'Drinkable Book' Pages Clean Dirty Drinking Water 89
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists have developed what they're calling the "Drinkable Book," which contains pages that can be torn out and used to effectively filter drinking water. The book has just completed a series of field trials in a few African countries, and it successfully removed more than 99% of the bacteria in water taken from contaminated sources, bringing it in line with U.S. tap water. The book's pages are imprinted with nanoparticles of silver and copper, which sterilize a wide range of microorganisms. The lead researcher says each page can filter about 100 liters of water before needing to be discarded. The team currently makes all the pages by hand, so their next step will be to find a way to automate production.
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Even scarier is it will spread the concept that "a page from a book can make your drinking water safe" among the populace there if it DID catch on. Will the average person realize that it has to be a book with this specific kind of filter paper?
Seems like a bad plan all around.
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" The book's pages are imprinted with nanoparticles of silver and copper"
Both rare materials that we've passed peak production on. Seems a bad thing to base such an important invention on.
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Think again. Silver use in solar panels is on the rise. Seems a bad thing to base such an important invention on, right? (Presumably, it could be replaced in that application, but there isn't much reason for that, since today's silver, from what I understand, is largely a by-product of copper mining, so the supply is much stiffer.)
Also, "materials that we've passed peak production on"? Silver is still on the rise [wikimedia.org], and so is copper. [wikimedia.org]
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So they took a perfectly good filter, printed on them with some kind of ink, the sewed them up into a book.
It's just a publicity stunt - and one not worth hearing about.
Exactly. Why not just manufacture the sheets in an optimal size for filtering, and keep the cost lower by not binding them or printing on them?
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these sheets would be contraband, so you you need to find a way to sneak them into the country. If you print up a copy of Hunger Games using these sheets, then you can sneak in the material no problem.
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So, I had though that at first. But, having seen a picture of the cover of the book, it says:
In English and in the local language. I believe the instructions are also on the page.
So, no, they hand made a book of water filters specifically for the purpose of being a book full of water filters.
This isn't a publicity stunt. This doesn't have anything to do with reading it. Or
Re: Discontinuity (Score:1)
Wy? It isn't like silver and copper aren't muned in Africa.
It's just they export it elsewhere.
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Sure, and processing copper and silver into nanoparticle paper coatings is also commonly done in Africa by Africans?
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Yes, they can :
http://www.mintek.co.za/techni... [mintek.co.za]
Obligatory XKCD (Score:2, Funny)
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My first thought was exactly like that comic. If you only kill 99% of the bacteria in water from a contaminated African source, that still leaves an awful lot of bad stuff in there. In line with U.S. tap water? Ewww, I'm never drinking from an American faucet again.
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Yeah, who still has a functioning immune system, used to dealing with external bacterial threats..
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Fewer and fewer, since we're off-loading all the bacteria killing to chemicals...
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I'm tired of you phobics. You always sound so entitled. You clearly consider yourselves above others.
As you read this you are swallowing an endless stream of slimy mucus, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Fortunately, there's nothing you should do about it, and you'll be comfortable with reality after you prioritize where fucks need to be given.
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It's less about gut microbes and more about waterborne pathogens.
You may diss the idea as much as you want, but stuff like cholera or dysentery is still a real thing.
6 months in? (Score:5, Insightful)
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We don't currently have the technology to keep a bunch of loose leaf pages bound together though....
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The instructions are probably "fold it into a small square. then pour water through it." in like 3 languages. (filters aren't complicated)
I'd imagine they printed the same thing on each page so if you have a page you also have the instructions.
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6 months? Not even that!
It lasts for 100L. An average individual needs to consume 2L of water each day, especially in those hot countries, so, in less than 2 months it's already trash.
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It is 100L per page. The book has several of them.
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So, since the book contains instructions and reasons for filtering water and the pages get consumed as filters, what happens when you are 6 months in and half the book is gone? Why not just make a big stack of filters and a small pamphlet on how/why to use them?
It's perfect for any kind of outdoor survival book. If you manage to survive long enough to filter 100L of water, you probably can find time to memorize the information on the next page.
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you probably can find time to memorize the information on the next page
Especially if your life depends on it, it focuses the mind wonderfully.
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Just print it on every page, like we already do with some stuff that's bulk-packaged. That way pages can be torn out and handed around without needing separate instructions.
And print a copy on the inside cover, which is far less likely to get lost than is a separate pamphlet. Be sure to use nontoxic ink. :)
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us tap water is potable generally. something is wrong if your water isn't.
might not taste the best in some places, but won't kill you from infection or generally poisoning.
you might even get some of your daily dose of methane, but that's another issue entirely.
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you might even get some of your daily dose of methane,
But that's a made up issue entirely. Or the water already had methane...
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http://insideclimatenews.org/n... [insideclimatenews.org]
not made up, not a scourge, but not made up.
you always gotta remember, corporations are by design amoral. and they'll be greedy as fuck.
we need government to reign in their excesses, and you should expect as many excesses as they can get away with. but that's just the nature of the beast.
nano silver (Score:1)
Didn't we determine that nano silver is toxic to the environment?
