By Evan Ackerman
This, folks, is a solar powered camel. Let’s all just ponder that for a second. Truthfully, this camel is not, in fact, powered by the sun, but the refrigerator on its back is. The cooled-down camels are used to transport vaccines and the occasional pint of Ben & Jerry’s to remote health clinics; when they arrive, the panels can be detached and used to provide additional electricity to the clinic. A foot-powered system can be used as backup during the 15 minutes at night when the sun is not actively trying to fry you.
The camels are part of Princeton’s Mpala project, helping nomadic communities in Kenya to use technology to improve their lives.