Just like the replicator on Star Trek: The Next Generation, a new clean energy prototype promises to work wonders out of thin air.
The researchers call it Air-gen, a mobile electricity generation device that uses a network of protein nanowires to turn the ambient humidity in the air into contained, synthetic thunderstorms.
This 'human-built, small-scale cloud,' these scientists said, can produce electricity 'predictably and continuously' in a wider variety of conditions than sun-dependent solar cells or wind-dependent turbines.
The team hopes to see Air-gen scaled up for mass use across the world - in environments ranging from the Amazon rainforest to the Sahara.