An Israeli company called Water-Gen has created a device that produces fresh drinking water from water vapor in the air. Business Insider reports that the company, founded by Arye Kohavi, wants to help bring clean drinking water to regions experiencing water shortages.

The water generator, which comes in three sizes, uses plastic “leaves” to cool the air and then collects the resulting condensation. On an 80°F day with 60 percent humidity, the largest size can produce up to 825 gallons of water. The smallest, meanwhile, is able to produce 4 gallons under the same circumstances. While a warmer, more humid climate allows the generators to produce more water, the technology still works in cool, dry environments—albeit at a slower rate.

While the smallest water generator is designed for homes and offices, Kohavi hopes to collaborate with national governments to bring the largest generators to areas without enough potable water. The company is currently running tests in several cities, including Mumbai, Shanghai, and Mexico City. Kohavi told Business Insider his goal is to make the devices available throughout Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

“Water from air is for places that you don’t have any water to filter,” Kohavi told Business Insider. “We think our solution can solve the problem on the level of countries. It’s an immediate solution—governments don’t need to spend decades to make a big project.”

[h/t Business Insider]

Are you a Portland resident or visitor who’s frustrated that you can’t find Lion Heart kombucha on tap, or naturally sweetened plantain and lentil chips in your neighborhood? You might want to make a trip to Mini Mini, a hipster-themed shop that sells locally sourced products, Vice’s Munchies reports.

The idea behind the store came from former Stumptown coffee shop workers Jonathan Felix-Lund and Matt Brown, who co-own the shop with Aaron Draplin, the graphic designer behind Field Notes. After a few negative experiences at gas stations during a cross country trip, the pair decided they wanted to create a space that was more enjoyable than a standard convenience store.

“If it looks good, it feels better,” Felix-Lund explained to Munchies. “The lighting in most convenience stores is really harsh; people get in and get out, and customers deserve a place that feels clean. Most convenience stores are gross.”

While the store offers items you can buy at any convenience store, Mini Mini also features local artisanal products, such as Salt & Straw ice cream, Stumptown coffee, and Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches, as well as Double Mountain beer on tap and Hot pocket-like “Quickie Pies” from Portland’s Sizzle Pie Pizza (who also co-owns Mini Mini).

Still, the founders promise that those special offerings doesn’t come at an extra cost.

“People think Mini Mini’s going to be expensive because it’s nice, but we will fill up your growler for $7 with local cider and beer,” Brown insisted. “Nothing in this store is over 20 bucks.”

Mini Mini hopes to expand to more areas around Portland and to tailor each convenience store experience to the needs of each neighborhood.

[h/t Munchies]

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For some foodies, a meal isn’t complete unless it’s been filtered, hashtagged, and immortalized on Instagram. Now, Instagram users who document everything they eat have a good excuse to clean out their portfolio. As Adweek reports, Land O’Lakes will donate 11 meals for every food picture deleted from Instagram.

The Delete to Feed campaign is a partnership between the food company and the nonprofit Feeding America. Anyone on Instagram can participate: Just connect your account to the Delete to Feed website and choose one of your perfectly-saturated food pictures to let go of for good. Once the image has been removed, Feeding America will work with local food banks to provide 11 meals to people in need.

Land O’Lakes plans continue the campaign until October 18, or until they reach their donation target of 2.75 million meals. That means 250,000 food photos will have to disappear from the app in the next month. Considering there are over 187 million posts under #food alone, that sounds like a reasonable goal.

[h/t Adweek]

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Physician, educator, and philanthropist Priscilla Chan and her husband, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have announced a wildly ambitious $3 billion plan to “eliminate, cure, or prevent disease” by the end of this century.

The couple intend to spend their money on basic science research—that is, the study of the fundamental concepts and phenomena that make up our world. Basic research is essential to scientific and medical advancement, yet it’s often overlooked and underfunded in favor of drug research and other studies with more immediate potential to change human lives. The initiative will also support education, health research, and internet connectivity, which many consider a public health issue in its own right.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has already signed on and consulted with a number of scientific heavy hitters, including Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, a prominent cancer researcher.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the initiative aims to create networks of thinkers. “Building tools requires bringing scientists and engineers together in large numbers for large periods of time, and that’s not something most science funding is set up to do,” Zuckerberg told Nature. “That emerged to us as a big opening where we could help grow this movement among other scientific funders.”

