We’ve known for a long time that ultraviolet light kills viruses, but we never used it because ultraviolet light is what gives us skin cancer when we spend too much time in the sun. In other words, it’s dangerous. Oh, not the small black lights we use to see groovy posters or check for bloodstains; those have very little power and are quite safe compared to the sun. We wear sunscreen to protect us from UV-A and UV-B rays from the sun, but there’s also UV-C, which has a narrow point in the spectrum that doesn’t cause cancer called far-UV. Strangely, this discovery was made in 2020, which is when we were pretty desperate to kill viruses. So why aren’t we using far-UV everywhere to kill viruses? Because there are other questions about its safety and efficacy, not to mention the cost-benefit ratio. There’s still a lot to learn about far-UV, but the very idea is exciting. -via Digg
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Source: neatorama