As the world’s population grows and climate change brings more wildfires and drought, clean water is becoming an increasingly precious resource. Converting seawater to fresh could solve this problem. The challenge is to do it on a large scale using low cost, sustainable methods.

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Maryland believe wood could be the answer. They have made a super-thin membrane from wood to desalinate and purify water. The 0.5 mm-thick membrane, reported in Science Advances, a sustainable alternative to the petroleum-derived plastic membranes used at desalination plants.