Iowa State University scientists have built a device that mimics the branches and leaves of a cottonwood tree and generates electricity when its artificial leaves sway in the wind
"Engineered floating treatment wetlands could affect water quality in many of the same ways that naturally-occurring floating wetlands do,” researcher says
With a warming climate battering the coast with more severe storms, the research suggests that, to protect coastal communities, managers may want to give weight to the virtues of the non-native species.