(highlight:: Even small outbreaks can be tragic, and incidents of larger, pandemic-scale spread have accounted for some of the most devastating events in human history in terms of death toll.
The infamous bubonic plague, for example, swept across Asia, Europe, and North Africa in many waves between the 6th-19th centuries AD. The Black Death, the most notorious wave of the plague, killed an estimated 25 million Europeans in the mid 14th century— about 1/3 of the continent’s population at the time. It took about 150 years for the population of Western Europe to return its pre-Black Death level.

Centuries later, infection of roughly 1/3 of the global population during the 1918 H1N1 pandemic took 50 million lives — a toll on par with the total casualties of World War II.)
- View Highlight
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(highlight:: Biological threats do not necessarily have to come from human-affecting diseases. This article outlines several other potential biotechnological risks, including:
• Targeted population threats. The ability to create a bioweapon that targets specific populations or genetic characteristics could result in a GCBR. The 2012 Atlantic article “Hacking the President’s DNA”, written before even the development of CRISPR techniques for simplified gene editing, explores this concern.
• Widespread eradication of food sources. Engineered plant or animal pathogens that can spread rapidly within crops or herds could cause significant and long-lasting food shortages.
• Novel or artificial organisms harmful to existing life. Designing novel or artificial organisms with the potential to cause harm is not currently within the capabilities of biotechnology, but it is an area that requires ongoing study and close attention to biosafety.)
- View Highlight
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Personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks and respirators, creates a physical barrier between the wearer and pathogens. PPE has the potential to be an effective and pathogen-agnostic barrier against pandemics, but current designs leave much to be desired. In general, current designs are difficult to use properly, not widely accessible enough, don’t fit everyone, and haven’t been improved in decades. These could be improved by mechanical engineers and materials scientists.
- View Highlight
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Although there is a case for creating a new generation of improved PPE, it seems that the main bottleneck in this area is in generating an economic incentive to improve PPE, provided by changing policy or finding a non-healthcare market. More research is being done in this area (e.g. by Gryphon Scientific and others) so there is likely to be more clarity in this area in the coming year.
- View Highlight
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(highlight:: Improving indoor air quality can be achieved mechanically through 3 main technologies:
• Improving ventilation
• Improving filtration
• Implementing ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) – also known as germicidal UV (GUV)
Of these three technologies, we think that UVGI is the most promising intervention for engineers (particularly mechanical, materials, and aerospace engineers) to work on. You can explore the other ventilation and filtration in this and this EA Forum post.)
- View Highlight
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Conventional upper-room UVC uses UV wavelengths of around 254 nm to disinfect the air in large indoor spaces. The UVC light is typically installed in the upper part of a room and directed upwards to kill airborne viral, bacterial, and fungal organisms. This method requires careful placement of the UVC emitters to prevent direct or reflected exposure to humans, as it can cause skin and eye damage. This technology was demonstrated in 1935 but still hasn’t been universally implemented, especially in LMICs. It is mainly constrained by the lack of skilled technicians available to install it properly, especially in resource-constrained countries. Read more on the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention website, and one engineer’s experience and observations of the HVAC industry.
- View Highlight
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Far-UVC uses UV wavelengths between 207 and 222 nm in doses of 100 mJ/cm2 that have been proven effective at killing viruses and bacteria while being safe for human exposure. It is still an emerging technology and currently only used by early adopters in small-scale settings to disinfect surfaces and air. Although it is partly market/policy-bottlenecked, there are still many open questions around emitters and system design that lend themselves to engineering expertise. Organisations such as SecureBio and Rethink Priorities are looking into this area.
- View Highlight
-

(highlight:: Even small outbreaks can be tragic, and incidents of larger, pandemic-scale spread have accounted for some of the most devastating events in human history in terms of death toll.
The infamous bubonic plague, for example, swept across Asia, Europe, and North Africa in many waves between the 6th-19th centuries AD. The Black Death, the most notorious wave of the plague, killed an estimated 25 million Europeans in the mid 14th century— about 1/3 of the continent’s population at the time. It took about 150 years for the population of Western Europe to return its pre-Black Death level.

Centuries later, infection of roughly 1/3 of the global population during the 1918 H1N1 pandemic took 50 million lives — a toll on par with the total casualties of World War II.)
- View Highlight
-

(highlight:: Biological threats do not necessarily have to come from human-affecting diseases. This article outlines several other potential biotechnological risks, including:
• Targeted population threats. The ability to create a bioweapon that targets specific populations or genetic characteristics could result in a GCBR. The 2012 Atlantic article “Hacking the President’s DNA”, written before even the development of CRISPR techniques for simplified gene editing, explores this concern.
• Widespread eradication of food sources. Engineered plant or animal pathogens that can spread rapidly within crops or herds could cause significant and long-lasting food shortages.
• Novel or artificial organisms harmful to existing life. Designing novel or artificial organisms with the potential to cause harm is not currently within the capabilities of biotechnology, but it is an area that requires ongoing study and close attention to biosafety.)
- View Highlight
-

Personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks and respirators, creates a physical barrier between the wearer and pathogens. PPE has the potential to be an effective and pathogen-agnostic barrier against pandemics, but current designs leave much to be desired. In general, current designs are difficult to use properly, not widely accessible enough, don’t fit everyone, and haven’t been improved in decades. These could be improved by mechanical engineers and materials scientists.
- View Highlight
-

Although there is a case for creating a new generation of improved PPE, it seems that the main bottleneck in this area is in generating an economic incentive to improve PPE, provided by changing policy or finding a non-healthcare market. More research is being done in this area (e.g. by Gryphon Scientific and others) so there is likely to be more clarity in this area in the coming year.
- View Highlight
-

(highlight:: Improving indoor air quality can be achieved mechanically through 3 main technologies:
• Improving ventilation
• Improving filtration
• Implementing ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) – also known as germicidal UV (GUV)
Of these three technologies, we think that UVGI is the most promising intervention for engineers (particularly mechanical, materials, and aerospace engineers) to work on. You can explore the other ventilation and filtration in this and this EA Forum post.)
- View Highlight
-

Conventional upper-room UVC uses UV wavelengths of around 254 nm to disinfect the air in large indoor spaces. The UVC light is typically installed in the upper part of a room and directed upwards to kill airborne viral, bacterial, and fungal organisms. This method requires careful placement of the UVC emitters to prevent direct or reflected exposure to humans, as it can cause skin and eye damage. This technology was demonstrated in 1935 but still hasn’t been universally implemented, especially in LMICs. It is mainly constrained by the lack of skilled technicians available to install it properly, especially in resource-constrained countries. Read more on the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention website, and one engineer’s experience and observations of the HVAC industry.
- View Highlight
-

Far-UVC uses UV wavelengths between 207 and 222 nm in doses of 100 mJ/cm2 that have been proven effective at killing viruses and bacteria while being safe for human exposure. It is still an emerging technology and currently only used by early adopters in small-scale settings to disinfect surfaces and air. Although it is partly market/policy-bottlenecked, there are still many open questions around emitters and system design that lend themselves to engineering expertise. Organisations such as SecureBio and Rethink Priorities are looking into this area.
- View Highlight
-