke and graduate student Cecilia Howard are carefully draining the groundwater samples into copper collection tubes that will be sealed without bubbles and exposure to atmosphere for sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) measurements. Since anthropogenic SF6 arose about 70 years ago, its presence or absence in venting groundwater will inform us if it is relatively young or quite old, respectively.   

— Bopi Biddanda and Tony Weinke, Annis Water Resources Institute, Grand Valley State University (https://www.gvsu.edu/wri/); Cecilia Howard and Diana Velazquez, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan (https://lsa.umich.edu/earth); and Steve Ruberg, NOAA-Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab (https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/), Michigan.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

(CNN) — Egypt’s Great Pyramid and other ancient monuments at Giza exist on an isolated strip of land at the edge of the Sahara Desert.

The inhospitable location has long puzzled archaeologists, some of whom had found evidence that the Nile River once flowed near these pyramids in some capacity, facilitating the landmarks’ construction starting 4,700 years ago.

Using satellite imaging and analysis of cores of sediment, a new study published Thursday in the journal Communications Earth & Environment has mapped a 64-kilometer (40-mile) long, dried-up branch of the Nile, long buried beneath farmland and desert.

“Even though many efforts to reconstruct the early Nile waterways have been conducted, they have largely been confined to soil sample collections from small sites, which has led to the mapping of only fragmented sections of the ancient Nile channel systems,” said lead study author Eman Ghoneim, a professor and director of the Space and Drone Remote Sensing Lab at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences.

“This is the first study to provide the first map of the long-lost ancient branch of the Nile River.”

Ghoneim and her colleagues refer to this extinct branch of the Nile river as Ahramat, which is Arabic for pyramids.

The ancient waterway would have been about 0.5 kilometers wide (about one-third of a mile) with a depth of at least 25 meters (82 feet) — similar to the contemporary Nile, Ghoneim said.

“The large size and extended length of the Ahramat Branch and its proximity to the 31 pyramids in the study area strongly suggests a functional waterway of great importance,” Ghoneim said.

She said the river would have played a key role in ancient Egyptians’ transportation of the enormous amount of building materials and laborers needed for the pyramids’ construction.

“Also, our research shows that many of the pyramids in the study area have (a) causeway, a ceremonial raised walkway, that runs perpendicular to the course of the Ahramat Branch and terminates directly on its riverbank.”

Hidden traces of a lost waterway

Traces of the river aren’t visible in aerial photos or in imagery from optical satellites, Ghoneim said.

In fact, she only spotted something unexpected while studying radar satellite data of the wider area for ancient rivers and lakes that might reveal a new source of groundwater.

“I am a geomorphologist, a paleohydrologist looking into landforms. I have this kind of trained eye,” she said.

“While working with this data, I noticed this really obvious branch or a kind of riverbank, and it didn’t make any sense because it is really far from the Nile,” she added.

Born and raised in Egypt, Ghoneim was familiar with the cluster of pyramids in this area and had always wondered why they were built there.

She applied to the National Science Foundation to investigate further.

Geophysical data taken at ground level with the use of ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic tomography confirmed it was an ancient arm of the Nile.

Two long cores of earth the team extracted using drilling equipment revealed sandy sediment consistent with a river channel at a depth of about 25 meters (82 feet).

It’s possible that “countless” temples might still be buried beneath the agricultural fields and desert sands along the riverbank of the Ahramat Branch, according to the study.

Why this branch of the river dried up or disappeared is still unclear. Most likely, a period of drought and desertification swept sand into the region, silting up the river, Ghoneim said.

"The study demonstrated that when the pyramids were built, the geography and riverscapes of the Nile differed significantly from those of today," said Nick Marriner, a geographer at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris.

He was not involved in the study but has conducted research on the fluvial history of Giza.

“The study completes an important part of the past landscape puzzle,” Marriner said.

“By putting together these pieces, we can gain a clearer picture of what the Nile floodplain looked like at the time of the pyramid builders and how the ancient Egyptians harnessed their environments to transport building materials for their monumental construction endeavors.”

[quaranmine]

Small thing but thanks for like. Vaguely mentioning your field in passing cuz it gave me the spesific branch of biology that I wanna pursue, ecology! Aka I now have a more spesific target other than "idk, bio."

I think. At least. If I'm wrong then thanks for mentioning ecology's existence in passing at least lol

oh this is such a wild ask to receive since I'm somehow part of this revelation. I'm glad you could figure that out! I hope you have a good time studying it if you decide to pursue that field. I'm actually not an ecologist, but I have taken ecology in college. My bachelor's is in Environmental Science, which is a pretty broad field involving many forms of physical and life sciences. My job has labeled me both "Physical Scientist" and "Life Scientist" at different times, but I'm not doing in lab work, field work, or experiements so some people might argue against the scientist label.

