Scientists have been working on ways to put carbon dioxide to good use. And just with a little electricity, they can transform the waste gas into raw material for making plastic bottles, antifreeze, fuel and more. Sounds like magic.

Liquid Light, profiled in this New Scientist piece showed off their prototype of its carbon dioxide converter, which is a coffee table-sized "layer cake of steel and plastic". Their first product will be ethylene glycol, a molecule that is used to make plastic bottles and antifreeze.

The company claims to have created catalysts that can convert carbon dioxide to over 60 different molecules.

And it's not magic. It's just plain chemistry.

Liquid Light works by combining carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms and zapping carbon dioxide with electricity in the presence of different metal catalysts and other gases.

Could we one day be using carbon dioxide to manufacture all these things? Will it help clear up the air?

[New Scientist]