Here’s a cool bit of Biomimicry created from a beetle called the Namib Desert Beetle which has proved its resiliency and developed the ability to provide itself with water in a desert! The beetle uses its back to extract a water supply from morning fogs. Wind pushes the moisture into the peaks of the beetle’s back until enough condensation builds up to form droplets of water.

Now a couple of Boston College graduates are banking on a beetle to help solve the world’s clean water crisis by applying Biomimcry techniques to develop a product to recreate the chemical properties of the beetle’s back. By creating designs that support condensation, they may have created the ability to be a sustainable method of harvesting drinking water from the atmosphere! If true, bearing in mind by 2030 water will be worth more than oil and the fact that the third world has on average 20x less clean drinking water than is required this could solve major drinking water issues around some of the worlds most populated areas as well as prove commercially viable. Deckard Sorensen and Miguel Galvez are hoping to make a difference through their start-up company NBD Nanotechnologies.