In an age when freshwater supplies are under pressure from a growing human population, the alchemic act of turning seawater into drinking water is enormously appealing. Scientists at an East Bay laboratory, meanwhile, are also trying to address water shortages, but to do so, they’re delving into uncharted realms of science and technology. Like Brown’s clunky tunnels, the scientists’ lab-scale project involves passing water through expensive tubes—but the water conveyance tunnels being assessed by researcher Aleksandr Noy and his colleagues are barely one atom wide.