More from House of Anansi’s latest how to save earth manual, Feeding the Future (A. Heintzman and E. Solomon, editors). In his essay on technology and food, The High Tech Menu, William I. Atkinson discusses the relatively new science of nanotechnology:

“The DoubleCore, Wilson’s top-of-the-line tennis ball, gets its name from an extra layer of nanomaterial inside its standard shell… the enclosed air does not escape… Wilson had to toughen up the DoubleCore’s outer fuzz because players were wearing it bald without affecting its play behaviour.”

And then:

The Sciperio compound starts off as hydrophilic, or water-bonding. When left in the air for a few hours, it attracts water molecules by the trillion, bonding them as tightly as flies to flypaper. At this point the surface is made hydrophobic, or water-repellent, allowing the accumulated water to slide into a collector. The result is unlimited pure water from thin air, even dry desert air.

Fantastic. Better than flying cars. We can soon, if not now, make pure water from the air, anywhere, anytime. The implications for humanity are unfathomable.

Of course, we made a better tennis ball first. Priorities people.