Selected node · Transport and connection
A high-flux interface among land, ocean and atmosphere
Rivers collect weathering products, nutrients and contaminants from their catchments, where drinking-water sources and global material cycles meet.
Field Commons田野的共同体
Case 02 · Water: Earth’s Lifeblood
How does one glass of water connect rocks, rivers, blood and public health?
Place average elemental concentrations from different media on one set of axes and a chain appears across the crust, hydrosphere, life and public standards. Make a judgement first, then follow the correlations and their outliers.
Selected Shanghai science-popularisation microvideo, 2024
01Guess02Trace links03Read outliers04Return to rivers
01 · Make a judgement
Which medium shows the closest overall elemental relationship with drinking-water standards?
The paper compares multiple elements across the crust, soil, seawater, river water, the human body, blood and drinking-water standards on logarithmic scales. Choose one answer before seeing the result.
02 · A network of media
Water places different Earth-system compartments in one material-exchange chain.
Select a medium to see how the paper interprets its relationship with water. The interface presents directions and scientific meaning without reducing quantitative correlations to a league table.
03 · Outlier laboratory
Elements outside the regression line often reveal how a standard is made.
The overall relationship supplies a baseline. Outliers expose the roles of toxicity, public-health benefit, technology and social acceptability. Select a story.
Aesthetics and distribution
Limited toxicity can still lead to tighter control.
Oxidised iron and manganese form precipitates that affect colour, turbidity, taste and water infrastructure. Standards therefore account for public acceptability and operational concerns and sit below a simple correlation baseline.
05 · From paper to public
How research became a science story that could be used together.
The paper supplied the scientific proposition; a cross-disciplinary volunteer team developed the narrative, imagery and distribution. When Fudan reported the project in July 2024, the video had received more than 250,000 views across Bilibili, Weibo and WeChat Channels.
Paper online
Elemental correlations were used to examine water as a link in the Earth–human system.
Volunteer team
Graduate students, science creators and a nature photographer collaborated in their own time.
Public distribution
The video entered public discussion through Bilibili, Weibo and WeChat Channels.
Professional recognition
Selected as a 2024 Shanghai Excellent Science-Popularisation Microvideo.
PUBLIC VIDEO · 2023
Are drinking-water standards related to the primordial ocean?
The video brings together ideas from Guanzi, Leonardo da Vinci and Vernadsky and uses elemental correlations to connect water science, Earth systems and planetary health.
Watch the full video on Bilibili06 · Sources and collaboration
Research, communication and support remain traceable.
The case is based on a 2023 cover paper in Scientia Sinica Terrae by Zimeng Wang, Yongsheng Liu, Anhuai Lu and Yanxin Wang. Graduate students, student creators and a nature photographer produced the public video, with scholarly guidance and support from the Tang Chung Ying Foundation’s Chung Ying Young Scholars Programme.
Scientific source
Zimeng Wang, Yongsheng Liu, Anhuai Lu and Yanxin Wang, 2023, “Water: The lifeblood of the Earth–human system revealed in elemental correlations.”
Principal creators
Zimeng Wang, Zhenghang Fu, Dike Su, Yi Zhong, Chunlin Ma and colleagues produced the public work.
Scholarly guidance
Yanxin Wang, Yong-Guan Zhu, Anhuai Lu, Yongsheng Liu, Xinbin Feng and colleagues advised the project.
This page draws on the paper and Fudan University’s July 2024 report. Its interactions explain statistical relationships and the logic of standard setting; they do not assess the safety of any water supply. Actual water quality requires sampling, analysis, applicable standards and local supply information.