Read about the work in Manu Prakash’s lab to develop personal protective equipment from diving gear and plumbing supplies here.
In addition to the snorkel mask PPE, his lab is helping develop a machine that can take waste styrofoam and quickly spin it, like cotton candy, into fibers needed to create N95 masks. He’s also working on a “universal remote” that could be used to adjust ventilator settings so hospital personnel do not need to enter the rooms of infected Covid-19 patients as often, and is part of a team of 60 scientists, engineers, and clinicians who created N95decon.org, an effort dedicated to finding safe and proven ways to decontaminate and reuse N95 masks.