In response to evidence that central air conditioning systems can actually spread COVID-19, psychics researchers at the University of Houston tested a filter that uses heat to kill the virus and published their results in the journal Materials Today Physics. Aware that the virus can’t survive above a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius (or 158 degrees Fahrenheit), scientists constructed a filter with nickel foam, which conducts electricity. By super-heating the virus to 200 degrees Celsius, they were able to almost completely eliminate it “with a single pass through.” The filter is also useful against other infectious diseases, including some strains of the flu. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. The filter is meant to be placed in existing heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, which would be more cost-effective for schools, hospitals, businesses, and even homes than replacing them completely. Zhifeng Ren, director of the university’s Texas Center for Superconductivity and one of the researchers from the study, told The Houston Chronicle that the filter doesn’t even add to a system’s power consumption. He also told the publication that the filter could be produced for practical use by as early as August. The researchers intend for high-traffic and high-risk areas such as schools and hospitals to be first in line to purchase, but the filters may be available to individual consumers after that. And as we learn more and more about airborne transmission, wiping out airborne particles in as many indoor areas as possible may be key to slowing the virus and returning to some semblance of normal life.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb For more on killing COVID, This Is the “Goldilocks Zone” Where COVID Can’t Survive, Biologist Says.
