In the summer of 2023, scientists from UC Berkeley took a machine that could be held by two hands to Death Valley National Park in North America, which is one of the most arid and hot locations on the continent and allowed it to operate using only the energy of the sun. It pulled water vapor out of the desert air, converted it to liquid and produced drinkable water without a battery, a plug, or any moving parts drawing outside power. The chemist behind the work, Omar Yaghi, had spent years building toward that single field test.
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