http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16977&ch=nanotech
'Emerging Technologies and Their Impact'
*It's rare to see TECHNOLOGY REVIEW getting this assertive
about an untried technology. Carbon nanotubes sucking
the salt our seawater? In bulk? Cheap? Maybe.
*What would really save our bacon would be nanotubes
that could suck the salt out of seawater – and also out of
over-irrigated, contaminated soil. Like, for instance, much of the continent of Australia. Transforming Australia into
a vast granary would require a whole lotta teensy tubes, and
the extracted salt would likely be the size of several
Manhattans, but that is some kinda nanotech
worldsaving scenario. No tiny robots, no glamorous
gray goo, no wacky handwaving, just suck the salt out of the
water and the ground. Hey, why not?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_salination
