Students Invent Revolutionary Solar Sterilizer

greenerd writes "Engineering students at Rice University have solved a huge health concern in developing countries by creating a device that uses the sun to sterilize medical instruments. This invention could help prevent the spread of infection and illness in clinics around the world without access to proper sterilization tools."

Comments

Re:Help the world? Maybe...

[artor3]

There are several technologies that have been developed and distributed in the third world by humanitarians. The adjustable eye-glasses, shake-powered water sterilizer, and super-nutritious peanut butter all come to mind. In cases where there is patent protection (the peanut butter, for example) the aid workers simply ignore it.

Solar steam hotplate powers autoclave

[Scrameustache]

It's a solar powered hotplate that uses steam. It has a commercial autoclave sitting on the hotplate.

They didn't invent a sterilizer, they invented a way to power existing ones.

Re:Fire?

[jd]

Meh, fire doesn't sterilize that well, and heat can do Bad Things to metal at temperatures high enough to guarantee sterilization.

As for water, it's not good for rough surfaces (where pockets of infection can easily remain at a lower temperature) and a temperature of 100'C is way too low to kill the really nasty viruses. It's not even hot enough to be that good against some bacteria.

I'll agree that it's much better than nothing at all. However, even your standard autoclave is pretty naff at dealing with the full range of items used in medical facilities, which is why MRSA is so problematic.

There's also the issue of Strain 121. It's not listed (as far as I know) as harmful to humans, but the mere fact that a hyperthermophile exists at all is a concern. It means that we will run into harmful bacteria that autoclaves are incapable of stopping.