Skip to main content

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

3 comments

Why Drinking More Water Didn’t Stop Kidney Stones

Kidney stones are one of the most painful medical conditions a person can experience. Often described as unbearable, they can suddenly disrupt daily life and even lead to emergency hospital visits. For years, doctors have given a simple piece of advice to prevent them: drink more water. But a new large study shows that the solution may not be that simple.

Researchers from the Urinary Stone Disease Research Network, along with the Duke Clinical Research Institute, conducted a major clinical trial to test whether a structured hydration program could actually prevent kidney stones from coming back. The results, published in The Lancet, reveal a surprising reality: even advanced hydration strategies may not be enough.

The Promise of Drinking More Water

Doctors have long believed that increasing fluid intake helps prevent kidney stones. The idea is simple—more water dilutes the minerals in urine that form stones, making it less likely for them to clump together.

This advice is especially important because kidney stones are common. In the United States alone, about 1 in 11 people will develop them at some point, and nearly half will face another episode later. Because of this high recurrence rate, prevention is a major focus of medical research.

A High-Tech Experiment

To test whether better hydration habits could reduce kidney stone recurrence, researchers designed one of the largest behavioral studies of its kind. The trial included 1,658 participants, ranging from adolescents to adults, across six major medical centers.

Participants were divided into two groups:

  • One group received standard care.

  • The other followed a structured hydration program.

This was not just simple advice to “drink more water.” The program used modern tools and strategies, including:

  • Smart water bottles that tracked fluid intake

  • Personalized daily hydration goals (called “fluid prescriptions”)

  • Reminder messages

  • Health coaching

  • Even financial incentives to encourage consistency

Each person’s hydration target was calculated based on how much urine they needed to produce daily—at least 2.5 liters—to reduce stone risk.

What the Study Found

At first glance, the program seemed to work. Participants using the high-tech system did drink more water. Their urine output increased, which is exactly what doctors aim for in prevention.

However, the most important result told a different story.

Despite increased hydration, there was no significant reduction in kidney stone recurrence across the entire group.

In simple terms: even though people drank more water, it didn’t meaningfully stop stones from coming back.

Why Didn’t It Work?

The findings highlight a key challenge—consistency.

Drinking large amounts of water every single day is harder than it sounds. Even with reminders, tracking devices, and coaching, many people struggled to maintain high fluid intake over time.

Life gets in the way:

  • Busy work schedules

  • Limited access to water

  • Forgetting to drink regularly

  • Discomfort from frequent urination

These everyday challenges make long-term adherence difficult, even for motivated individuals.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Another important insight from the study is that a single hydration goal may not work for everyone.

People differ in many ways:

  • Body size

  • Climate and environment

  • Physical activity levels

  • Diet

  • Overall health

For example, someone living in a hot climate or doing physical labor may need much more fluid than someone in a cooler, sedentary environment. Yet both were given similar targets in the study.

This suggests that personalization may be more important than simply increasing water intake.

A Chronic and Complex Condition

Kidney stone disease is not just a one-time issue—it is a chronic condition. It can return unpredictably, often with intense pain that affects sleep, work, and daily life.

The study’s findings show that preventing kidney stones is more complex than previously thought. Hydration is important, but it is only one part of the puzzle.

Other factors also play a role, such as:

  • Diet (salt, protein, and oxalate intake)

  • Genetics

  • Metabolism

  • Underlying medical conditions

Simply focusing on water intake may not address all these contributing factors.

What This Means for Patients

The study does not mean that drinking water is useless. Staying hydrated is still beneficial and remains a key recommendation. However, it shows that hydration alone may not be enough for everyone.

Patients may need a more comprehensive approach, including:

  • Personalized hydration goals

  • Dietary changes

  • Medical treatments when necessary

  • Better strategies to build long-term habits

The Future of Prevention

Researchers believe this study is an important step toward more effective prevention strategies.

