There is water
in the air around us at every moment. While this may not seem very important if
you live in a water-rich area, this untapped resource could help everyone from
athletes on the go to people living in arid areas of the world. Taking a cue
from the Namib Desert Beetle, researchers have developed a water bottle that
can fill up itself up by harvesting water from the atmosphere.
The Namib
Desert Beetle has a shell that is roofed in bumps, which permits humidity in
the air to slowly accumulate on its back until water droplets form. These
droplets roll down the beetle’s back and directly into its mouth, permitting
the insect to stay alive in environments where ground water is scarce. Scientistics
have mimicked this shell to develop a bottle that utilizes the same water
collecting effect. The new technology can also be help in tent covers, roof
tiles and other items.
NBD Nano is
getting advantage of this technology to create a water bottle that can
continually fill itself up. The company hopes to have the water bottle on the
market by 2014. We see this being applicable to anything from marathon runners
to people in third-world countries, because we realize that water is such a
large issue in the world today, and we want to strive to alleviate those
problems with a cost-efficient solution.
