decontaminate

"You don't want to know what's in there. It's full of human waste and other garbage. We decontaminate immediately after each dive."

The MIT team found that this process could effectively decontaminate water with low concentrations of lead.

One team of researchers is focusing on carbon- and sulfur-based quantum dots, using them to create safer invisible inks and to help decontaminate water supplies.

"Your skin cells are pretty good at tolerating soaps and detergents but other cells in your body, and especially red blood cells, are very sensitive," he said, which is why these compounds are used only externally or to decontaminate surfaces and not as therapeutic agents.

This device, the researchers say, offers significant advantages in cost, simplicity, effectiveness and sustainability compared existing commercial options, giving users the ability to easily decontaminate water from nearby streams and rivers and make it drinkable.