New Technology To Sterilize Microbes

 

Each time someone signs their name at an electronic credit card terminal, they become contaminated with a serious health hazard: chronic contamination of public writing instruments.

Most have wondered what hazardous viruses, bacteria or diseases the person ahead of you in line suffers from? How many times, throughout flu season in particular, do retail customers and hospital patients say to themselves: “do I really want to touch that?” (Of course not. But they have to…they are signing a point-of-sale or medical signature pad).

 Lee Gregg, co-developer of Sterile Pens technology says”Signature pens collect and transfer other people’s illnesses to the next person in line…you!” 

On September 12, 2012, Forbes estimated that U.S. workforce illness costs $576 Billion from sick days to workers compensation. Public pens carrying the public’s germs are a major component of that health risk. A new, patented technology automatically sterilizes counter pens at credit card terminals.

Sterile Pens LLC, a small group of technology innovators,  uses a unique application of ultraviolet light to stop the transfer of infection at the point-of-sale terminal by sterilizing the stylus with UV light.

After signing their name on the credit card terminal screen, the user simply places the stylus into the top of the device. The weight of the pen opens a small door to a light chamber. After the door closes, the pen is automatically lowered through a timed, germ-busting exposure to 4 anti-microbial UV lights. The pen slides down a reflective, mirrored light chamber, sealed optically to safely contain the light.

UV rays focus on the pen from literally 360 degrees, surrounding it with serious sterilization power. 99.02% of all microbes are killed on the stylus, all within 15 to 20 seconds. When it’s done, the UV light is automatically turned off, and the pen drops out into a curved pick-up tray, sterilized, safe and ready for the next customer to use. Dangerous transfer of viruses, bacteria and disease is eliminated.

 

 

New Careers In The Works

 

 UN-SCHOOLING COUNSELOR

The concept of education for four years will be over. The future will be more diverse. People will plug in a year of education here and there, a month now and again, and un-schooling counselors will guide them the whole way. “We’re seeing the evolution of the traditional counselor to someone who can hack your life together so it’s unique,” he says.

 ARMCHAIR EXPLORER

Machines will be connected, producing tons of data about their performance and surroundings. Communications technology that has been expensive in the past (likesatellites) will be widely accessible. This will create opportunities for “armchair explorers” who will travel the world, checking on systems, buildings, and hard-to-reach places. We’ll need people to break through the fog, and give us a clear picture.

 3-D PRINTING HANDYMAN

Today when your handyman fixes something, he usually has to order a part. One day, he might print it right in your yard. Say you need to replace the pipe under your sink. Why wait for the whole thing to come in from out of the country, when it can be done there and then? We already have 3-D printed shower heads, after all.

 MICROBIAL BALANCER

From the gut to your mouth, the microbial world is a big focus of current research. Young sees a job for a “microbial balancer” who can keep you aligned with your bacteria: “They will understand how to read your genome, your gut, and your mouth bacteria and get you better balanced at a house, school, or individual level. They’re the equivalent of the Feng Shui person who sets up your apartment.”

 CORPORATE DISORGANIZER

Big companies want to be more like startups, seeing innovation as vital to future profits. Young says they’ll want “corporate disorganizers” who can introduce a little “organized chaos.” Young says: “The disruptor will be tapping into the new systems of the collaborative economy, creating greater fragmentation and a more distributed ecosystem.”

 DIGITAL DETOX SPECIALIST

The digital “overload” will become even more overwhelming. That will open the way for people who can help lead less data-centric lives, or at least find a better balance. In some cases, they will even organize digital rehabs. It’s going to get that bad (actually, it already is).

 THE URBAN SHEPHERD

With cities getting greener, we’ll need “urban shepherds” to look after the new infrastructure. “You need someone who is going to take care of the urban beehives, who’s going to make sure your composting is set up correctly, and who is going to know how to curate all the vertical gardens