Why tightly confined water's response to electric fields depends on direction

Using an advanced new mathematical model, a pair of physicists in Belgium has revealed the origins of an unusual, direction-dependent effect found in water confined to a narrow gap between two plates. Through research published in Physical Review Letters, Mehdi Neek-Amal and Francois Peeters at the University of Antwerp showed how two drastically different dielectric responses in this water emerge from the natural bonding behavior of its molecules.