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Twitter Snapshot: Inventors of Session 7

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A thread runs through this session, captured best here:

@Thandelike When inventors “get mad” about the world’s disasters they get to work. Love that.

Economist Paul Romer unveils a plan for Charter Cities — brand-new places where the economic rules are reset. It could create opportunity for people now trapped in badly managed regimes (the people Paul Collier calls the bottom billion).

@lucadebiase: Paul Romer: building charter cities with the right rules that help sustainable development where people can opt-in

@citizenrobert Paul Romer’s Charter Cities reminiscent of New Lanark Mills

@citizenrobert Guantanamo can be the new Hong Kong – Romer

@tedtochina Paul Romer has a talk at the Long Now Foundation on the same topic some months ago: http://bit.ly/3SG4qq

Next, TEDster Marc Koska talks about the idea that got him mad: the plague of re-used syringes in poor regions. He plays undercover footage that shows a busy clinic where used syringes are dropped into a tray — and then picked right up again to inject another person.

@ruthannharnisch: People trust doctors, injections so valuable, people wiiling to risk the dirty re-used syringe.

@ruthannharnisch: People think u can stop spread of syringe-borne HIV by lighting a match and burning the spot where needle pierced skin.

@pangy_twit: New syringe whose plunger breaks after use to stop infection from reuse. 64% injections in India unsafe.

@CosmoCat: Marc Koska showing his invention: The one-use syringe! When you try to reuse it, it breaks!! Thank you Mark!

Water engineer Michael Pritchard got mad about the problem of dirty water in developing countries. So what did he do? Invent a portable device that turns the filthiest sludge into sterile drinking water. His short, peppy demo drew groans of horror from the audience as he stirred up a disgusting brew of dirty water:

@ruthannharnisch: Got water from River Thames, brought pond water (makes cameraman smell the stench), pours sewage runoff into river water. Ugh

@Mach3te: Pritchard demos bottle on stage: Dumps sewage, rabbit waste into tank, filters w/ bottle, produces clean, sterile water. Drinks it!

@pangy_twit: Michael Pritchard: new water bottle to filter 25mn (Polio virus is 50mn) at source costs just $0.05. World cost $20bn. UK spend $12bn

@jobsworth: Michael Pritchard keeps costs low by designing to process water at the point of use. A principle we should use in many other cases. #TED

@ruthannharnisch: People can make their own sterile drinking water and stay put to rebuild lives instead of bcmng refugees seeking water.

@ruthannharnisch: @tedchris tastes the water that comes from the LifeSaver bottle. If anything happens to him, we will hunt Pritchard down like a dog.

Photo: Paul Romer at TEDGlobal 2009, Session 7: “Radical development,” July 23, 2009, in Oxford, UK. Credit: TED / James Duncan Davidson