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Water Filtration With a Tree Branch
Taco Cowboy writes "Dirty water is a major cause of mortality in the developing world. 'The most common water-borne pathogens are bacteria (e.g. Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Vibrio cholerae), viruses (e.g. adenoviruses, enteroviruses, hepatitis, rotavirus), and protozoa (e.g. giardia). These pathogens cause child mortality and also contribute to malnutrition and stunted growth of children.' People have been working on engineering cheaper and cheaper filtration systems for years, but now a group of researchers has found a promising and simple solution: a tree branch. 'Approximately 3 cm^3 of sapwood can filter water at the rate of several liters per day, sufficient to meet the clean drinking water needs of one person.' 'Before experimenting with contaminated water, the group used water mixed with red ink particles ranging from 70 to 500 nanometers in size. After all the liquid passed through, the researchers sliced the sapwood in half lengthwise, and observed that much of the red dye was contained within the very top layers of the wood, while the filtrate, or filtered water, was clear. This experiment showed that sapwood is naturally able to filter out particles bigger than about 70 nanometers.' The team tested E. coli-contaminated water, and the branch was able to filter out 99 percent of the bacterial cells."
Filtering out "99%" of harmful bacteria may be like filtering out 99% of bullets fired at you....
Take what? Take their money to the bank when their plastic funnels and tree-branch-filtration kits sell like hotcakes to the very folks hoping to, ahem, "stick" it to the man?
Account -> Discussions -> Disable Sigs
If this is true, then this is a really profound discovery that could help millions of people.
What I'm wondering, is why no other society, that we know of, has discovered this low-tech, yet seemingly incredibly useful thing previously?
Maybe because all of the other materials and equipment required to make it work.
You mean like some sort of cutting implement to cut down the branch?
I think the hatchet was invented at least 10 years ago?
1) Someone mentions a new discovery.
2) Find a passage in the Bible containing the (rather common) keywords, without actually using your brain to check that the passage has identical informational value.
3) ???
4) Prophet!
Ezekiel 23:20
Water-borne pathogens in the kingdom Animalia are usually called "predators" rather than "pathogens". But yes, pathogens such as A. Mississippiensis can be filtered from the water with an appropriately-sized tree branch.