Just because the space shuttle Atlantis is on its final mission, that doesn’t mean NASA’s run out of cool experiments. Its latest example? A shiny silver bag — consciously inspired by the “stillsuits” from Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic, Dune — that turns astronaut urine into potable drinking water. It’s been done, you say? Sure, but the earlier tech relied on electricity: a precious commodity aboard the International Space Station. The Forward Osmosis Bag requires no outside power source, relying on, you guessed it, forward osmosis to produce clean, [...]

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