Cloud catchers

Japan’s Federal Highway Agency is testing an unorthodox method of keeping its
misty motorways safe: nets that catch the fog. When roadside detectors sense
moisture in the air, 10-metre-high self-erecting nets spring up alongside a
50-kilometre stretch of road near the foggy seaside town of Beppu. As water
droplets pass through the 2-millimetre-mesh nylon nets, 40 per cent of them
cling to the fabric. Early tests show the net is already doubling visibility
from 50 to 100 metres.