The simple cactus may have the answer the clean tech industry needs

In the world of engineering, you can usually trust nature to have done it first, and better.

A newly-developed fuel cell technology looks to the cactus to solve a problem involving this promising but complex form of clean energy, which generates power without emitting planet-warming greenhouse gases. 

The technology, which is a thin plastic membrane, could help improve the performance of fuel cells to make them more useful for everything from electric cars to desalination plants. 

The result of a collaboration between the CSIRO, Australia's peak science body, and Korea's Hanyang University, the research was published Thursday in the journal Nature.
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