Slices of wood can filter bacteria and microplastics from water

Slices of wood can act as water filters that remove bacteria and microplastics with more than 99 per cent efficiency, potentially offering a cheap way to protect people from water-borne illnesses.

Previous research has investigated more complex methods to make wooden filters involving complex chemical treatments, but these would be impractical in lower-income countries where water-borne illnesses cause hundreds of thousands of deaths a year, say Antoni Sánchez-Ferrer and Jenifer Guerrero Parra at the Technical University of Munich, Germany.