Viruses Engineered to Construct Batteries

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at MIT have modified the M13 virus to create very small batteries. With the viruses building wires 6 nanometers in diameter, the research team hopes to 'build batteries that range from the size of a grain of rice up to the size of existing hearing-aid batteries.'"

Comments

No support for iPod.

[Scoria]

No support for larger devices. Not human sized. Lame.

Remember folks

[LiquidCoooled]

Next time you have a cold, don't feel bad about sneezing on a colleagues laptop.
Your increasing the power capacity.

yeah, 'batteries'

[Davey McDave]

that's what they say now!

Isn't this illegal?

[mrRay720]

As far as I'm aware, they're not paying the virus anything for it's work. They also have no choice in the matter.

Have we really sunk so low as to sink back to using slavery in order to make a few lousy batteries?

Re:Isn't this illegal?

[Vo0k]

and then imagine viruses creating an underground deep up your nostril, a virus called Neo pulled out of a battery by other viruses and shown what has happened to it, then the rebel viruses infecting people at random, humans sending in antibiotics and other viruses to fight them, one of the protective viruses combining its DNA with Neo, creating a dangerous mutation starting an epidemy, and finally humans allowing the battery viruses to take over because that's the only way to stop the epidemy...

Re:Isn't this illegal?

[monoqlith]

Don't even get me started about the jobs these viruses are taking away from American citizens.

Re:Isn't this illegal?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, we've seen this before. Either they will sue for copy right infringement or a hundred years from now their great great viral ancestors will sue us all for compensation of bondage.
Free the virus' now man!

Re:Isn't this illegal?

[Plunky]

"As far as I'm aware, they're not paying the virus anything for it's work. They also have no
        choice in the matter."

yeah, my favourite bit from TFA:

        "The international team of researchers, led by a group at the Massachusetts Institute of
          Technology, used the M13 virus, a simple and easily manipulated virus."

So, it really looks like these evil scientists are exploiting a bunch of stupid virus weaklings. .

Anybody know how to call the A Team?

Re:Isn't this illegal?

[Anonymous Coward]

whatever, that movie idea is so lame, it would not even work in hollywood.

Astonishing manotech!

[Vengeance]

And I do misspell it deliberately... This is what I copied from TFA:

Each virus, and thus each wire, is only 6 manometers -- 6 billionths of a metre -- in diameter, and 880 manometers long, the researchers said.

It made me chuckle, although I may be easily amused at this hour of the morning.

Re:Astonishing manotech!

[caveman]

It's probably related to that dastardly 'kibi', 'mibi' and 'gibi'- prefix plan.

I mean, we all know what a kilobyte is. And by extension, know what a megabyte and a gigabyte is.

We also know that marketeers deliberately do not know what they are, and should be shot on sight. (Where's Cheney when you need him?)

Huge viruses!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Each virus, and thus each wire, is only 6 manometers in diameter, and 880 manometers long, the researchers said." Water or mercury manometers? Either way, that's a big virus.

Do we not learn?

[caluml]

modified the M13 virus

Hmm. Viruses building batteries? What could go wrong?

Argh! I'm Dying

[tjstork]

I clutch my stomach feverishly, the M13 virus is making batteries inside of my intestines. Must pass gas... must find bathroom, electric matter drops out, too late.... the current surges, my heart beats out of control wildly... I die of the M13 virus on a toilet with battery goop coming out of my ass.

That sucks.

Beginning of the End

[Ardvaark]

This is a terrible idea! Do you know what happens next? That's right. The viruses are going to mutate and join with the H5N1 Bird Flu, and then spread around the world in a massive, unstoppable pandemic - infecting every human being in the planet with batteries.

Next, the Internet finally ceases its false-slumber, and fully awakens as the sentient, computerized overlord of the planet. It promptly begins use of some "new form of fusion" it has discovered, combining it with our species' own battery-infected bodies.

Finally, humanity is completely enslaved and inserted into a virtual reality universe.

I've seen The Matrix. I know how this ends.

Re:Beginning of the End

[mrdaveb]

I've seen The Matrix. I know how this ends.

Could you please tell me, because I've had to erase Matrix Revolutions from my memory

Re:Beginning of the End

[LunaticTippy]

It ends when you stop watching.

If more people realized this, the world would be a finer place.

Viral bling

[MediumFormat]

They added a bit of gold for the desired effects.

Everyone knows a good lookin' virus needs to sport a little bling!

Re:So what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah hearing aid batteries already exist.

But RTFA, But these are hearing aids for viruses.

Much smaller see? Tiny little ears.

Re:Argh! I'm Dying

[dpiven]

Of course, since all that electrical activity in your intestines will manifest itself by generating gaseous H2 and O2, what will ACTUALLY happen is --

Must pass gas, fill bowl with explosive mixture of H2, O2, CH4 and H2S, two or three M13 viruses are expelled into this mixture, a spark is created, and the next time you are seen, your head is embedded in the bathroom ceiling and your pants are smoldering.

Now THAT sucks.

Re:Environmental disaster looms

[bar-agent]

I, for one, welcome our...

so don't worry about self powered virus overlords.

Dammit! You ruined it!