Bianchini's Diploma thesis showed that the phenomenon could be reproduced in a controlled laboratory setting using mate leaves or chalk powder as contaminants, and that temperature gradients (hot in the top, cold in the bottom) were not necessary to generate the effect. The research also showed that surface tension was key to the explanation through the Marangoni effect. This was suggested by two facts: (a) both mate and chalk lowered the surface tension of water, and (b) if an industrial surfactant was added on the upper reservoir, the upstream motion of particles would stop.