A 14-year-old Chinese student has won a gold medal at one of the world’s leading invention fairs with a passive irrigation device built from buried metal pipes and recycled plastic bottles that extracts water from desert air without electricity or pumps.
Jia Mingxuan designed the system after watching water vapor condense on the cold tiles of his home kitchen. Drawing on his physics classes, he set out to replicate that process to keep newly planted trees alive in arid regions affected by desertification in Inner Mongolia.
How the device works
The mechanism consists of a metal pipe buried partway underground and a cover made from recycled plastic containers. Warm air enters the pipe and cools as it meets the lower temperature of the subsoil, converting vapor into droplets that fall directly to the roots of nearby trees. The system requires no electrical power or external water source.
To test the prototype, Jia traveled 30 kilometers from his boarding school and was up at four in the morning to measure soil moisture. He redesigned the device five times before reaching what he considered optimal performance.
International recognition
The project took the gold medal in the youth category at the 77th iENA International Trade Fair for Ideas, Inventions and New Products in Nuremberg, Germany, one of three invention fairs the source describes as the most prestigious in the world alongside those in Geneva and Pittsburgh. Jia beat more than 540 competing entries, including surgical robots and brain-computer interface systems.
Jia said he thought it was all over when the silver medals were announced and he had not heard his name, and that he was stunned when it was called for gold.
Oliver Mayer, president of the judging panel, said the jury watched with astonishment as the teenager applied basic physics principles to address one of the most serious environmental challenges facing the region. Mayer said the prototype is a practical alternative rooted in its regional context and demonstrates the ability of young people to create sustainable solutions.
Next steps
Following the win, Jia joined scientists in Shanghai to refine the device and integrate it into reforestation plans in northern China as part of the country’s Great Green Wall initiative. The stated goal is to turn the invention into a tool that raises the survival rate of trees in drought-threatened areas.
