[moonlighter]

Former W.R. Grace employee: Molecular Sieve Desiccant Beads (also manufactured by W.R.Grace) are even more absorbent than regular silica gel. It's found in most double-pane windows inside the metal track between both panes; slowly absorbing any moisture over many years to keep them from fogging/going 'blind'.

You can use MS to dry flowers in record time... and use it to quickly heat up baby food in a pinch if needed... just put a smaller container of food in a bigger pod filled with MS and pour water of the MS... it's ultra-rapid absorption of water creates heat as a byproduct.

[dredmorbius]

I'd just learned of (and shared a link to) a related technology, "getters", which similarly hold tight vacuums in various applications for years if necessary:

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43498489>

Those are used in vacuum-sealed windows and glazings (the topic of the post I was commenting to).

There are also moisture scavengers put into cooling applications (refrigerators and A/C) to remove any incidental water from refrigerant, which I suspect operate more like your MSDBs.

[owenversteeg]

Getters can hold tight vacuums for several decades, even! I have many vacuum fluorescent displays from the 70s still working perfectly. As long as the getter spot is shiny and not white, it is holding vacuum fine.

[dboreham]

Ahhh. This explains why my glass panes go "bad" after 20-30 years in the harsh Montana conditions we have.

[dredmorbius]

Clearly, you can just put the window in the microwave for a few seconds to refresh it ;-)