Payment is due by 1.7

science matters

gregory swan

Weird Science – Water

THERE is nothing that shows the divide between academic science and the real world than the study of the simplest, most common thing: water. The mainstream academic view is that pure water is all the same, and the substance that makes up 60% of humanity is nothing but a solvent and a substrate for other materials. This could not be further from the truth and is one of the main gaps between the real world and mainstream academic understanding.

Nothing is more anomalous or more versatile than water, yet so misunderstood. There is a famous quote by Loren Eiseley, "If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.”

The most basic example is water quality testing. The mainstream opinion is that a handful of tests should be done on community water to determine its safety, including for the presence of bacteria and other organisms as well as heavy metals. Water quality tests are routinely done in all cities to determine that it is safe to drink. The reality is, that only a handful of harmful compounds are tested for, and the constellation of compounds not tested for is killing us. Several studies show that most cities’ water contains synthetic hormones, remnants of pharmaceuticals such as anti-depressants, and “forever chemicals” or polyfluoroalkyl substances. These “forever chemicals” are known for being resistant to heat, which is why they are used in fireproof materials, plastics, building materials, etc. A recent book by Dr. Shanna Swan, one of the world's leading environmental and reproductive epidemiologists, and professor of environmental, medicine and public health at Mount Sinai school of medicine, made waves when it pointed out that “forever chemicals” and environmental toxins will lead to human sterility by 2045. A class of plastic by-products, called phthalates, has been shown to cause newborns with smaller penis size, disruption of hormones, and lower sperm count. The most shocking revelation is that “forever chemicals” such as phthalates are not tested in water quality tests. If they were, the majority of the developed world would be considered to have unsafe water.

This pollution of water is just one example of mainstream blindness to real issues, but the misunderstanding of water is more severe. The most important person to learn about to understand the real aspects of water is known as “the wizard of water”. The “wizard of water” is a self-trained scientist named Viktor Schauberger, known to be responsible for the study of bio-mimicry, or engineering materials and devices. After a career as a forester studying streams, Viktor Schauberger noticed some anomalies around moving water, such as the ability of trout to remain perfectly still in a turbulent stream, or electric currents in specific parts of streams, and large temperature differences. This led to the discovery that not all water is made the same, and water that has gone through “imploding vortex” movements is of higher quality and contains different properties. Dr. Gerald Pollack, the author of “The Fourth Phase of Water”, is a university of Washington professor of bioengineering who has shown countless times that there is an additional phase of water in the same tradition of Viktor Schauberger. Nobel prize winner Luc Montagnier, who was the real discoverer of HIV, has shown beyond doubt that water has a “memory” specifically with biological systems and DNA, showing “teleportation” of DNA using the transfer of water “memory”. Any one of these experiments should revolutionize our understanding of water, ourselves, and our environment, but regardless of the number of times they are repeated, mainstream academia can not accept that it dropped the ball for so long. Tune in next week to learn about the miracles that are possible with a real understanding of water.

Gregory Swan is an independent researcher, having a formal training in analytical chemistry with experience running biotechnology companies. He has been involved with studying COVID19 and assisting a number of commercial companies with research and business operations. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in our Science Matters column are the personal views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions held by the Wet Tropic Times, its Editor, or staff.

“Nothing is more anomalous or more versatile than water, yet so misunderstood.”

$5.6 million to reach reef targets in the Murray and Mossman

THE Mossman and Murray river catchments are on course to meet their reef water quality targets with a new $5.6 million investment announced by Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley.

‘Mobilising the Murray and Mossman’ will build on previous water quality initiatives supporting farmers with land management practice changes to reduce runoff of nutrients, sediment and pesticides. The new project will focus on helping sugarcane growers to minimise the loss of excess nutrients by matching fertiliser applications to crop requirements.

Stewart Christie, CEO at Terrain NRM, welcomed the additional investment and said the project was targeting win-win solutions for farming businesses and water quality.

“These catchments have already made really good progress towards the current catchment targets within Australia’s Reef 2050 Plan, with farmers adopting best management practices for water quality and implementing a variety of changes,” he said.

“This initiative is a boost to help reach targets, in both water quality and productivity.”

Funded by the Australian Government’s Reef Trust, the project is being delivered by Terrain NRM, Mossman Agricultural Services and Canegrowers Tully. Agricultural extension officers and agribusiness providers will work with cane farmers to identify factors inhibiting the uptake of fertiliser by plants.

Peter Lucy, Manager at Canegrowers Tully, said constraints included compacted soils, sandy soils, weeds and poor drainage.

“The more we can help farmers address these constraints to their crop yields, the more we can prevent excess fertiliser losses running off into waterways,” he said. “The solution is different for every farm so it’s important to provide one-on-one support to farmers to identify and address their individual crop constraints.

“The Tully Extension Network has been providing extension support to sugarcane growers for several years now and this project will help us to continue supporting growers to refine their land management practices.”

Rebecca McHardie, Agronomist at Mossman Agricultural, said the biggest and most widespread limitation for cane productivity in the Mossman district was Ratoon Stunting Disease (RSD), a bacterial disease.

“One of our main focuses will be cleaning up RSD in our district to improve yields, which will have a knockon effect on water quality,’’ she said. “We plan to tie this in with whole-farm planning and a focus on soil health and fallow management.”

Mr Christie said the key to the success of reef water quality programs was finding solutions that benefitted farmers as well as the reef.

“The scale of work going on across our region to improve water quality flowing to the Great Barrier Reef is phenomenal and the latest Report Cards are showing positive results,” he said.