Developed a material that kills microbes almost instantly

[Gregorius]

A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo, the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology and the Center for Emergent Matter Science & Thin-Film Device Laboratory RIKEN 2-1 Hirosawa has developed a wearable antimicrobial nanomesh material that sticks to human skin, killing microbes nearly instantly. They have published their creation in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

read more at the source link:

https://materialsscienceandengineering.tumblr.com/post/689593546665328640/wearable-antimicrobial-copper-nanomesh-sticks-to

Moderator edit: coded live link

[Merlin]

This breakthrough, if it is true, will be in over-the-counter products in no time. That's where the money is. Better than a Band-Aid. Or maybe Johnson&Johnson will scoop this up and incorporate this into Band-Aid brand products.

Imagine the effectiveness something like this will have. Wound healing is only the beginning. This could be incorporated into household furniture and fixtures. It could be on table tops at cafés or toilet-seat liners. It can be in clothing, undergarments, socks & shoes and face masks. I can't list all the possible uses.

[Kath]

Hold on there before we get too excited.

Some microbes act as a defense on human skin, so this new technology could in theory destroy those as well.  We need to know more about it.

https://www.genome.gov/news/news-release/The-skin-microbiome-More-than-skin-deep

I'm not discounting this as a material, it could be used in so many ways, just maybe not directly on the skin. Think of operating theaters and in fact numerous areas when super clean germ free environments are needed.  Public areas like door handles and surfaces that many people touch and pass on germs that can spread.  As Merlin said, there could be a multitude of uses.