A toast, Mr fog beetle. (Process).Ever wondered how some insects in desert regions apparently manage to live without water? The simple answer is that they don't, they just look as if they do. They are ingeniously in·gen·ious adj. 1. Marked by inventive skill and imagination. 2. Having or arising from an inventive or cunning mind; clever: an ingenious scheme. See Synonyms at clever. 3. equipped with moisture collecting body parts that they use on misty mist·y adj. mist·i·er, mist·i·est 1. Consisting of or marked by mist: a misty rain; a misty night. 2. days. One such is the Namibian fog beetle beetle, common name for insects of the order Coleoptera, which, with more than 300,000 described species, is the largest of the insect orders. Beetles have chewing mouthparts and well-developed antennae. that scampers up to the tops of dunes when it detects misty breezes. It turns its body to face the wind, straightens out its back legs and lowers its head. The mist settles on the beetle's back where it forms droplets of water, and they slide down so the insect can drink them. Scientists are just waking up to this method of plucking Plucking describes the process of removing human hair, animal hair, or a bird's feathers by mechanically pulling the item from the owner's body. In humans, this is done for personal grooming purposes, usually with tweezers. An epilator is a motorised hair plucker. water from seemingly thin air, and are starting to do something about it. A team of South African researchers funded by the Water Research Commission and inspired by the fog beetle, is finding unconventional ways of producing water. The scientists believe that there are several places in the country where communities can harvest considerable quantities of pure water from fog, mist and clouds. One successful water harvest project has been established in Limpopo province near the Zimbabwe border. On a good day, the Tshanowa school collects nearly 4,000 litres of water from the air. A simple contraption constructed of shade-net screens intercepts water-laden breezes and transforms the mist into droplets that run down a channel and fall into a collection tank. Best of all, a long-lasting water harvester harvester, farm machine that mechanically harvests a crop. Small-grain harvesting has been mechanized to a certain extent since early times. In the modern period the first harvester to gain general acceptance was made by Cyrus McCormick in 1831 (see reaper). can be built for as little as R7,000 and is simple to install and maintain. It is environmentally friendly Environmentally friendly, also referred to as nature friendly, is a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.[1] and needs no electrical power or pumps. |
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