Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Beat Covid-19 With AIR By MicroClimate - At Last I Get My PAPR
AIR is a new product by a new company, MicroClimate. The purpose of the device is to supply you with fresh, virus-free HEPA-filtered air, in a way that lets everyone see your face.
That's the basic idea, anyway. I'm a bit skeptical, since the company's website doesn't appear to be complete to me, although it presents a professional appearance.
I've been wondering since roughly February why there aren't PAPR devices for consumers. Powered Air-Purifying Respirators have been around for quite a long time; they are used to provide positive pressure airflow from a filtered source. Typically battery powered and HEPA-filtered, most of the commercial devices have a belt or backpack battery and filter component that provides the air through a hose.
The biggest problem with these is probably the size of the Covid-19 virus and whether or not it can be blocked with a HEPA filter; apparently it can. The virus that causes Covid-19 is about 0.125 microns, and HEPA can capture anything down to about 0.01 microns.
The second problem is cost; PAPR devices cost from $200 and up; a good one is probably $500.
On the other hand, we spent four $trillion keeping our economy afloat; this would have purchased a lot of PAPR devices for essential workers. They are by far superior to wearing a mask.
Anyway, I'm sure there is some sort of straightforward reason why these won't work in our current situation; I don't understand it myself.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a story about an art project that was very similar in appearance; see iSphere Plastique Fantastique Face Mask Alternative, which also provides a science fictional background.
Take a look at the MicroClimate website.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/7/2020)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Medical ")
MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...' - Edmond Hamilton, 1932.
BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.' - Alexander Belaev (1925)
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?'
Will An AI Found A New Religion?
'You must decide how you will worship Me.'
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...'
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'
Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
Outdoor Video Screens Can Be Arbitrarily Large
The Shape of Things To Come
Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'
What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
