08-20-2013, 04:04 AM
Werks for me ~!~ . . . ymmv
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23715031
Can 'powdered rain' make drought a thing of the past?
19 August 2013 Last updated at 11:20 GMT
The lack of water is a growing, global problem that seems intractable.
While the UN estimates that a large majority of the water we use goes on irrigation, researchers have been working on a range of ideas that make the water we use in agriculture last longer.
There has been a great deal of excitement and some dramatic headlines in recent weeks about a product that is said to have the potential to overcome the global challenge of growing crops in arid conditions.
"Solid Rain" is a powder that's capable of absorbing enormous amounts of water and releasing it slowly over a year so that plants can survive and thrive in the middle of a drought.
A litre of water can be absorbed in as little as 10 grams of the material, which is a type of absorbent polymer originally pioneered by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Back in the 1970s, USDA developed a super-absorbent product made from a type of starch nicknamed the "super slurper".
The most widely used, commercial application of this technology has been in disposable nappies, or diapers as they are quaintly termed in the US.
But a Mexican chemical engineer called Sergio Jesus Rico Velasco saw more in the product than dry bottoms.
He developed and patented a different version of the formula that could be mixed in with soil to hold water that could then slowly feed plants.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23715031
Can 'powdered rain' make drought a thing of the past?
19 August 2013 Last updated at 11:20 GMT
The lack of water is a growing, global problem that seems intractable.
While the UN estimates that a large majority of the water we use goes on irrigation, researchers have been working on a range of ideas that make the water we use in agriculture last longer.
There has been a great deal of excitement and some dramatic headlines in recent weeks about a product that is said to have the potential to overcome the global challenge of growing crops in arid conditions.
"Solid Rain" is a powder that's capable of absorbing enormous amounts of water and releasing it slowly over a year so that plants can survive and thrive in the middle of a drought.
A litre of water can be absorbed in as little as 10 grams of the material, which is a type of absorbent polymer originally pioneered by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Back in the 1970s, USDA developed a super-absorbent product made from a type of starch nicknamed the "super slurper".
The most widely used, commercial application of this technology has been in disposable nappies, or diapers as they are quaintly termed in the US.
But a Mexican chemical engineer called Sergio Jesus Rico Velasco saw more in the product than dry bottoms.
He developed and patented a different version of the formula that could be mixed in with soil to hold water that could then slowly feed plants.