[Noisebridge-discuss] new, inexpensive way to clean water

[jim]

"Miracle Tree" seeds clean water (the following excerpt is from a 
Laboratory Equipment article, link below): 

"Stephanie Velegol from Pennsylvania State Univ. and colleagues explain
that removing the disease-causing microbes and sediment from drinking
water requires technology not always available in rural areas of
developing countries. For an alternative approach, Velegol looked to
Moringa oleifera, also called the “miracle tree,” a plant grown in
equatorial regions for food, traditional medicine and biofuel. Past
research showed that a protein in Moringa seeds can clean water, but
using the approach was too expensive and complicated. So Velegol’s team
sought to develop a simpler and less expensive way to utilize the seeds’
power. 

"To do that, they added an extract of the seed containing the positively
charged Moringa protein, which binds to sediment and kills microbes, to
negatively charged sand. The resulting “functionalized,” or “f-sand,”
proved effective in killing harmful E. coli bacteria and removing
sediment from water samples." 

(watch out for possible line break in the following link) 
http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Miracle-Trees-Purify-Water-011912.aspx?et_cid=2432472&et_rid=54634865&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.laboratoryequipment.com%2fnews-Miracle-Trees-Purify-Water-011912.aspx