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Sony Runs Walkman Off Sugar-Based Bio Battery
StonyandCher writes "Sony has created a battery that produces electricity by breaking down sugar. The bio cell, which measures 39 millimeters cubed, delivers 50mW — a world record for such a cell, according to the company. 'In the bio cell sugar-digesting enzymes at the anode extract electrons and hydrogen ions from the glucose. The hydrogen ions pass through a membrane separator to the cathode where they absorb oxygen from the air to produce water as a byproduct. The electrons flow around the circuit outside the device producing the electricity needed to power it.'"
Laptops, cars etc?
One thing that I think would be a problem with "bio"-anything is consistency. What if it gets too hot, too cold, too humid, whatever? Do the biological components start behaving differently? Will the power output stay consistent under extreme vibration, etc?
Someone who follows this field please reply- how are they doing with using these things to run implantable medical devices? Are they on the market, in human testing, in animal testing, in design, still just a glint in a venture capitalist's eye?
I know they're planning to have all sorts of implantable blood-powered sensors that send radio signals out to monitors. So, for one example, a diabetic can have a continuous blood glucose meter implanted in their wrist, which is powered by something like this, and sends wireless signals to a wrist-watch that gives continuous readings of blood glucose, bypassing all the finger-pricking blood tests. And the watch could then store that data and send it to the computer, where they can track it, graph it, correlate it with diet and exercise, recognize trends in the disease, etc. I'm sure there are endless cool potential medical uses. But I've been hearing about this for many years now, and while I'm sure I could Google up how it's going with a few hours of reading, would some knowledgeable Slashdot reader like to just cut to the chase and tell us where things stand?
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
They should try to make a self powered mini bioreactors which consume sugar from blood.
I one day forsee this technology being paired with a highly efficient food processing machine, breaking down foods into their component sugars.
Turning your garbage, old moldy food, etc into your households electricity needs!
Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
I wonder if there's potential for medical uses? Like powering pacemakers or other internal electronics, or burning off excess glucose in type II diabetics, or just burning off glucose for weight control
"There are now more overweight people in the world than people who are undernourished..."m ain1962961.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/03/health/
This model has been disastrously unsuccessful in the past. Exportable cash crops crowd out domestic food production leaving agricultural workers poor and malnourished. The technology sounds like fermentation to me. My car gets forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!
It is cowardly, and a betrayal of whatever it means to be a Jew, to act as a white man
-James Baldwin
I think we have just found our ultracheap solar panels, Sugar Cane!
Ok, but CAN you bring the sugar bags onto the flight? It can be used as a rocket fuel and here; and as an explosive Sugar has a LOT of energy!
I'll just point out that the subsidised food actually drives the poor farmers out of business and reduces the amount of land that is then dedicated to farming within the poorest regions. The really nasty problems start when there's a subsequent drought and the remaining productive land doesn't produce enough food to feed the population. The result is famine, starvation, death and a greater need for aid.
Another problem appears when you have thousands of disaffected unemployed ex farmers just sitting around. Ideal supply of soldiers for anyone who decides they want to rebel against their desperate situation. Which obviously makes everything an order of magnitude worse. It's no coincidence that areas which receive lots of aid are areas which have problems with ongoing conflicts. It's a self reinforcing cycle.
Really, food subsidies are a form of economic warfare which attacks the poorest, most wretched, most defenceless people on the planet...
EU and US farmers are directly the cause of millions of deaths in the 3rd world.
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