See the Airplane Bathroom That Cleans Itself After Every Use
Good news, germophobic travelers Aircraft maker Boeing has designed an airplane bathroom that gives itself a cleaning after passengers' visits. Boeing's self-scrubbing lavatory works by using ultraviolet UV light to zap "99.99 of pathogens" crawling on the bathroom surfaces. To ensure a truly thorough sanitization, the system lifts the toilet cover while the lights are engaged. The entire UV scrub-down takes about three seconds, the Chicago, Ill. firm says. "The UV light destroys all known microbes by literally making them explode," said Boeing engineer Jamie Childress in a statement. The high-tech lavatory is just a prototype for now. But Boeing has filed a patent on the system, signaling that it's at least somewhat serious about the idea.