To further help slow the spread of COVID-19, scientists in Japan are developing a mask that glows if the wearer is infected with the virus.
While more testing centers and access to free or cheap rapid tests would certainly help, in Japan, scientists are working on a COVID-detecting mask that works as someone wears it—finding infections that might otherwise have been missed. An early prototype of the mask uses a special filter that can be removed and sprayed with COVID antibodies extracted from ostrich eggs. (Ostriches, which have super-charged immune systems, can help make low-cost antibodies without harming the birds.) When someone shines a black light on the filter, it will glow if the person who has been wearing the mask is infected.
The researchers are now working on a version of the mask that can glow without the help of a black light. It’s not the only mask in development that aims to double as a test kit; researchers from MIT and Harvard also designed sensors that can be embedded in masks and detect COVID. In a study, they found that the design worked as well as the gold standard tests used in labs.
Read the full article at the Fast Company.
