At IBM, a team of nanotechnology researchers charged with developing new materials for making computer chips made a surprising discovery: the material they were working with also showed promise as a water filtration/purification/desalination membrane. Scientists at IBM Research, together with collaborators from Central Glass, the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, and the University of Texas, Austin have created a new membrane that filters out salts as well as potentially harmful toxins in water such as arsenic while using less energy than other forms of water purification.