A 30-minute treatment can help reduce allergies from pet dander, dust, and more. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. While ultraviolet (UV) light is harmful for human skin, it could be a new tool in the fight against airborne allergies. A study recently published in the journal found that UV light can disarm common indoor allergens in only 30 minutes. "We have found that we can use a passive, generally safe ultraviolet light treatment to quickly inactivate airborne allergens," study-author Tess Eidem, a microbiologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in a statement .

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Most insects have evolved to see the blue, green, and even ultraviolet spectrums. But most insects have trouble parsing one hue in particular: red. Even bees and other pollinators that visit traditionally vibrant poppies aren't attracted by the visible coloration, but by the UV light reflected from their petals. Now, an international zoology team has discovered that some insect species can manage to see what their relatives cannot.

Sinister, brain-controlling mushrooms are a staple in sci-fi shows and literature. While brainwashed humans doing the bidding of fungi remains fantasy, researchers have now learned how to control a robot's movement using electrical signals produced by the mycelium of the common King oyster mushroom. This part machine, part fungus robot could one day serve as a building block for more advanced "biohybrid" chimeras that can remotely analyze agricultural fields for potentially harmful changes in soil chemistry. Researchers from Cornell University and University of Florence in Italy wanted to see if electrical signals pulsing through the mycelium of fungi could be translated into a controlling input for robots. The findings were published last month in the journal Science Robotics.

Developing soft robots that can control their own life-cycle and degrade on-demand while maintaining hyper-elasticity is a significant research challenge. On-demand degradable soft robots, which conserve their original functionality during operation and rapidly degrade under specific external stimulation, present the opportunity to self-direct the disappearance of temporary robots. This study proposes soft robots and materials that exhibit excellent mechanical stretchability and can degrade under ultraviolet (UV) light by mixing a fluoride-generating diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate (DPI-HFP) with a silicone resin. Spectroscopic analysis revealed the mechanism of Si-O-Si backbone cleavage using fluoride ion (F-), which was generated from UV exposed DPI-HFP. Furthermore, photo-differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) based thermal analysis indicated increased decomposition kinetics at increased temperatures. Additionally, we demonstrated a robotics application of this composite by fabricating a gaiting robot. The integration of soft electronics, including strain sensors, temperature sensors, and photodetectors, expanded the robotic functionalities. This study provides a simple yet novel strategy for designing lifecycle mimicking soft robotics that can be applied to reduce soft robotics waste, explore hazardous areas where retrieval of robots is impossible, and ensure hardware security with on-demand destructive material platforms.

A survey carried out by Air Transport IT Insights recently found that almost half of global airlines and 32% of airports are currently looking for partners to further develop their robotic involvement in the next three years. The latest developments see robots staffing airport check-in desks, carrying out security protocols, cleaning and even delivering food to passengers. The airport security segment currently has the highest number of robots according to the Airport robots market – growth, trends, Covid-19 impact, and forecasts 2021-2026 report by Mordor Intelligence. The next most common use of airport robotics is for cleaning, which has seen a rise in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic. PHL Food and Shops have introduced a new member to their team Philadelphia International Airport, Gita.

Not so long ago it may have seemed more like a futuristic vision of the workplace – or a hospital. But the hands-free door handles, self-cleaning surfaces, antimicrobial paint, air-monitoring display tools, UV light disinfection robots, and 135 other measures at an office block in Bucharest are here to stay, say the creators behind what they are touting as one of the world's most virus-resilient workplaces, which they hope will become the new normal in office design. Entering H3, a five-storey building in a western neighbourhood of the Romanian capital, is like learning the steps to a new dance. A flick of the wrist opens the door, and a red line marks the spot at which to stand from where a thermal body camera 2 metres away scans arrivals for signs of fever. Those who are "green-lighted" can follow the tracks to the self-clean lift, step on one of two foot pads and be transported through the building, safe in the knowledge that a UV lighting disinfection system installed in the ventilation shafts is keeping them infection-free between floors. Anyone whose head flashes red on the screen, however, is whisked away by a plastic-gloved "immune steward" into a nearby quarantine room: a glass box with a panic button and its own internal ventilation system shut off from the rest of the building.

It has long been known that UV light has a sterilising effect because the radiation damages the genetic material of viruses and their ability to replicate. Most viruses - such as SARS-CoV-2 - are covered with a thin membrane that is easily broken apart by UV rays. Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at University of East Anglia said: 'That UV light inactivates SARS-CoV-2 is not surprising. Indeed UV disinfection is widely used for disinfection of drinking water. 'Given the nature of coronaviruses we would expect them to be especially sensitive to disinfection by either hypochlorite (bleach) or UV light.'

A new robot developed by MIT in the US is being used to kill coronavirus in a 4,000-square-foot warehouse using ultraviolet light (UV) light. The autonomous machine uses a specific type of short-wavelength UV, known as UVC, to kill microorganisms and disrupt their DNA in a process known as'ultraviolet germicidal irradiation'. UVC is emitted from the bot's four vertical beams as it nips around warehouse aisles, killing 90 per cent of coronavirus particles in 30 minutes. Because UVC light is harmful to humans, the robot has to do its work alone and is sent to do its sanitising shift when human workers have clocked off. The robot can map an entire industrial facility – in this case the Great Boston Food Bank (GBFB), a US non-profit that provides hunger relief.

The US military is set to use'corona-killing robots' equip with ultraviolet light (UV) to disinfect enclosed spaces. The four-wheeled autonomous robots would eliminate the need of human workers and complete the task in a matter of hours, instead of days. The technology is capable of radiating nearly 110 watts using a vertical UV mount that disinfects a surface two feet away in just over a minute. Although experts have not yet determined if UV kills the virus, the military said it is'employing double the wattage known to kill other coronavirus variants to ensure effectiveness,' Military.com The four-wheeled autonomous robots would eliminate the need of human workers and complete the task in a matter of hours, instead of days.

A new Chameleon paint which allows people to change the colour of their cars, phone cases and trainers as many times as they want has been created by MIT researchers. The reprogrammable ink changes the colour of an object after it is exposed to ultraviolet and visible light sources at different wave lengths. A team from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) designed the system, which has been dubbed'PhotoChromeleon'. One researcher said the tool will allow users to personalise their appearance and belongings multiple times in a variety of styles and colours. The chameleon paint was designed by a team from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) which has been dubbed'PhotoChromeleon' They created the ink by mixing cyan, magenta, and yellow photochromic dyes into a single sprayable solution.