First, he has introduced a gene that turns out a stunted version of the myostatin receptor, the molecule that sits in the surface membrane of muscle cells and receives the message to stop growing.

Ion channels sit in a cell's outer membrane and let electrically charged atoms (ions, as they are known in chemical jargon) in and out of the cell.

So a nanotube membrane that allows both sodium and chloride ions (which are negatively charged) to flow out of seawater could become a cheaper way to desalinate water.