Slippery when dry

Beetle-inspired material collects water from fog

A desert-dwelling beetle is inspiring engineers to create surfaces with an uncanny ability to collect water from fog.

FOG CATCHER Scientists are recreating the surface on this desert beetle’s back. Parker

Christian Dorrer and Jürgen Rühe of the University of Freiburg in Germany created a surface that attracts fog’s microscopic water droplets, encouraging them to condense.