How Do Germs Spread on Planes?

More than 3 billion people travel in an airplane each year. Millions of dollars are spent protecting passengers from violence and hijacking, but some threats are simply impossible and infeasible to prescreen—like germs. 17 year-old Raymond Wang, a Canadian youth innovator and one of Canada's Top 20 Under 20, started thinking about these tiny passengers during the Ebola outbreak last year. He came to discover that the current air filtration systems in planes were actually circulating germs and pathogens around the cabin before they even made it to the filter. Using a computer 3d simulator and “throw[ing] in a bunch of physics,” Wang created a replica of the air movement inside a cabin and watched what would happen when a passenger happened to sneeze or cough. His findings? “Pretty disgusting.” So he created his own “Global Inlet Director” which creates personal, purified air space for each passenger. This could effectively stall the spread of diseases and potentially save the airline industry billions of dollars. Hear more about Wang’s research and innovation in his November 2015 TED Talk: [embed]http://www.ted.com/talks/raymond_wang_how_germs_travel_on_planes_and_how_we_can_stop_them[/embed]