Important Innovations

Israel's Leadership in Desalination of Sea Water Source:  Israeli Desalination Plant Building the World's Biggest Desalination Plant Israel is building the world's biggest desalination plant, adding the huge facility on top of five other desalination plants along the Mediterranean Sea.  The huge plant is a response to climate change and five years of low rainfall in Israel.  It will supply 20% of Israeli households water.  For a great news blog on this, go to Important Innovations Collection: Israel's Desalination Push Against CC : Climate Change Cutting Rainfall in Israel Source: Israeli Desalination Plant Desalination Solution from Sea Water Israel is building...

Sensor Backpack that Rides on Bumblebees Source:  University of Washington Small, Sensing Biosystem for Farms & The Environment This is extraordinary innovation at the cutting edge to monitor the environment and farms.  It's from computer scientists and engineers at the University of Washington.   They've invented a sensor system small enough to ride on the back of a bumblebee to gather data on the health and quality of farm plants. Better Than Drones Farmers are using drones to monitor temperature, humidity and crop health over their fields.  There are big limits caused by power needs of drones.  The drones can't go very far without a recharge every 10 to 20 minutes. Bees on Patrol with Backpacks Bees fly on their own, so the system needs only a tiny rechargeable battery.  It lasts 7 hours for data collection and can be recharged wirelessly when the bees return to their hives.  The scientists download the data when the bees return to the hive.  The team