Frank Herbert's Moisture Traps May Be a Reality

Omomyid writes "In the seminal science fiction book 'Dune,' Frank Herbert envisioned the Fremen collecting water from the air via moisture traps and dew collectors. Science Daily reprints a press release from the Fraunhofer Institute in Stuttgart, where scientists working with colleagues from Logos Innovationen have developed a closed-loop and self-sustaining method, no external power required, for teasing the humidity out of desert air and into potable water."

Comments

Will these scientists ever learn?

[levicivita]

How do they expect to keep such large structures safe from worms? I guess this is a typical melange bull market phenomenon. As soon as the price of spice jumps past $70 these people start building unsustainable castles in the sand. I for one will continue diligently keeping urinating into my stillsuit with the water recycling conservatively set on 'maximum.'

Walk without rythm, fellow travelers.

I have no need for this article

[scourfish]

What I really need is a droid that understands the binary language of moisture vaporators.

Re:When the figurative white man "discovers" it

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought you meant he would suddenly notice Solid Snake sneaking around his desalinization plant.

Re:Still suits next?

[jandoedel]

(forgot the line breaks)

Only a gallon of water over an acre of land? I doubt it.

I'm not really used to the Imperial System, but I'll try my best to do the calculation in it.
1 acre = "how much a man with an ox can manage in 1 day"
1 gallon = "1 eights of a bushel"
1 bushel = "the volume of a pile of wheat which weighs 64 tower pounds"
1 tower pound = "5400 troy grains"
1 troy grain = "64.79891 milligrams"
1 quart = "a quarter of a gallon"
density of wheat = 950 000 karat / hogshead
average humidity in Colorado = 40%

assume a humidity of 40%, and you get about 40 gallons of water in the furlong of air over an acre of land. A quart doesn't really seem to make that much of a difference.