Corning Developing Glass Resistant to Germs, Sun Glare

The maker of Gorilla Glass — the really tough material used on a lot of phone and tablet screens — is developing glass technology that is anti-reflective and anti-microbial.

In June, Corning senior vice-president and operations chief of staff Jeffrey Evenson spoke at the MIT Technology Review Mobile Summit 2013, where he revealed the innovations that they're working on.

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"Corning is working to invent a cover glass that can kill both drug-resistant bacteria and drug-resistant viruses," Evenson said on stage. He added that Corning started working on anti-microbial technology for the healthcare industry, but then realized the market for this type of glass is larger.

The image, below, shows Corning's demo of fluorescent-tagged E. coli bacteria on regular glass versus the company's special glass, which allegedly kills the germs over time.

Germ-fighting screens would be good news for any consumer, considering Mashable recently reported that cellphones have more germs than a toilet seat, kitchen counter, a pet's food dish, checkout screen and doorknob.

Evenson said Corning is also developing anti-reflective glass to battle screen-glare we experience when using devices outside. The hole in this demo image shown on stage is actually Corning's anti-reflective technology. No other details were provided about how these technologies actually work.

"It's going to make sunlight reading much, much easier," Evenson said.