Adventure Quickies: Electric Seaplanes, Solar Powered Water Purifiers, and 2020 Travel Awards

Typically I save my Adventure Quickies round-up for Friday each week, but I’m traveling tomorrow for a family gathering, so I decided to push it up one day to share a few interesting stories that made the rounds this week. These are links that I didn’t have time or space to share elsewhere, but I still think are worth mentioning. So, without further ado, here are a few good things you may have missed:

All-Electric Seaplane Takes Flight: Electric powered aircraft are still mostly in the prototype stages, but they hold promise for more eco-friendly flight in the future. Last month, the first all-electric seaplane had its maiden voyage using a 750-horse power engine capable of a range of 100 miles (160 km) on lithium ion batteries. That’s not very far as far as aircraft go, but it’s a good start.
Solar Powered Water Purifier Debuts at CES: At the Consumer Electronics Show a few weeks back a company called Watergen revealed a new product named the GENNY. What makes this device interesting is that it uses solar power to draw moisture form the air, creating fresh dining water as a result. The implications of this are pretty wild and it could revolutionize the way we get clean water at base camps all over the world.
Men’s Journal Reveals 2020 Travel Awards: We’re not even a month into the New Year and already Men’s Journal is hading out its 2020 travel awards. For the year ahead, the MJ says we should visit Deplar Farm in Iceland, explore the possibilities for adventure in Jordan, and enjoy the clearest skies in the U.S. in Idaho. There are plenty of other good suggestions too, so get started with your travel plans now.
Most Active States in the U.S. Revealed: A new study produced by the Center for Disease Control reveals which of the U.S. states are most active and which have the most people who choose not to exercise. Unsurprisingly, the most active states in the country were Colorado, Utah, Oregon, and Washington. The least active? The American South, where more than 30% of the population don’t exercise at all.
Strange Particles in Antarctic Ice Defy Physics: We all know Antarctica is an amazing, wild place, but did you also know that it is perplexing scientists with its physics-bending particles? Recently, scientists have discovered that cosmic rays are bouncing back off the ice in a way that should not be possible under the Standard Model of particle physics. Getting to the bottom of this behavior could take some serious research, and change what we think we know about the Universe in the process.
ExWeb Breaks Down the Volcanic Seven Summits: If you’ve already crossed off all of the Seven Summits from your to-do list and you’re looking for a new challenge, why not give the Volcanic Seven Summits a go? This is, of course, a list of the seven tallest volcanoes on each of the continents, and ExWeb recently did a rundown of each of them.
Yeti Announces 2020 International Film Tour: Premium cooler-brand Yeti has announced the dates and locations for its 2020 international film tour, which will include a number of great short outdoor and adventure films with proceeds going to support some fantastic organizations.
Nikwax Commits to 100% Recycled Bottles: Nikwax, the laundry detergent created specifically for use with our outdoor gear, has announced that by the end of 2020 all of the bottles used for its products will be made from 100% recycled materials.

That’s all for this week. Next week is Outdoor Retailer, so the next Adventure Quickies are a couple of weeks off. See you then!

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Kraig Becker

Kraig is an outdoor and adventure travel writer based in Nashville, TN. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to numerous online and print outlets, including Popular Mechanics, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, National Geographic, Digital Trends, Business Insider, TripSavvy, about.com, and of course The Adventure Blog.