Cleaning

New research is questioning the safety of certain chemicals used in dishwashing detergents after intestinal cell models revealed high doses of components in rinse aids can damage gut health.

PFAS are insidious pollutants thanks to their ubiquity, long life and a growing list of linked health concerns. But now researchers at UC Riverside have developed a new method to break them down more effectively, using hydrogen and UV light.

Ordinarily, water is used to clean off the layer of dust that continuously accumulates on solar panels. In arid regions, however, doing so can be challenging. A new system addresses this problem, by substituting electrostatic repulsion for water.

Surfaces in contact with salty water usually end up with a corrosive layer of salt caked on. Now, engineers at MIT have made these minerals so easy to remove that they often just fall off on their own – by forming “crystal critters.”

The 2019 North American outbreak of E. coli contamination in romaine lettuce doubtless got many people thinking about how to most effectively wash their leafy veggies. Well, a new study suggests that using ultrasonic water may be the best way to go.

Although cleaning up the humungous Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a daunting concept, removing trash from local waterways is much more feasible … and that's exactly what the Clearbot robot is designed to do.

We've seen a number of "electric mouthpiece"-type toothbrushes that are claimed to clean your teeth in 30 seconds or less. At a reported 50 seconds, the three-headed BruBruBrush takes a little longer, but its makers state that it works better.

​When oil is spilled into the ocean, clean up efforts can focus on the surface, but plumes of subsurface oil are harder to recover. The Oleo Sponge is a new type of foam that can not only soak up oil that has dispersed throughout water, but can be wrung out to reuse both the material and the oil.

The majority of commonly-used soaps contain petroleum. While there are petroleum-free soaps out there, they often don't perform that well. Now, however, scientists have developed one that is claimed to actually work better than mainstream products.

Inventor Donal Vitez is back with a revised Robo-Washer, which like its predecessor handles washing and drying affairs from beginning to end, but then recycles what little water it uses after each cycle.

Scientists from Switzerland's Empa research group have come up with a method of using waste to contain pollution – they've developed sponges made from cellulose by-products, that can soak up 50 times their own weight in spilled oil.

Remember how much fun it was to use the Dyson Airblade the first time? The Robo-Washer steps up the game by doing the washing part for you as well. 360-degree jets of high pressure soapy water are followed by a blast of warm air to give you an all-in-one touchless hand cleaning station with no mess.