Since the widespread use of antibiotics began in the 1940s, we've tried to develop new drugs faster than bacteria can evolve — but this strategy isn't working. Drug-resistant bacteria known as superbugs killed nearly 700,000 people last year, and by 2050 that number could be 10 million — more than cancer kills each year. Can physics help? In a talk from the frontiers of science, radiation scientist David Brenner shares his work studying a potentially life-saving weapon: a wavelength of ultraviolet light known as far-UVC, which can kill superbugs safely, without penetrating our skin. Followed by a Q&A with TED Curator Chris Anderson.
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Cool
Awsome
Let’s use it!
Extraordinary
Does it burn the upper layer of the skin or what not? If not how and why?
Michael Gusevsky it doesn’t burn the upper layer because the light isn’t strong enough to penetrate the dead cells but it is strong enough for a small things such as bacteria. Even if it did somehow manage to burn a cell it would be a dead cell so it would do any harm such as cause cancer
I would like to add to his explanation that the thing that makes it safe to humans is its frequency not its brightness. It is a particular wavelength this chaps claims to have found that doesn’t penetrate deep into tissues but it doesn’t have to for simple organisms that cause infection. This is because certain things are opaque to certain frequencies. Glass is only transparent to our visible spectrum and most things are transparent to the signals reaching your phone.
Zubair Ulhaq “kill the dead skin cells” 😐
Dr. Brenner
Gellért Gábor Kovács German name
It’s ok to be white
Even if it’s ok to be white, it’s not ok to be a racist
Not all races are equal. We all should be racists to support the human race in fight against the superbug race.
mhtinla LOL *sarcasm* is real
Keep it up buddy
Who said it isn’t?
WOW truly *AMAAZING*
And what about the damage to the eyes? If the non-dividing, dead layer of the skin is absorbing the damage normally, how could it be used during surgery? Won’t sterilizing every surrounding of ours exacerbate the problem of the growing number of auto-immune diseases?
Gellért Gábor Kovács – Good point. I expect thorough testing will be in order.
Will the “bugs” eventually evolve to be resistant to far-UV light?
I can imagine some bacteria evolving its own coating of UVC sun-screen, or perhaps fast DNA repair mechanisms if this becomes used everywhere… and like somebody ponted out, there are probably also some good bacteria that we shouldn’t harm for our own sake. Besides, wouldn’t kids end up with an underdeveloped and dysfuctioning immune system if they are forced to live in an almost sterile environment?
HappyPlanker Obviously the dose of UVC we’re getting from the sun is not an issue, otherwise everything would be either dead or resistant. The size arguement is also a bad one – if cells can resist UVC by being bigger, then size is what will evolve. And if you rightly assume that a big cell would find it hard to infect us, then they could evolve a “big cell” phase for the outside and a “small cell” phase for virulence (many virulant bacteria already change drastically when they enter a host body).
Considering sunscreen, its probably possible. Not full protection but maybe like 80%
HappyPlanker I don’t follow your logic at all. If anything, your claim that UVC coming in through the holes in the ozone layer is causing more flu cases shows that flu viruses, that are even smaller than bacteria, can be resistant to UVC.
PLEASE, CAN I have access to this article? I am very skeptical about what he is saying…
Do we really want those lights killing all bacteria and microorganisms?
interesting kills like bacterial soap kills good and bad bacteria ?
srrings exactly, not all microorganisms are bad so I was wondering about the potential risks of getting rid of everything
James Sears very good point james, would be interesting to see how much good bacteria is on the skin surface and what role it plays
And if generations of people depend on the UV lights to kill all bacteria, will we die when there is a blackout?
Stealthgun IV ohhh interesting
Not first, but y’know what I am first to do?
Like my own comment.
(ha ha ha, i’m so funny aren’t i?)
That UV just works with bacteria on the surface of the skin.
Yeah, it is more about prevention rather than curing.
His presentation is great, and new ways to kill superbugs are always welcome.
But trying to sterilise everybody nearly everywhere (airport/school) is just nonsense what about our comensal bacterias ? And What about the selective pressure it creates ? Because that method is innefective against intracellular bacterias, they will proliferate ! Moreover if any kind of bacteria immune to that light exist, they will proliferate, be everywhere and may give the resitance to other bacteria.
He also claims that the “drug method” against superbugs is not effective, but here in France and nearly all europe we do not use antibiotics like candies (contrary to the US). And superbugs are really uncommon and are kept under surveillance. Plus we have always some antiotics that we use only against them that are still effective. So by not prescribing drug the “drug method” actually works nearly everytime
The drug method is not effective enough. People travel the world constantly and can bring these superbugs anywhere. It doesn’t really matter if a few counties responsibly prescribes antibiotics with people traveling all over the world. Worldwide education on how to use antibiotics properly and removing them from use in livestock will help but we still need more. Bacteria evolve quickly, can transfer R plasmids easily, and can easily go anywhere in the world.
Even things as simple as phone usage in a hospital by doctors can transport MRSA between patients.
This needs to be everywhere, yesterday!
What about eyes how does it react with human eyes?
Overonator good question!!! Haha
Depopulation is the plan. ‘They’ want this! Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life!
Vahid M this has to be a troll
Tinfoil hat time!!
galion1991
this isn’t Wikipedia
It’s an opinion thread.
chadoftoons – No, I liked it. He is right. Jesus is the Lord of all Lords. God bless.
chadoftoons – God can never be out of place anywhere. He wants us to discover His creation.
It’s great, but what about those superbugs that are already inside of human body?
Cghost 3578 drugs
Drugs AKA antibiotics… you mean the things that don’t work against superbugs???
I think the plan is to kill them before they get there.
Superbugs (I.e. Antibiotic resistant bacteria) are luckily not immune to our immune system!
He’s very clearly not a biologist. Life finds a way. Especially if you blast everything with whatever it is you’re trying to kill it with 24/7. This is a recipe for quickly evolving UV-resistant bacteria.
You can’t resist physics. UVs at those wavelengths break down all kinds of organic matter. They cleave C-C bonds. And because they’re so strongly absorbed by organic matter, all their energy is delivered to those bacteria, unlike longer wavelengths that mostly pass through.
For a bacteria to develop any form of tolerance to that, it would have to constantly regenerate its proteins and DNA. If sufficient amounts of UV are used, doing so would be such a drain on its metabolism that it would only be able to multiply at severely reduced rates, if it can find sufficient nutrients to do so at all.
Once these run out, or if they aren’t present in the first place, the cell dies from the accumulation of cellular damage.
And if it still somehow survives, and manages to infect you, that enzymatic machinery it will have evolved for constant self-repair will be such a drain on its metabolism, it’s virulence will be severely lowered and your immune system will have much better odds at taking it out early on.
Now, I’m not saying it’s a perfect method – I see many flaws with it (What about UV degradation of exposed surfaces? What about parts of the human body that aren’t covered in dead skin (mouth, eyes, openings in someone undergoing surgery, etc…)? What about photogenerated radicals? What about killing beneficial skin flora?), but I don’t think resistance is one of those flaws.
piranha031091 I agree with all the potential flaws you mention, but I do think resistance might also be an issue. The very fact that our (albeit dead) skin cells don’t let that wavelength through is proof that you can “resist physics” (of course you can’t but your claim that evolving UV resistance is against physics is absurd).
Well, if you find some big multicelular bacterias, they might be UV resistance. But we would call it something else other than bacteria. I am almost conviced that what we call nowadays as bacteria can’t develop UV resistance. I am curious though about how exactly he managed to find such a specific interesting wavelenght. That doesn’t makes to much sense for me…