Published weekdays · Vol. 1
The peer-reviewed research shaping the next decade, written for people who don't have time to read it.
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Water · Materials Science
Making Drinkable Water From Sunlight, Thanks to a Desert Weed
- 01Setup
- 02Problem
- 03Approach
- 04Testing
- 05Results
- 06Commentary
Listen, 10 min
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Structure
Every issue is built the same way.
So you always know where the answer lives.
- 01
Setup
Context for the research and why it exists.
- 02
Problem
The challenge the team set out to solve.
- 03
Approach
The methodology, in plain language.
- 04
Testing
What was actually measured, and how.
- 05
Results
What the data showed.
- 06
Commentary
Why it matters and what it unlocks next.
A whisker-like robot hand that works underwater
A team at Purdue built a robot hand out of painted carbon rods, dropped it in a fish tank, and asked it to pick up a live snail... amongst other things.
A wallpaper that cools buildings in summer and heats them in winter
A Chinese research team built a wallpaper from bone mineral and colour-changing capsules that reflects sunlight in summer and absorbs it in winter, switching automatically at 28°C with no power, no moving parts, and no input from anyone.
A hydrogel patch that powers itself and reads the water inside a leaf
Today we're looking at a future where the sensors monitoring a farm's crops are stuck to the leaves themselves, running on nothing but the air around them.
A folded paper ring that measures both a pulse and a hard grip
Today we're looking at a future where the health sensor on your finger is a folded piece of paper.
Turning spent coffee grounds into lithium-ion battery anodes with a laser
Today, we look at a future where the coffee grounds you scrape into the bin end up inside your next phone's battery.
A cruise control system that adjusts your speed based on how far you can see around a curve
Today, we're looking at a future where a car can adjust its speed based on how far it can see around the corner.
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