Plastic Tools Will Hunt Down Future Pandemics
At this moment there is approximately ten times more bacteria in your body then there are human cells. In addition, bacteria are constantly evolving, making them immune to our antibiotics, so keeping track of them has become increasingly important. Enter Pathogen Hunters, a series of specific tools designed to track and manage infectious outbreaks.
In designers Susana Soares and Mikael Metthey's concept, professional pathogen hunters will carry these tools and use them to capture, analyze and track all the bacteria and viruses floating around and settling on surfaces. The two have even partnered with the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologies Department at Newcastle University to turn them into a reality.
The series of tools which include scrapers, brushes and things that suck bacteria right out of the air, will be embedded with nano-enabled sensors that would be able to detect if any of that bacteria was dangerous or could lead to an epidemic of some kind.
As of now, the technology for the nano-sensors is still five to ten years away, but the scraping and suctioning parts have already been developed. They're made of plastic and sculpted into wild shapes which when run over your hair or skin will grab everything there.
Having someone come up to you with an eye dropped asking to collect your tears may seem like something out of a science fiction movie at the moment, but in the future these tools could be our best defense against that upcoming zombie outbreak.
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