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Meet The Desert Shrub That Absorbs Water From The Air

The Tamarix aphylla plant has the potential to revolutionize our approach to water collection and management.

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meet the desert shrub that absorbs water from the air
NYU Abu Dhabi

In the unrelenting heat of the UAE desert, scientists from NYU Abu Dhabi’s Smart Materials Lab have discovered the secret of one of the plant world’s most interesting and possibly useful species — Tamarix aphylla. This unassuming desert shrub can extract water from thin air, and tears up the rulebook on survival in one of the world’s harshest environments.

Marieh Al-Handawi, a Postdoctoral Associate, and her partner, Professor Panče Naumov, have made a groundbreaking discovery about Tamarix aphylla that could revolutionize our approach to water collection in arid regions. The desert shrub’s roots absorb hyper-saline water from the sandy soil, carefully filtering away the salt and expelling it as a concentrated solution onto the outer surface of its leaves as a mixture of over ten different minerals.

tamarix aphylla desert shrub

The crystalized minerals on the plant’s leaves possess a remarkable ability to attract further moisture from the air, even at humidity levels of just 55%. This collected moisture condenses on the leaves’ surface and is rapidly absorbed, creating a cyclical process that can continue indefinitely.

Lead author of the research, Marieh Al-Handawi, has high hopes for the team’s findings, explaining: “They also open prospects for designing environmentally benign formulations based on a biogenic salt mixture that could be used for efficient harvesting of aerial water or cloud seeding at low humidity. This holds the promise of revolutionizing cloud seeding practices by rendering them more effective and environmentally friendly while also aligning with our responsibility to use the planet’s scarce water resources wisely”.

Also Read: Canadian University Dubai Students Create Smart Garbage Bin

In a world where fresh water is becoming increasingly scarce, Al-Handawi and her team’s research could prove to be game-changing, with alternative water-harvesting technologies becoming a hot topic in the MENA region in particular.

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Checkout.com Brings Visa Direct Push-To-Card To The UAE

The payment company is the first acquirer in the UAE to launch Visa Direct’s solution, enabling safe, instant money transfers.

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checkout.com brings visa direct push-to-card to the uae

Checkout.com has taken the UAE a step closer to its goal of a fully digital economy by becoming the first acquirer in the country to offer Visa Direct’s Push-to-Card solution. The new service will streamline money transfers for both businesses and consumers, enabling near-instant transactions across local and international markets.

Visa Direct connects over 190 markets and supports over 8.5 billion endpoints, including cards, bank accounts, and digital wallets. Push-to-Card transactions enhance efficiency for business users and consumers by allowing money to be sent quickly and easily to eligible Visa cards while leveraging the company’s secure network for reliability.

checkout and visa uae partnership

“Visa Direct is transforming the way money moves globally, and we are excited to see Checkout.com leverage this technology to meet the evolving demands of businesses and individuals alike by offering them a faster, more convenient, and secure way to send and receive funds,” said Shahebaz Khan, Senior Vice President and Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions, CEMEA.

The UAE has been at the forefront of digital payment adoption, driven by a national push toward a cashless economy. Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, General Manager for MENA at Checkout.com, emphasized this shift: “By providing seamless, secure, and real-time payout capabilities, we’re empowering merchants with the agility to thrive in this fast-evolving landscape, while effectively meeting the growing consumer demand for speed and convenience. The Push-to-Card solution not only reinforces our commitment to powering payment performance but also showcases our agility in bringing yet another innovation to the UAE market.”

Also Read: Qareeb Partners With Pantheon For GCC Bitcoin Mining Expansion

Checkout.com’s latest MENA eCommerce data highlights the region’s increasing engagement with financial technologies, with around 80% of consumers participating in activities beyond basic online payments, such as money transfers and personal wealth management. The growing demand for real-time financial transactions has made fast, seamless payment solutions a priority.

To meet this demand, Account Funding Transactions (AFTs) have gained traction in the UAE. By integrating AFTs with Visa’s Push-to-Card services, Checkout.com is helping merchants offer secure, real-time account top-ups. Currently processing over one million AFTs per month with Visa, Checkout.com is now playing a leading role in modernizing financial transactions in the region.

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