The initiative’s “challenge networks” will bring together teams of scientists from different backgrounds, specialties, and institutions to tackle large-scale medical issues like neurodegenerative disease.

Superstar neuroscientist Cornelia Bargmann will be the initiative’s “president of science.” Speaking to Nature, Bargmann expressed excitement about the initiative’s focus on collaboration, which she says may reduce redundancy and introduce new ways of thinking.

“In my lab, everyone now writes code; that’s a bit like everyone making their own soap,” she said. “We should be finding ways of doing this that are general and powerful, that allow us to interact and share our knowledge.”

[h/t Nature]

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Want to be the most stylish athlete at the country club? Vanity Fair reports that Caddyshack (1980) star and real-life golf fan Bill Murray has teamed up with his younger brother, actor Joel Murray, and website The Chive to design a line of golf apparel. The brand is called William Murray Golf, and its aesthetic is equal parts quirky and quintessentially preppy.

To celebrate Murray’s 66th birthday on Wednesday, the clothing line released its first two designs: a limited-edition Chicago Cubs-inspired polo ($75)—Murray’s favorite baseball team—and a baseball hat ($32) emblazoned with the label’s official logo, a silhouette of Murray tossing his putter aside. (The image pays homage to a famous photo of Murray, taken at The Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament in 2011.) A portion of the proceeds for both items will be donated to the Murrays’ favorite Chicago charity, Mercy Home for Boys & Girls. 

Happy birthday, Bill Murray! We love the Chicago Cubs gear you released w/ @theCHIVE! https://t.co/TsKfbrUoqz @BillMurray #GoCubsGo

— Dani Dudek (@fancypantsLATX) September 21, 2016

The remainder of the line’s designs are playfully reflective of Murray’s personality. According to Bloomberg, one button-up is sprinkled with little highball glasses—a homage to the actor’s fondness for mixed drinks. Another is patterned with bunker rakes—a sly nod to Murray’s greenskeeper character in Caddyshack.

“With William Murray Golf, we’re looking for that perfect combination of style, humor and subtle irreverence as a way to make things more laid back, relatable and fun,” Joel Murray told Vanity Fair‘s website in an email.

A full catalog (and an expanded website) is slated to arrive later this fall, and the entire WMG line—which will include shirts, shorts, hats, and T-shirts—will be officially available on October 20. Until then, you can follow the brand on Instagram.

[h/t Vanity Fair]

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According to Recode, there might be dark days ahead for internet destination Yahoo. Sources have told journalist Kara Swisher that the service is set to announce a massive breach in security that may have compromised the information of hundreds of millions of users.

Reports of the hack began circulating in August, when a known cybercriminal named “Peace” bragged about securing the passwords and account information of 200 million Yahoo accounts. The data included birth dates and email addresses and was allegedly being offered for sale to identity thieves online.

At the time, Yahoo did not confirm the breach. Swisher now believes an announcement that the user data has been compromised is forthcoming. So, if you have a Yahoo account, now would be a good time to change your password, and read up on these tips for more smart ways to protect your information online.

News of the hack comes just as Yahoo is set to finalize a sale to Verizon for an estimated $4.8 billion.

[h/t Recode]

If you’ve ever hefted a single concrete block, you can probably guess how much labor and skill is involved in manipulating hundreds of them to create a building structure. That kind of skilled labor comes at a cost that can sometimes be too steep for economically disadvantaged populations.

That’s why Mexico-based construction supply company Armados Omega is pursuing a different approach: interlocking, binder-free blocks that don’t require professional builders.

The self-building system, dubbed Block ARMO, is essentially a giant, vertical puzzle. The material uses six different shapes that interlock intuitively to provide a structurally sound final assembly. (Metal rods are inserted at set intervals to provide support.) Because no mixing of concrete or other binding material is required, it’s expected that ARMO could cut construction time in half.

Architect Jorge Capistrán, owner of Armados Omega, says he has built more than 300 rooms in Sierra Negra, Puebla in this fashion, with total costs reduced by over 20 percent. The company is hoping to ramp up production of the blocks to meet housing needs as well as expand the line to provide different colors, accents, and textures.

[h/t Architecture and Design]

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