Instead of giving the same advice to everyone, future approaches may focus on:

  • Identifying who benefits most from high fluid intake

  • Understanding why people struggle to maintain habits

  • Developing tailored interventions

  • Exploring medications that help prevent mineral buildup

The goal is to move toward precision medicine, where prevention is customized for each individual.

A Reality Check

This research challenges a long-held belief that simply drinking more water can prevent kidney stones. It shows that even with advanced tools and strong motivation, changing daily habits is difficult—and sometimes not enough.

At the same time, it opens the door to better solutions. By understanding the limits of current strategies, scientists can develop more effective and realistic ways to help people avoid this painful condition.

Conclusion

Kidney stones remain a stubborn and common health problem. While drinking more water helps, it is not a guaranteed solution. The latest research shows that prevention is more complicated than expected, requiring consistency, personalization, and a broader approach.

For now, the best strategy is still to stay hydrated—but also to recognize that real prevention may need more than just a water bottle.

Reference:

  1. Jacob E. Earp, Shangshu Zhao, Furong Xu, Chia-Ling Kuo, Jenna M. Bartley, Richard H. Fortinsky, Jatupol Kositsawat, Carlos O. Rehbein, Ellen F. Binder, Jennifer Stevens-Lapsley, George A. Kuchel. Testosterone therapy effects adipose distribution in older females post hip-fracture: The STEP-HI study. Obesity Pillars, 2026; 17: 100247 DOI: 10.1016/j.obpill.2026.100247

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

For years, scientists believed that adding even one qubit (a unit of quantum information) to a black hole needed energy. This was based on the idea that a black hole’s entropy must increase with more information, which means it must gain energy. But a new study by Jonah Kudler-Flam and Geoff Penington changes that thinking. They found that quantum information can be teleported into a black hole without adding energy or increasing entropy . This works through a process called black hole decoherence , where “soft” radiation — very low-energy signals — carry information into the black hole. In their method, the qubit enters the black hole while a new pair of entangled particles (like Hawking radiation) is created. This keeps the total information balanced, so there's no violation of the laws of physics. The energy cost only shows up when information is erased from the outside — these are called zerobits . According to Landauer’s principle, erasing information always needs energy. But ...
3 comments
Read more

Black Holes That Never Dies

Black holes are powerful objects in space with gravity so strong that nothing can escape them. In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes can slowly lose energy by giving off tiny particles. This process is called Hawking radiation . Over time, the black hole gets smaller and hotter, and in the end, it disappears completely. But new research by Menezes and his team shows something different. Using a theory called Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) , they studied black holes with quantum corrections. In their model, the black hole does not vanish completely. Instead, it stops shrinking when it reaches a very small size. This leftover is called a black hole remnant . They also studied something called grey-body factors , which affect how much energy escapes from a black hole. Their findings show that the black hole cools down and stops losing mass once it reaches a minimum mass . This new model removes the idea of a “singularity” at the center of the black hole and gives us a better ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Planetary Movements Might Explain Sunspot Cycles and Solar Phenomena

Sunspots, dark patches on the Sun's surface, follow a cycle of increasing and decreasing activity every 11 years. For years, scientists have relied on the dynamo model to explain this cycle. According to this model, the Sun's magnetic field is generated by the movement of plasma and the Sun's rotation. However, this model does not fully explain why the sunspot cycle is sometimes unpredictable. Lauri Jetsu, a researcher, has proposed a new approach. Jetsu’s analysis, using a method called the Discrete Chi-square Method (DCM), suggests that planetary movements, especially those of Earth, Jupiter, and Mercury, play a key role in driving the sunspot cycle. His theory focuses on Flux Transfer Events (FTEs), where the magnetic fields of these planets interact with the Sun’s magnetic field. These interactions could create the sunspots and explain other solar phenomena like the Sun’s magnetic polarity reversing every 11 years. The Sun, our closest star, has been a subject of scient...
Post a Comment
Read more