(Image Credit: Phil Wilson of the New York Times)
Having existed for thousands of years on Earth, soap has helped keep our human hands clean since the days of ancient Babylon.
Unfortunately if our species ever travel beyond the sky, creating this cleanser via fats and oils may be just a ludicrous as importing it from the home world (aka Earth just in case you were wondering).
Instead of spending minuets scrubbing your hands in sub Earth gravity, future colonists instead could disinfect their hands via plasma gas (in mere seconds nonetheless).
(New York Times) Instead of scrubbing, the workers would put their hands into a small box that bathes them with plasma — the same sort of luminous gas found in neon signs, fluorescent tubes and TV displays. This plasma, though, is at room temperature and pressure, and is engineered to zap germs, including the drug-resistant supergerm MRSA.
The technology is being developed in several laboratories. Gregor Morfill, who created several prototypes using the technology at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, says the plasma quickly inactivates not only bacteria but also viruses and fungi.
Since micro gravity is one of few environments dangerous micro organisms love, having plasma gas around to sanitize hands, feet as well as everything in between (and above) could help keep future settlers healthy whether they are living off world or traveling to another.
Combined with anti-germ paint, future space colonists may not have to fear receiving a deadly infection from a creature that they can not see (as they will have plenty of other issues to worry about).