Posted by Mike on June 12th, 2008 in material

https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/news_releases/2008/NR-08-06-03.htm l

Every once in a while a piece of research sneaks in that gives a glimmer of hope to an impending crisis, and by the way the above website has a GREAT animation of how this thing works. While we are all mostly worried about the price of fueling up our Hummers, probably the greatest, most immediate threat to life as we know it is the fresh water shortage. That doesn’t mean that I think that many in this country will suffer greatly in the short term, unless by suffering you mean that some will be deprived of our plush yards. What I do mean is that the vast numbers of “others” of our species in the Far East, Africa, even the Middle East will suffer starvation, disease and a precarious existence in the future because of this expanding shortage.

Enter the folks from Laurence Livermore Labs with their revelation on the use of carbon nanotubes for the filtration of water. They found that these tubes have the ability to flow water molecules through them in a surprisingly rapid way. Mind you that these tubes are 100 times smaller than a human hair, so the fact that water flows relatively unimpeded through them is pretty weird, but it is the potential for filtration that is what has everyone so excited.

The researchers found that for some reason, and they think that it is because of the atomic characteristics of the end of the tubes, salt water or specifically the ion of NaCl that is attached to the water molecule is rejected by the tube, the ion split off and the newly freed fresh water passes through.

This, of course, suggests a great, low energy desalinization membrane. Next steps include investigating methods of getting the tubes to stack up neatly to create a full membrane.

Here is the concern. For the last 50 years or so, for every crisis we humans have faced, we have trusted our technological genius to bail us out. Super strains of rice to feed more people, more potent fertilizer, betting that virologist will develop an anti-bird flu vaccine before the big outbreak, now super filters to provide fresh water: All of human ills fixed in the last minute of the game, bailing our butts out, thus saving us from our excesses, our inability to control ourselves, our inability to recognize and acknowledge an impending crisis, BEFORE it becomes a crisis.

One of these days, technology will not save us; people in large numbers will die. Maybe we are at the beginning of the die off, maybe Malthus was right after all.