Free funding opportunity (Score:5, Insightful)
You want to get this to all the nations of the world where safe potable water is scarce? Just convince the Christians to print their bibles using this paper and take those versions on their mission trips. It could be the first time in history that the word of [the Christian] God was used to truly save someone.
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Why not print a copy of the Book of Pasquale on it?
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As in when libertarian want to cut all 'helping the poor' governmental service and let charity do the work, many study found out that at current level, charity does not even do more than 5% of help that government does. I greatly doubt that if you were to get completely tax exempt that you would suddenly increase your charity by 20 times.
How is 'help' defined in these 'many study' you mention? I know a few studies have found that how you help makes a serious difference as well as how close to the problem the choices are made as well--merely throwing money at problems, it turns out, isn't good. Not only that, but culture and social views actually shape if you give and how much: if you view it as a problem for the government to fix, you won't give as much money if any. People also seem to be overall less inclined to pay attention to how we
One-off water filter with no mass production (Score:2)
....proves successful.
Isn't that a more accurate description?
I would think it would make more sense to invest time and energy into making existing filtration systems that can be mass produced and use simple materials would be more beneficial than one, when used correctly, loses half its value over time (the book part).
Dean Kamen (Score:1)
Why not use the machines that Dean Kamen's company has already designed, and Coca-Cola is distributing and installing? Why go nano-technology and dead-tree paper books?
Finally:Analog DRM! (Score:2)
While it's a nice idea that that may save you from carrying a book AND a water filter (in whatever rare circumstances this might matter) this finally allows for text books that are consumed and can't be handed down from one generation to the next.
Next step: Water quality at US colleges is reduced to levels that require filtering with textbook pages.
Silver and mold (Score:3, Interesting)
Silver-impregnated bandage pads work wonders on wounds. I don't know why they aren't more readily available
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Silver-impregnated bandage pads work wonders on wounds. I don't know why they aren't more readily available
Because nobody buys them. The only place I've seen them is at Discount Grocery. They had pretty crap adhesive, so even at a deep discount, I only bought them once.
A lot of good stuff is compromised by half-assery. It doesn't matter how well the silver works if the bandage doesn't stay on. They'll never get a chance to find out.
WTF (Score:2)
Did someone who lost their shirt in the silver band-aid business get modpoints today?
That 1% can kill you too (Score:2)
What's a few million microbes between friends?
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Numbers of pathogens matter. In crude terms, one antibody unit kills one virus or bacterium. Your immune system can cope with a lot, but if the defenses it has to hand get "used up" faster than it can make more, that's when a pathogen will overwhelm you.
So if the number of pathogens in the water are reduced by 99%, or even by 90%, it's that much more chance your immune system has to stay ahead in this numbers game, and kill off whatever pathogens are still in the water before they can reproduce in your body
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Dumb Question: Doesn't that breed superbugs ? (Score:1)
Nice (Score:2)
"bringing it in line with U.S. tap water"
Meaning it still may stink of rotten eggs, contain deadly arsenic and it also may catch fire at the tap.
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> may contain deadly arsenic
I assume you mean the same well water that catches on fire and smells of Fred Flintstone's ass, because it sure isn't city water.
Some of you younger punks won't remember when Clinton left office, and on the eve of it, instituted expensive new regulations on arsenic in drinking water, thinking Bush would thus be forced to reverse it because it was needless and hideously expensive, taking a big political hit. Guess again. Meme deployed, "Arsenic bad, Mmmmm'kay?" So what was s
LifeStraw (Score:2)
How is this any different from the LifeStraw [buylifestraw.com]?
Having the filter in a piece of paper seems less practical and more prone to error i.e. water spilling over the side. You also require multiple containers. A dirty container from which to pour the water, and a clean container for storage.
Note: I am in no way affiliated with LifeStraw and have never used the product.
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Folding a flat sheet into a cone is easy; anyone can learn to do it. A cone fits into the mouth of a plastic jug, which is a common way for these folks to carry water home from the common source.
And I expect it's a helluva lot cheaper than LifeStraw, which I've seen offered at around $13 a pop. We're talking about the daily water for millions of people here, not one guy on a weekend hike.
Books. So many uses. (Score:2)
Those thin bible pages made good rolling paper in a pinch.
And I've worked for a few PHBs that probably ate their school books.
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Those thin bible pages made good rolling paper in a pinch.
Your remark put me in mind of a classmate's selection for the dramatic poetry reading when I was in Junior High: (WTF, Slashdot? There's a minimum for the average characters per line? How do people write Burma Shaves?)
The Ballad Of Salvation Bill
'Twas in the bleary middle of the hard-boiled Arctic night,
I was lonesome as a loon, so if you can,
Imagine my emotions of amazement and delight
When I bumped into that Missionary Man.
He was lying lost and dying in the moon's unholy leer,
And frozen from his toes to fi
s/Drinkable Book Pages/New Filters/ (Score:2)
Not much of a headline when you remove the funny name that was just invested for marketing:
New Filters Clean Dirty Drinking Water
99% (Score:2)
Cost of Book (Score:1)