GERM-FREE toys, cellphones, computer keyboards, clothes and even medical
implants are promised by a new molecular saw that tears stubborn germs
apart.
Antimicrobial materials are normally made by impregnating substances with
chemicals that leach out bacteria and poison them. But these substances work
best in solution. Even if the surface stays moist enough to kill bugs, the
chemical will eventually run out.
So Alexander Klibanov at MIT and his colleague Kim Lewis from nearby Tufts
University wondered if they could make surfaces that would go on killing bugs
indefinitely. What they finally created looks like a miniature saw blade. The…
