The filter, crafted with common hardware store supplies costing $60, outperformed pricey off-the-shelf air filters in tests performed at an advanced EPA chamber that simulates real-world conditions, scientists said. It's also simple to put together. In fact, a group of Connecticut fifth-graders built one of the filter cubes used by the EPA in its testing.
The schoolkids' DIY air purifier -- decorated as their school's owl mascot and named “Owl Force One” -- performed just as well as similar boxes built by EPA scientists.“That is pretty impressive, considering the DIY low-cost nature of this technology,” said Katherine Ratliff, a physical scientist with the EPA's Office of Research and Development. “They performed better than a lot of the more expensive commercially available technologies that we've tested, in terms of their infectious aerosol removal.” The DIY air purifier is called a Corsi-Rosenthal Bo