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UrduCicada’s cries ring out in the hot air and their discarded exoskeletons decorate tree branches in the southeast and midwest United States at the height of summer. While their ability to emerge in huge numbers is astounding, they have other surprising features too. In fact, their wings kill bacteria on contact and are self-cleaning. Researchers using the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory user facilities investigated this bizarre phenomenon. They learned how structures in the cells are able to pull off such a feat and how it could be used in medical applications.
Tag: Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
Scientists use ORNL’s Summit supercomputer to learn how cicada wings kill bacteria
Over the past decade, teams of engineers, chemists and biologists have analyzed the physical and chemical properties of cicada wings, hoping to unlock the secret of their ability to kill microbes on contact. If this function of nature can be replicated by science, it may lead to products with inherently antibacterial surfaces that are more effective than current chemical treatments.
Add-on device makes home furnaces cleaner, safer and longer-lasting
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an affordable add-on acid gas reduction technology that removes 99.9% of acidic gases and other emissions to produce an ultraclean natural gas furnace. The AGR technology can also be added to other natural gas-driven equipment.