In general, my education and career lean much more heavily into less alluring and less glamorous subjects like pollution, toxic chemicals, energy, landfills, remediation of hazardous waste sites, etc. I do a lot of outreach in my job, typically things like: creating outreach strategies, creating outreach materials, ordering materials, speaking with city and state government employees, speaking with community nonprofits, actively making professional relationships for my organization, organizing symposiums and classes, attending events with educaiton materials, presenting educational material, answering questions from the public. The subject of my job is mostly things about lead poisoning, children's health, public health, environmental regulations, and recycling but I have also spoken about pesticides, brownfields, groundwater pollution, etc.

Much of what I learned in school wasn't, like, pretty nature or wildlife or plants--although that's what everybody thinks I studied. It was about toxic chemicals exposure. Pollution sampling and monitoring. Wastewater treatment and drinking water quality. Remediation techniques like pumping sites, filters, bioremediation, etc. Groundwater hydrology and how pollution moves in aquifers. Environmental law, legal exposure theshholds, how to write risk assessments and quantify risk, etc.

However, there is a very strong overlapping link between ecology as a field and my field--there's a reason I also studied ecology as part of my degree, as well as biology! An ecologist might "classically" study things like how ecosystems work, food chains, wildlife populations, habitats, etc. The intersection with my field comes in with questions like: How does this chemcial spill affect the fish population? What is the impact that this proposed construction project might have on the local ecosystem and is that reason to block the project? How does pesticide runoff from agriculture affect non-target plants and animals?

Anyway, I love ecology. It's one of my favorite branches of science. I would have studied it or gone into it fully but the allure of preventing toxic chemical exposures/cleaning them up was too great xD

[pyxisastronautica]

[A video depicts the long dark tunnel of a natural cave, lit by dim green light that's been amplified. There's a sound of dripping coming from somewhere up ahead.

Whiskey's voice can be heard over the speaker but is also automatically converted to captions.

W: Well. I reckon this is the one. I hear it too a lil' bit. That signal, dim as it is.

Despite the ambient noise of the cave, it's audible in the upload too, as if playing over the video rather than from something within it. It's little more than a faint layer of pitchy white noise, though.

W: Welp, nothing to do but follow it. Check back in in a lil' bit.

The video cuts ahead.

There is a large pit cave up ahead- limestone perhaps, that had once been eroded by groundwater. The water is still flowing, in fact, though the flow down the sides is fairly weak, little more than a trickle.

The first thing one might notice is the noise. It is as loud as a crowd of people talking, and there's something about it that's not dissimilar, a chaotic but not quite random signal, like birdsong or frogs or cicadas. But it's not quite the same as any of those, either. There's no directionality to it, as before, it's not a physical sound but a signal that's been picked up and translated into it.

The second thing is tiny sparks of light pulsing and flickering ahead, like stars, or a swarm of something bioluminescent. The dim light given off reflects off of what casts it in a way that looks either metallic or waxy, giving it shape- short, dense shapes that are almost coralline or perhaps fungal. They carpet the walls of the cave completely in both directions, swaying gently, and a slow cascade of what looks like glitter rains down as it does. It's beautiful, in a way. The only thing that mars that beauty are the occasional oddly shaped lumps on the wall.

W: Methane detected. Not at dangerous levels. Lima, you alright? What is that stuff?

Lima stands about 200 feet from where the cave opens up ahead, silhouetted and standing stock still. Though presumably the message is received by her, she doesn't seem to respond immediately, transfixed. Whiskey shakes her shoulder, and Lima shakes her head a little.

W: Yer startin' to scare me a little, Beans. L: Sor-sorry. I'm sorry. I don't...know what I'm looking at either. It's unlike anything that should be on Earth. W: But it's what's makin' all this racket then? L: Yes. The data it transmits its noisy, but I think I'm starting to see the pattern within it. It's...talking to itself, I think. W: Well...what's it sayin'? L: Uncertain. The patterns changed when you approached, though. I think they know we're here. W: They? L: It's like...a colony, I think. W: Well...at least it ain't dangerous then, right? L: I don't think it is...But. Something tells me it is...curious, about us. Maybe it will allow me to take a sample...? W: I...I dunno Beans. I don't like this much. We seen some weird things in our tour but...None of 'em been able to broadcast directly to us. It's givin' me the heebie jeebies. L: No samples then. Shouldn't I study it's signal regardless, though? W: Nnnnah. Nah we're headin' back, Lima.

Whiskey grabs his comrade's wrist tightly, tugging her away.

Video ends.]