If you do much traveling abroad or into the wilderness, you’re likely to be faced with water supplies that aren’t safe to drink. Picking up a “bug” from contaminated water can be an unpleasant if not completely debilitating experience. Iodine treatments for water take time and aren’t effective against Cryptosporidium. Boiling also takes time and burns up a lot of fuel. Water purification filters may not be effective in removing the small viruses. Ultraviolet light is a high-tech approach to safe drinking water and is often used in municipal water-treatment facilities. The SteriPEN is a portable UV microbiological water treatment system. In use, it looks like a swizzle stick on steroids. The business end is a clear tube that emits a bright germicidal UV light when immersed in water. Treating a liter of water takes only 90 seconds.

The UV light apparently wreaks havoc with the DNA of microorganisms and, according to independent research papers available through the SteriPEN website, renders them “inactive.” Whether that means the little critters are dead, stunned, spayed or neutered isn’t quite clear, but they won’t make you sick