Nobel Laureate Designs Emergency Device That Pulls Water From Dry Air

After disasters, communities are often left scrambling for basic needs. If pipes or water treatment plants are damaged, the lack of clean drinking water can pose a major threat to health. Omar Yaghi says he has a fix for that. He won the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry.    

"Hurricanes such as Melissa or Beryl unleashed heavy flooding, destroying homes and crops and impacting thousands of lives in the Caribbean," Yaghi told The Guardian. He noted those storms showed "the urgent need for enhanced water supply resilience." 

Yaghi works in the field of reticular chemistry. He studies the way molecules bond. One of the compounds he studied can draw water from the air. It can do so even if the air is very dry.    

By using thin sheets of the reticular material, Yaghi made a device that attracts and holds water molecules. The device requires so little power that it can run on ambient thermal energy. That means the heat in the air and ground can power it. It can be as large as the size of a shipping container. One of Yaghi’s water harvesters can produce up to 1,000 liters of drinking water a day. That may be enough to help people survive disasters, Yaghi says.   

“The hour for collective action has already arrived,” Yaghi told The Guardian. “The science is here. What we need now is courage.”

Thought Question: When people face big problems caused by weather or climate, what kinds of inventions or ideas do you think could make the biggest difference?

Gif of dripping water courtesy @bbcamerica on Giphy.