New Fog-Harvesting Devices Could Provide Clean Drinking Water for the World's Poor
Shrouded in Fog Wikimedia CommonsMIT engineer takes advantage of a mist opportunity Clean drinking water is arguably the most basic human necessity, yet in developing countries it's a rare and precious resource - nearly 900 million people worldwide live without it, according to the World Health Organization. One MIT researcher has a solution: Drink the fog. Improved fog-harvesting materials could make it easier to collect water from morning dewdrops or coastal water vapor. Drawing inspiration from nature, MIT engineer Shreerang Chhatre is designing devices that attract water droplets and pool them together. Villagers could then collect water at their homes rather than lugging it across great distances, as an MIT News article explains. Chhatre has been studying the materials used in fog-harvesting devices, which typically consist of a fine mesh panel that attracts droplets, which collect inside receptacles. Chhatre is studying the "wettability" of materials, seeking a combination that attracts and repels...