To gain further insight into the spatial heterogeneity and examine the impact of different features of the DNA/RNA environment on the hydration dynamics, we split the overall jump time distributions (Figure ) according to the nature of the nearby nucleic acid site: H-bond acceptor sites (e.g., phosphate groups, O or N atoms on the base), H-bond donor sites (e.g., ribose OH groups), and hydrophobic groups (e.g., -CH 2 -groups). In line with the findings from earlier studies on proteins and DNA, the main peak of the jump time distributions is located at around τ jump ≃ 6 -7 ps, only moderately slowed down with respect to bulk water τ bulk jump ≃ 2.5 ps (i.e. a retardation factor of about ρ jump = 2.5 -3), and mostly comes from water molecules located next to the biomolecule hydrophobic and H-bond donor groups (Figure ). We specifically examined the hydration dynamics of the ribose 2 ′ OH group in RNA, where early structural studies have suggested long-lived hydration patterns, 31-33 that were not observed in subsequent molecular dynamics studies. Our simulations show no sign of long-lived hydration patterns, and the hydration dynamics at these sites is only moderately slowed down, with a jump time of about 5-6 ps (i.e. ρ jump = 2 -2.5).