A wonderfully low-tech and low-cost, MIT-designed solution for developing countries, this homemade water filter requires just a few common and inexpensive items working in conjunction with a small piece of tree.

Certain kinds of sapwood are particularly capable of filtering out dangerous E. Coli bacteria, effectively using the same natural process by which trees move water through their own trunks and branches while straining particulates. These DIY xylem filters use the branch’s organic ability to filter out particles down to 20 nanometers in size, combined with a tube and some glue and/or a metal strap to tighten the entire little apparatus.

Other plants may be even more well-suited to the process than those already tested by MIT researchers. “Today’s filtration membranes have nanoscale pores that are not something you can manufacture in a garage very easily. The idea here is that we don’t need to fabricate a membrane, because it’s easily available. You can just take a piece of wood and make a filter out of it.“

The post DIY Tree Branch Filter Strains 99% of E Coli from Water first appeared on Gajitz.

When you have a food allergy, buying prepared food or eating in a restaurant can be a nerve-wracking – and potentially even deadly – proposition. A portable food sensor called Nima can ease your mind by testing your food for allergens before you eat it.

At the moment, Nima can only test for gluten; in the future the company hopes to add functionality for other common allergens like dairy and peanuts. All you have to do is put a small sample of the food into a test pod, close the lid, and snap the pod into the testing station.

The pods contain antibodies there were developed by the team of former MIT students who created Nima. The antibodies only react with gluten; if gluten is detected, the sample undergoes a chemical change that the sensor can read. In just two minutes, the testing station can tell you whether the sample contains gluten levels above 20 parts per million.

A simple red light or green smiley face let you know whether the food is safe to consume. The kit is small enough that you can carry it without embarrassment into a restaurant. Other food testing kits involve test tubes, chemical mixing, and much less convenient methods to check up on your meal’s safety. Nima makes it easier to ensure you won’t suffer from an accidental dose of something your body really doesn’t get along with.

The post Know Your Food: Sensor Gives up Allergen Info in 2 Minutes first appeared on Gajitz.

Award-winning innovation is rarely associated with restrooms, but considering the long lack of innovation with respect to the loo, it should come as no surprise that there is a better way to design toilets.

Announced on World Toilet Day (yes, it exists), the Wellbeing Toilet designed by three Central Saint Martin’s graduate students responds to the inefficiency and long-term health risks of traditional seats, generally forcing people to sit at 90 degrees. Its shape and structure were “commended for improving human health by reducing the risk of intestinal cancer and haemorrhoids and diagnosing medical conditions.” The design borrows from both Eastern and Western design strategies, combining them with well-being considerations.

A panel of industry experts selected this winner on other criteria as well, including its sustainability (reduction of water usage) and advanced technology (urine analysis to reveal medical conditions), but the primary considerations were related to its simple and effective (com)mode of addressing a basic and necessary human function. The toilet has changed so little over the last few hundred years since the first flushable was introduced, but the time has come to rethink it, even if it all of this potty talk will inevitably elicit a few giggles here and there.

The post Ergonomic Toilet: Shifting Users from Sitting to Squatting first appeared on Gajitz.

Life preservers are the seatbelts of swimming: we all know we should wear them, but some of us refuse, no matter how dangerous that refusal might be. Instead of debating over wearing the big orange life vest, Kingii offers an unobtrusive way to stay safe at the beach.

The little device fits on your wrist; one component is a bit larger than a pack of bubble gum while the other component is roughly the size of a can of pepper spray. They’re mounted on a waterproof wrist band and the whole thing allows for a full range of movement when worn. A built-in compass on the wristband can help you find your way back to shore, and a whistle makes you more easily findable to rescue workers.

If you get into trouble in the water and need a lift, all it takes is a simple pull of a lever. A CO2 cartridge quickly inflates a buoyant orange pouch that carries you right up to the surface of the water. After you use it, Kingii is fully rechargeable; just fold up the balloon and tuck it into its pocket, then put a new CO2 cartridge in place.

The Kingii’s inventor, Tom Agapiades, was inspired to create the device after a close friend drowned in a lake. The project raised hundreds of times its fundraising goal on Indiegogo; after its initial run it will retail for $89.99 on Amazon and elsewhere.

The post Instant Life Lift: Wrist-Mounted Inflatable Life Preserver first appeared on Gajitz.

It’s no secret that prescription drug abuse is a huge problem all around the world. The most-often abused medications are powerful painkillers, which are easy enough to misuse due to the way they’re distributed. They come in little plastic bottles, usually with a month’s worth of pills at a time. The patient can easily take more than the prescribed dose or just sell their pills to someone else.

Engineering students at Johns Hopkins University were asked to come up with a better solution that would make pill dispensation safer for the patient. They invented a tamper-resistant pill dispenser that only dispenses the correct dose at the correct time to the correct person – this is ensured with a built-in fingerprint scanner programmed right at the pharmacy. The very tough steel alloy that forms the body of the dispenser is resistant to hammers, drills, and other methods used to try to break it open.

Only a pharmacist can open the dispenser with a special key – a key which only the pharmacist has access to. The students and faculty at Johns Hopkins are still developing the technology and hope to receive a grant from the National Institutes of Health in order to continue their research and hopefully commercialize the dispenser in the future. Will it entirely prevent prescription abuse? Probably not. But at least the special dispenser will make patients more aware of the proper dosage and stop others from stealing their pills.

The post Tamper-Resistant Pill Dispenser Uses Biometrics for Security first appeared on Gajitz.