COVID-19 pandemic brought life to a halt, yet learning and exploring possibilities is an inherent nature of humans and cannot be hindered. It has ushered in a new era of urgent innovation, forcing academicians to collaborate virtually to contribute knowledge and come up with novel solutions.
Charles Gentile and Kenneth Silber, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory inventors, put forward a Plasma Surface Disinfecting sensor, which directs cold plasma from different orientations to keep surfaces disinfected. Plasma is an electrically conducting medium which is produced from ionized gases and acts as a natural disinfectant. The device does not use hand sanitizer, sprays, ultraviolet light or other chemical-based solutions, which can cause health problems. Researchers designed a novel deployment geometry to direct continuous cold plasma on targeted surfaces. It operates continuously and with no labor cost, as no one has to spend time wiping down surfaces. This technology could reduce cases of any infection one can pick up from touching contaminated surfaces. The device provides for a compact, efficient and inexpensive solution for plasma generation and it could be equipped in places of frequent use such as subway stations, door handles and ATM machines. The invention makes use of unexplored areas of Physics such as the study of plasma and helps to utilize such knowledge to solve daily-life problems.
To continuously monitor the condition of patients from hospitals, investigators at Northwestern University and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab developed a novel wearable device to detect early signs and symptoms associated with COVID-19. About the size of a postage stamp, it is soft, flexible and can be worn 24/7 at the base of the neck. It measures and interprets coughing and respiratory activity through custom-made AI algorithms. It reduces time lag between the surfacing of initial symptoms and reporting them to the hospitals. It has produced more insightful and potentially life saving data. The invention lies at the intersection of neurology, materials science, artificial intelligence and biomedical engineering, and could transform the future of health procedures and wearable fitness tracking devices.
Scarcity of supplies of PPE such as N95 masks and suits, resulted in more than 87,696 (in June 30, 2021) infections among healthcare workers in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To reduce the exposure to the virus, Medtronic shipped to hospitals remote controlled ventilators that can be controlled from outside the isolation room. It prevents getting exposed multiple times to the virus during a single shift. Critical values such as rate and air quantity can be adjusted for each patient, tailoring the treatment. The invention utilises the knowledge of biomedical and electrical engineering. It ushers in the increase of automated monitoring devices used in hospitals, reducing the load on healthcare workers and better bracing the medical community for future pandemics.
The pandemic has laid evidence to the proverb, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention.’ It has proved that a problem can be tackled from multiple perspectives as scholars from different backgrounds pooled in their knowledge in need of the hour. It has made us humans more resilient, compassionate and insightful.
BIBLIOGRAPHY :
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/10/12/invention-sparked-covid-19-pandemic-safely-disinfects-surfaces-continuously
https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2021/01/2020-a-year-of-groundbreaking-discoveries-during-a-pandemic/
https://www.inquartik.com/blog/trends-inventions-fighting-coronavirus-pandemic/