Water may kill a computer chip, but a new water purifier inspired by computer chip technology could save millions of lives.
Developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the new water purifier uses magnetic fields to separate harmful contaminants and produce clean water. Scaled up and mass produced, the new technology could save millions of lives in developing countries by preventing the transmission of water-borne diseases.
"This can remove bacteria and other particles from seawater and brackish water without suffering any clogging issues," said Jongyoon Han, a scientist at MIT and co-author of the Nature Nanotechnology article that describes the new purifier. "This won't be a big deal in the U.S. But in places like India, where the water is brackish and getting saltier, this could be important."
The new water purifier is small, about the size of a postage stamp. Borrowing computer chip fabrication techniques, the MIT scientists made the chip from soft silicone, rather than hard silicon.
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