By Jack Day

File this under: Awesome. Sometimes a person has an idea that is so basic, but is so big that it makes you wonder how in the world no one thought of it sooner. This is one of those ideas.

Anirudh Sharma is a really smart person. He is a co-leader of a student-run science lab at MIT and has figured out how to take the black smog type of air pollution and re-purpose it as printer ink. How? Using alcohol and oil, and a lot of smarts.

When discussing the reason why he decided to embark on such a project, Sharma said this:

“(It was) a minor itch that led me to build something cool from observations arising from nostalgia of the days back in India…There’s so much soot/pollution around us, in crowded cities. What if the same could be re-purposed to generate ink for printers?”

Watch the video to see a quick demonstration of the simple looking process.

What do you think about this invention? Do you think Sharma is on to something here or is the challenge too great? Please tell us your comments and thoughts and don’t forget to share this cool story with your friends and family.