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Can light stop the coronavirus? | David Brenner

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Far-UVC light is a type of ultraviolet light that kills microbes and viruses and, crucially, seems to be safe to use around humans. Radiation scientist David Brenner describes how we could use this light to stop the spread of…

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Far-UVC light is a type of ultraviolet light that kills microbes and viruses and, crucially, seems to be safe to use around humans. Radiation scientist David Brenner describes how we could use this light to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, in hospitals, nursing homes, trains and other public indoor spaces — paving the way for a potentially game-changing tool in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. (This virtual conversation, hosted by TED science curator David Biello, was recorded July 7, 2020.)

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49 Comments

49 Comments

  1. Andrew Arrondo

    August 31, 2020 at 5:41 pm

    This video describes one of many incredible advancements in our ability to fight contagion. We have so many tools to help fix our viral problem.
    It’s so frustrating that we’re so damned troglodytic that we reject anything socially unpopular, politically unexploitable or industrially unprofitable.
    We have effective drugs!
    We have effective technology!
    We have effective behaviors!
    Why are we so content to wallow in our suffering and bicker over trivial tribal beliefs rather than play an active and effective role in our f*ng survival!?
    We have the tools and the means to save and improve our lives if we would just use them without weaponizing, stigmatizing, and politicizing them!

  2. Alek VH

    August 31, 2020 at 5:42 pm

    why is David moving his glass all the time? That is funny.
    Still, thanks for the info!

  3. Meat Suit

    August 31, 2020 at 5:49 pm

    Great, but the panic masters are covering their ears ,

  4. Phil Melson

    August 31, 2020 at 5:52 pm

    Finally, a cure that is free from drugs…. hopefully these light bulbs will be made available soon…

  5. JÖYの貓

    August 31, 2020 at 6:34 pm

    UV light ✔️

  6. Mac Clift

    August 31, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    Telling people to stay out of the sun and to use high factor sun creams could be part of the reason so many people have run into trouble; not to mention the cultures that use skin lightening creams and avoid the sun altogether! A little bit of sun without allowing oneself to burn is probably good for us!

  7. Texoma Tinker

    August 31, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    UVC is now being measured at ground level.

  8. Mark C

    August 31, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    We have numerous things to kill the virus on surfaces. It’s inside us that’s the issue, so it seems rather irrelevant if light can kill it given it serves no practical help

  9. ynderulets tyalikanky

    August 31, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    Light from near-Sun supernova can.

  10. Stephen the 3rd

    August 31, 2020 at 7:14 pm

    Who else is watching this again in 2020??

  11. Mr Anderson

    August 31, 2020 at 9:12 pm

    He looks like the guy from asap science 🤔

  12. B Welkinator

    August 31, 2020 at 9:14 pm

    So… thirty minutes on the value of UV light and…. NOT ONE MENTION OF HEALIGHT… wow, TED, BIASED MUCH?

  13. Mr Anderson

    August 31, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    So potentially you could have a uvc implant in your mouth/nose?

    • CORE Instincts

      September 1, 2020 at 12:34 am

      Prob a flashlight, if they come out with this light.

  14. A is for The American Party

    August 31, 2020 at 9:46 pm

    TLDW:
    YES.

  15. nobodys baby

    August 31, 2020 at 10:28 pm

    Well Done!:0)

  16. Oh Really

    August 31, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    I heard him mention success with mice. Do we have to morph into mice for this to truly work?

  17. LTVoyager

    August 31, 2020 at 11:07 pm

    Have scientists forgotten how the human immune system works? Have they thought about what will happen to future humans whose immune systems have not been exposed to a wide range of viruses? Remember the law of unintended consequences.

  18. Olmost Gudinaf

    August 31, 2020 at 11:07 pm

    Far UVC is safe? Since when??? It can burn your skin to a crisp. Just a few seconds of mild exposure and you can smell it. In fact that’s how you can tell real germicidal UVC light bulbs from fake ones sold on eBay: the real ones produce that familiar burnt skin smell. It is also irritating to the eyes, causing scratchy sensation (like sand in the eyes) for hours to days after exposure. Lastly, it’s ionizing, i.e. it produces ozone. And the damage is not limited to living organisms. It causes the discoloration of all materials (except metals) and brittleness of some plastics.

