Discovery that won Nobel Prize is likened to enchanted handbag

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Scientists Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi won the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for their development of metal_organic frameworks — which an expert likened to Hermione Granger’s enchanted handbag in the fictional “Harry Potter” series — that could play a part in solving some of humanity’s greatest challenges.

From capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or sucking water out of dry desert air, the trio’s new form of molecular architecture can absorb and contain gases inside stable metal organic frameworks.

The frameworks can be compared to the timber framework of a house, and Hermione’s famous beaded handbag, in that they are small on the outside but very large on the inside, according to Olof Ramström, a member of the Nobel Committee for C