Israeli man creates tumbleweed robot to stop the spread of deserts

As the human population explodes across the globe, there are certain areas where we live which is more prone to the desertification process, which has proven itself to be quite a massive headache to clear up. Basically the core “ingredients” are there – unsustainable agricultural practices, mining, climate change, and general land overuse, but it would be folly to simplify desertification to such a formula considering it is a far more complex ecological issue. 

Desertification is a massive problem across the globe. We have a general idea of what causes it: unsustainable agricultural practices, mining, climate change, general land overuse. But much like climate change itself, desertification is a complex ecological issue that’s difficult to totally understand, not in small part due to the difficulties of gathering quality data. Shlomi Mir is familiar with the effects of desertification. Based in Jerusalem, the industrial designer has seen it firsthand. He’s currently developing an autonomous system that could help scientists better understand what’s happening in the depths of the desert.