The Lifesaver was developed in response to natural disasters such as 2004s tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. The concept is relatively simple, based upon the fact that the smallest virus is 25 nanometers across, so by using a filter with holes 15 nanometers across, all nasties can be trapped without the need for chemicals. The term nasties is actually quite an understatement. Lifesaver can filter out bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and all other microbiological waterborne pathogens. And in the real world, of course, the bottle was much harder to realize than weve described it. The bottle is the worlds first ultra filtration water bottle, and the inventor put all of his life savings into developing it.

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But it was this level of development effort that has brought about a product that is exceptionally easy to use. Fill it with water by unscrewing the base and dipping it in the nearest puddle or stream, screw the base back and use the pump to force the water through to a teat at the other end. The clean water can then be drunk directly or poured into a separate container for storage. These simple instructions make it suitable for use by children, and in developing countries.

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The unit uses replaceable filters, which can treat about 4000 liters of water five and a half years of usage if you drank 2 liters every day. The filter is speedy, too - 750ml of water can be prepared in just under a minute. And users can rest safe in the knowledge theyre getting maximum life out of the product without poisoning themselves, as the unit has a unique feature to shut itself off when the cartridge has expired.

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Costing £230 ($460), the Lifesaver isnt exactly cheap, but it is a world first, and were sure the price reflects the genuinely innovative R&D that went into its development. Not only was it featured at Well-tech, it won Best Technological Development for Future Soldier System Enhancement at Soldier Technology 2007.

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Its ironic that a design that can bring world peace can also support world conflict, but heres hoping its used for the former rather than the latter.