Monday, July 5, 2010

Recycled Antibiotics

LCD screens are pretty cool. They use less power than the old cathode ray tube monitors, take up far less space on a desk, and remain razor-sharp for years at a time. (Remember having to "degauss?") Too bad they're full of poisonous stuff that will surely leak into the ground when the screen goes bad and you throw it away.
Discovery news reports that one of the ingredients in LCD screens can be made into a very powerful antibacterial substance, one that utterly destroys bacteria, yet is perfectly safe for human use.
The discovery comes from the chemistry department of the University of York, United Kingdom. Apparently Polyvinyl alcohol, found in the electronics, can be treated inexpensively to produce a powerful antiseptic. This will cause broken LCD screens to no longer be thrown away -- you'll be gleefully selling them to chemistry labs, who'll be remaking them into useful things for hospitals.

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