Russian scientists may be on to a revolutionary discovery. Their machine, called the Emerald, uses regular tap water and salt. The mixture passes through electrodes that highly charge the molecules, as though they'd been hit by lightning or been passed through a mini-reactor.

The resulting solution is so energy rich, it dissolves all microbes it comes in contact with, in water, on objects and on human skin. It also happens to be odorless, colorless, and completely safe for human consumption.

Researchers said the technique used to control bacteria, viruses, cysts and germs is 200 to 300 times more efficient than any other purification alternative.

Infectious diseases specialist Dr. Gennady Saenko is thrilled with the promise of this new purification technology. "If it is true what we see, and I believe in it, it will be a revolution in disinfection," he says.

If the Emerald proves to be all scientists at the Russian Institute for Medical Engineering claim it is, the applications of the technology are virtually limitless.

In our Saturday night TV news report, we stressed the most immediate use for the Emerald, as a weapon in the war against anthrax and other biological weapons. If a letter is suspected of containing anthrax spores, it could be passed through a dry mist made from the Emerald solution and the letter would be sterilized.

The letter wouldn't even get wet. Anyone exposed to the spores could bathe in the solution and be germ free. Office buildings, public places and homes could easily be sterilized using the aerosol mist, instead of the highly toxic and destructive chemicals used to clean up places exposed to anthrax in the United States last year.

But beyond this most timely use for the Emerald lies the story that may prove even more important.

Already, many Russian hospitals use the machine to sterilize water for serums and cleansing purposes. Researchers in Russia and the U.S. are looking at the invention for its water cleansing potential.

For the military, the Emerald means soldiers in the field could easily sterilize drinking water. Russian scientists are currently testing a portable version of the Emerald slightly bigger than a pen.

In human terms, the Emerald means millions of the world's poorest citizens, who now have no access to potable water and who suffer from all kinds of intestinal diseases such as hepatitis and typhoid as a result, would be able to cleanse the water they do have access to.

The process is cheap. It costs just fractions of a penny to purify a litre of water. Researchers have even been able to take spoiled milk and, by passing it through the Emerald, make it fresh once again. Sounds like science fiction, doesn't it?

For all the promise of the Emerald, you wouldn't know it by looking at the modest lab where each machine is now being made by hand, one at a time. So far, the invention hasn't found a western partner that could mass produce and market what seems to be such an important discovery.

Institute director Boris Leonov says they've got the goods as far as great scientific minds, but "still haven't learned the economic side of our work, and it will take a long time for us to become professional specialists in that area."

Still, Russian scientists are pressing forward with the Emerald, full of hope that the world will soon take notice of their little gem in a big way.