    Is it effective against coronavirus? Sure. Under direct exposure. Any virus lurking in the shadow will do just fine.

    In a word, a nice try, but sorry. Another “miracle cure” busted.

  19. James W.

    August 31, 2020 at 11:36 pm

    oh so trump was right.. again….. thats craaaaaazy lol

  20. Sergio Llaguno

    August 31, 2020 at 11:45 pm

    What r we waiting for????????? I heard about this light 2 years ago in this very channel and there is still nothing in the market.

    • CORE Instincts

      September 1, 2020 at 12:32 am

      It makes no sense, i hear ya

  21. Sue Young

    September 1, 2020 at 12:37 am

    Uv light kills the virus, so why did the authorities close beaches and parks this spring!?

    • Arcux

      September 1, 2020 at 10:59 pm

      Because reasons! Now put on your mask like a good sheep.
      Or maybe the virus and public health wasn’t really the point.

  22. Lewis Stockett

    September 1, 2020 at 12:46 am

    Killing the virus in the lab isn’t the same as preventing infection. Killing it on surfaces wouldn’t hurt, but most transmission is from the air. Do we know that it will kill the viruses embedded in a droplet of mucus from a cough or sneeze? Given what you said about tears and the outer layers of our skin blocking it I’m skeptical.

    I’m not saying it won’t work. It’s a hypothesis worth further testing.

    Calling it a “game changer” at this stage is an outrageous, irresponsible and dangerous overstatement. A great example of the very worst in science reporting.

    Of course it’s boring to announce that a group of scientists has had some promising results and that further study is warranted. I understand the temptation to overstate things because it gets the attention of your viewers or your readers. But this kind of bad science reporting ultimately makes the public distrust science. When the promising hypothesis fails to pan out after it’s been overhyped people interpret that as a failure of science and an excuse to ignore scientists.

    • ciretose2

      September 1, 2020 at 5:56 am

      Fair point about airborne transmission but you don’t catch a virus by breathing in one or two stray virus cells, your immune system isn’t completely useless until it is overwhelmed. If you can continuously sterilize the air (99.99% in 2-3 minutes as stated) while also using masks and distancing (also as stated) then you keep the potential presence of airborne viral particles dramatically lower than it would have been, not 100% sterile, but much better than the absence of any intervention where aerosols can float around in currents for 3 hours.

    • Lewis Stockett

      September 1, 2020 at 5:19 pm

      ciretose2 Unless you have citations of peer reviewed journals to back up those claims then they are hypotheses. Sensible hypotheses worthy of further research, but no more. Not conclusions. Not even theories. Not actionable and certainly not “game changers”. Science doesn’t work that way. A lot of things seem plausible. We call those hypotheses. A scientist tests them. They attempt to disprove their own hypothesis. After repeated testing they share the results of their experiments with the scientific community. They write up the results of their experiments along with their data and have it peer reviewed. If it stands up to peer review then it’s published in a journal. Then other scientists review their conclusions, attempt to replicate the results, and design experiments of their own. Other scientists build on the original work. They may perform further experiments to see if the initial work has practical applications. Or they may prove that the whole thing is a dead end. It often is.

      The popular image of a lone scientist shouting Eureka in a lab and immediately changing the world is a myth. In reality progress comes in small boring steps made by the scientific community as a whole. Every step along the way is published, reviewed, and scrutinized by scientists all over the world. We don’t start calling things facts until we’ve had several rounds of this kind of thing. That’s why we can actually trust what scientists tell us.

  23. Therese Kirkpatrick

    September 1, 2020 at 12:46 am

    Well by the time you let people get around each other the anger and insanity is increasing suicides and overdoses. will far compound the deaths from coronavirus.
    People aren’t meant to isolate 🤦‍♀️🤬🤬🤬🤬🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

  24. kvi

    September 1, 2020 at 12:51 am

    I don’t think it’s going to work. Seems harmful to the earth n humans. Plus there were many false covid deaths.

  25. Doctor Braceyourself

    September 1, 2020 at 1:22 am

    Good job lads, goooood job
    On ya go now to go create some more world solutions💡🌎!!

