Chile’s Atacama is Earth’s driest desert. You could sit for decades in some places and never feel a raindrop. And yet, life survives here. Well-adapted plants can catch Pacific Ocean fog; then they provide that hydration to other animals. Indeed, our planet’s atmosphere holds more water than all its rivers combined, and these organisms are tapping into this water supply that humans are only beginning to appreciate.
It’s not just in fog and clouds either. The air itself is full of tiny water particles too small to see. And in recent years, scientists have been trying to find ways to drink it. The latest effort was announced at a press conference Monday in Los Angeles at the American Physical Society’s annual March meeting. It’s the world’s largest gathering of physicists.
