Generally, NO is administered in the hospital, using a gas tank. The treatment is widely available but can cost thousands of dollars. For the preventative NO trial in health-care workers, Berra is collaborating with Warren Zapol, an anesthesiologist at Harvard University, to test a new delivery method. Zapol invented a device that uses iridium and platinum spark plugs to zap oxygen and nitrogen gases in air to form NO. The electric NO device can produce limitless quantities of the gas for pennies. “It’s such a simple way to make NO,” Zapol says. “You don’t need any chemicals, you don’t need anything—you just need air.”