  26. nimbu_

    September 1, 2020 at 3:02 am

    I dont think TED stands for ideas worth spreading

  27. J. K. Rector

    September 1, 2020 at 3:26 am

    Is he say 5UVC light or something else?

    • ciretose2

      September 1, 2020 at 5:46 am

      Far-UVC light.

  28. Daniel von Bose

    September 1, 2020 at 3:40 am

    I wonder if blood could be treated with the far uvc light.

    • ciretose2

      September 1, 2020 at 5:49 am

      I heard of a therapy a few years ago, I forget what it was used for, where they did sort of a UV blood dialysis… Blood out through a clear tube, exposed to UV light, then back into the body.

  29. Mona's sick of your BS

    September 1, 2020 at 8:03 am

    UV lights – we use this to sterilize our OR every weekends or after any “dirty” cases. It really kills viruses and bacteria, just be careful not to stare directly at the light, do not enter the room 30minutes to 1hr after sterilizing with UV, cover the transparent walls/windows/doors or any gaps to prevent the UV light coming in direct contact with you. I love the smell of newly UV light sterilized room – smells so clean, and it’s like fresh sunshine (duh!) lol.

    • Kevin Wells

      September 1, 2020 at 8:25 am

      Cool!

  30. Muhammad Zakria

    September 1, 2020 at 8:16 am

  31. Abhay Bhatt

    September 1, 2020 at 8:22 am

    What’s Jared Leto doing here interviewing with that weird hair cut in TED??!!!

  32. Kevin Wells

    September 1, 2020 at 8:24 am

    Thanks for the video. One answer – keeping the virus in the air as low as possible (quote) – well, restricting people out of the room is one way. I’m at 12:00 min. more or less, and that suggestion is both logical, and non-helpful in terms of immediate solutions. I know UV light, very well actually – and the concentration of it probably required is not practical, imho. UV light has been killing germs, and germs on infected material for years… and yes, some virus but not all. However the exposure level, and time duration required is probably not practical – and having said that I admit I am still a newbie, even though I have been around it for maybe two decades. We just don’t have the equipment readily available yet. I would also suggest that we need to be working on the cure, more than avoiding the disease. Both are important, but one solution solves both problems, and that’s the cure. Regardless I love hearing the tech background, which many may not know otherwise. I think it should be used right now to protect first responders, operating rooms, and post-op recovery, etc. UV light is definitely on our side in this battle.

  33. Rasa Stankevičiūtė

    September 1, 2020 at 8:27 am

    Well look at that, Trump actually had a point

  34. Ivan Ivanov

    September 1, 2020 at 8:47 am

    “Ideas worth spreading”, say TED and issue a copyright claim against Russian channel with translations of TED videos, demanding that the channel be closed. This is hypocrisy and violation of the rights of people who communicating in other languages.

  35. Stellar Archive Fan

    September 1, 2020 at 8:48 am

    how are plants or other animals going to out-survive selfish women who think they are more important than plants?

  36. Bob Vincent

    September 1, 2020 at 9:30 am

    Thanks. The Chinese are currently selling UV sterilisation lamps on the internet.

  37. Attila Balogh

    September 1, 2020 at 4:11 pm

    Sounds to me like a shill for UVC light technology.
    I’m glad we have another tool to fight Covid-19, but the presenter is just repeating the same bullet points.

  38. ニ ク ラ ス 乡,

    September 1, 2020 at 4:37 pm

    gets asked how uvc light can be used in situations where there is limited power. talks about how uvc light doesnt need more energy than normal light. gets asked how long the distance of the sterilization for uvc light is, talks about how you install 1 bulb in a small room and more bulbs in a large room.gets asked if the uvc light can kill aerosol. answers around the qeustion and talks about how they want the lvl of aerosol to be low. i feel like the question were kinda dodged by him.

  39. Funny Enjoy

    September 1, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    I learn english and i know the information about 2 HK student has a creative idea, they saw the germ quickly spread through our hand when we use the handle,that cause disease. So they made UV light bulb, with uv light from light bulb mixed with chemical will killing the germ. “That a good” one student inventor said.

  40. Stephen Boyd

    September 1, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    Any video on YouTube that is titled can something do something can always be summed up in one word, NO.

  41. Greatest Man

    September 1, 2020 at 10:20 pm

    corona means light 😅

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