 New materials may make even better collectors . One such material is inspired by the Namib Desert beetle , which survives only on the moisture it extracts from the atmosphere . It has been found that its back is coated with microscopic projections : the peaks are hydrophilic and the troughs are hydrophobic . Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have emulated this capability by creating a textured surface that combines alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic materials . 
