Ask air for water

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Once Mayun said,“The cheapest thing in ten years will be houses and cars,while one of the most expensive things would be water—— clean water.”

The earth we live on is called blue planet because over 70%of which is covered with water.It seems like there is a huge amount of water but most of which is salt water.Only fresh water is drinkable and not all of it can be attained easily.So the final number is less than 1%.You might say 1%is ok,but much of it was polluted.

Over 160 countries depend on imported water.As it becomes increasingly scarce,it leads to conflicts and even war between countries.

Take an example:the Nile starts in Ethiopia and ends in Egypt.That gives Ethiopia an upper hand in geopolitics,because if tensions prompted it,it could theoretically cut off or limit that huge water supply to Egypt.

So how can we ensure that everyone get their fair share?

One answer is to tap H2O from thin air.

One team that has already been exploring water-harvesting technology is led by Omar Yaghi at the University of California,Berkeley.Using materials called metal organic frameworks– a powder that‘harvests’liquid from the atmosphere in its pores,they have shown that as little as 1kg of the powder can trap nearly 3 litres of water in only 12 hours.In humid parts of the world,this technology could provide an entirely new water source for people.

马云曾经说过：“十年后，最便宜的是房子和车子，最昂贵的东西之一是水。”

因为超过70%的表面被水覆盖，地球被称为“蓝色星球”。看似拥有大量的水资源，但大部分是盐水。只有淡水可以饮用，但并不是所有的淡水都可以轻松获得。最终数字是不超过1%。你可能会说1%也不少啊，但是（就是这1%）很多也已经被污染。

世界上有超过160个国家靠进口水生存。随着水资源日益稀缺，会导致冲突和战争。

举例来说：尼罗河源头在埃塞俄比亚，终点在埃及。在地缘政治上，埃塞俄比亚占了上风，因为如果两个国家关系紧张，埃塞俄比亚可能会以断水相威胁。

那么，怎样才能确保所有人都有水喝呢？

跟空气要水。

一个由加利福尼亚大学（伯克利）Omar Yaghi领导的团队已经开始探索集水技术。使用名为“金属有机框架”的材料——这种粉末材料可以通过自身的小孔吸收大气中的液体。他们表示：仅仅1千克的粉末可以在短短的12小时内捕获近3公升的水。在世界上的潮湿的地区，这种技术可以给人提供一个全新的水资源。

Notes：

Attain获得；得到

Explore探索

Material材料

Organic有机的

Framework框架

Pore毛孔；细孔。