The secret to collecting magic water from desert beetles

The Namib beetle survives where rainfall is just over 1 centimeter per year, thanks to an extremely efficient water harvesting strategy from early frost.

When the lightest fog blows through the beetle's back, droplets of just 15-20 micrometres (millimeters) begin to gather on the humps on their backs. These bumps are surrounded by waterproof grooves. When a bump collects enough water to form a large drop, it will roll into the groove and flow into the animal's mouth.

Imitating the Namib beetle, two Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers, created a material that can capture and control tiny droplets of water.

The idea of ​​Robert Cohen and Michael Rubner dates back to 2001, and recently, they launched their product. It is essentially a material that combines super water-absorbing surfaces and super-water-based surfaces.

On the one hand is a layer of material like Teflon (pushing water), the other side is a rough structure made of silicon particles and electrostatic polymer at extremely small size, which can attract these droplets.

T. An