waterpurification
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ICYMI: An accidental invention could create clean water
Today on In Case You Missed It: Some of the greatest inventions of our modern age, from the pacemaker to super glue, got their start as accidental discoveries. That's why we're focusing today's show on a find by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where scientists meant to make magnetic nanowires but created a kind of carbon nanorod instead. It might prove to be a wonderful mistake, since studying the nanorods shows they can harvest, hold and evaporate liquid from their fibers. The hope is that the material could create cheap and low-energy water purification systems, changing the game for clean water delivery. We also showed you both the YouTube video where a ATM skimmer seller demonstrates how easy it is to scam money from those machines, and also a video of this dancing robot, because. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Virgin Pure water purifiers launch offensive against tap and bottled water in the UK
English entrepreneur and chairman of The Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson thinks that your tap water is dirty. So much so, in fact, that he's partnered up with Strauss Water to get one of his new purifiers into your home and onto your countertop. The colorful Virgin Pure T6 (£299, $466) can dispense 1.3 liters of chilled H2O per minute, or 1.4 liters of hot water that's stored internally. The T7 (£379, or $591) delivers a bit more swagger to your crib with its minimalist, tapered design that offers 50 percent faster cold water flow. It even gets a small power bump to heat your hot water more quickly than its less-expensive sibling. It all sounds well and good, but we'll really be impressed when Virgin crams one of these into its seatbacks in first class.
Philips InstantTrust water purifier offers immediate bug-free hydration
Well, if you can boil a kettle with a bulb, why not crank up the dial and zap bugs with UV? Philips is doing exactly that with InstantTrust, a new instant water disinfection solution that is petite enough to be used in household appliances like taps, water filters and even water pitchers. The ultra-violet system is able to nix those nasty microbes at a rate of around four liters of water per minute and, unlike other bacteria-zapping systems, at any water temperature. Hopefully, the new system will put an end to the watery adage, "If it's brown drink it down, if it's black send it back."
Inhabitat's Week in Green: lights, water, action
The Week in Green is a new item from our friends at Inhabitat, recapping the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us. All eyes in the design world have been focused this week on the Milan Design Fair 2010 - the biggest and most important design event in the world. Inhabitat scouts have been combing the fair, looking for the latest and greatest innovations in future-forward design. We've spotted a number of ingenious lighting innovations, such as this OLED chandelier from iconic British design Tom Dixon, and a beautiful recyclable pendant lamp inspired by origami. We basked in the gazpacho glare of an incredible table lamp powered completely by tomatoes, and we flipped out over an interactive wooden light wall inspired by the Japanese art of origami. We were also wowed by Yves Béhar's latest foray into fancy chandelier design, with a collection of shimmering paper chandeliers that adorned the Swarovski Crystal Palace. The past week was also awash in H2O tech as researchers unveiled fresh new ways to keep us hydrated and produce clean power. One team of MIT researchers successfully harnessed viruses to split molecules of water to create hydrogen fuel, while another team unveiled a stamp-sized water purifying chip that can be lined up in arrays to generate 15 liters of water per hour. Meanwhile, Mexican artist Gilberto Esparza took a different tact to water purification altogether: he's created a group of robotic "nomad plants" that harvest sludge from polluted rivers and use it as an energy source. We also saw several advances in wearable technology that could improve your game and keep you wired throughout the day. Three engineering students from Northeastern University have developed a "data-logging" compression shirt that helps baseball pitchers avoid torn ligaments, and designer Jennifer Darmour has created a "social-networking garment" that allows you to connect with your virtual audience with every move you make! We also covered several remarkable transportation developments, starting with DARPA's plans to build a futuristic flying transformer car. Speaking of high-flying transportation, we caught wind of a prototype high speed solar airship that could one day offer an emission-free method of hauling cargo across the US. Finally, South Africa is getting set to jump on the high speed rail "train" as it announced it is working on a new rail network that will cut transit times in twain, improve economic development, and modernize the country.
Solar Bottle solar-powered water purification bottle kills germs dead
Water purification is generally an energy-intensive, wasteful operation, but designers Alberto Medo and Francisco Gomez Paz have done a neat end-run around those problems with their Solar Bottle, a portable water bottle that purifies water using the sun. The bottle, which holds just over a gallon of water, uses a purification process called SODIS that takes six hours to kill off a whole host of baddies, including Oregon Trail favorites cholera, typhoid and dysentery. Just a concept for now, but the design has been well-received and won several awards, so hopefully someone will step up and take it into production soon.[Via Inhabitat]
