Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
Welcome to the
Cleanzine - the original Cleaning & Hygiene industry e-news
Read by industry professionals in 148 countries worldwide!
Coming up to Christmas we editors receive lots of information about predicted trends for the coming year and a press release that arrived today, which perhaps I shouldn't have looked at (as it was unlikely to be anything to do with cleaning) was headed up: 'IBM reveals five innovations that will change our lives within five years'.
The first paragraph read: 'Breakthroughs will mark the era of cognitive systems when computers will, in their own way, see, smell, touch, taste and hear'... At first I thought the idea was ridiculous but then I recalled how far computers have come in the past five years, so perhaps it wasn't as daft as it sounded, so I read on.
IBM scientists are already sensing environmental conditions and gases to preserve works of art. And apparently this innovation is beginning to be applied to tackle clinical hygiene - one of the biggest challenges in healthcare today. Take for example, antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as MRSA, which is commonly found on the skin and can be easily transmitted wherever people are in close contact. We are well aware that one way of fighting MRSA exposure in healthcare institutions is by ensuring staff follow clinical hygiene guidelines but for various reasons these guidelines are often ignored.
IBM believes that in the next five years, technology will 'smell' surfaces for disinfectants to determine whether rooms have been sanitised. Using novel wireless 'mesh' networks, data on various chemicals will be gathered and measured by sensors, and continuously learn and adapt to new smells over time. And in urban environments, this technology will be used to monitor issues with refuge, sanitation and pollution - helping city agencies spot potential problems before they get out of hand.
It's quite a thought, isn't it?
This is our final broadcast of 2012 (or our final broadcast ever if those that believe the world will end tomorrow turn out to be right!) We reckon we're still going to be around though and whether you celebrate Christmas or not, we wish you peace, good health, joy and goodwill to all men (and women) until our next broadcast onThursday, 10th January. Do have a very happy start to 2013 and keep an eye on our website for breaking news.
Please get in touch either by emailing me or posting a comment on our Facebook page. www.facebook.com/Cleanzine
Yours,
20th December 2012