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MIT Secretly Built Mega-Efficient Nano Batteries
mattnyc99 writes "There was plenty of chatter last week about an MIT announcement that researcher Angela Belcher had developed a way to create virus-based nanoscale batteries to power mini gadgets of the future. In a fascinating followup at Popular Mechanics, Belcher now says that her unpublished work includes full-scale models of the batteries themselves, and that they could power everything from cars and laptops to medical devices and wearable armor. Quoting: 'We haven't ruled out cars. That's a lot of amplification. But right now the thing is trying to make the best material possible, and if we get a really great material, then we have to think about how do you scale it.'"
And Obama thinks it will take 10 whole years!
I'm not sick. Just recharging my battery.
Good thing bacteria can't infect anything...
Of course, now I'll have to worry about my batteries getting a Staph infection:
"Doctor, I need some Vancomycin for my laptop."
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Yeah, it would be a miracle if they were even hepto-efficient. Mega-efficient is right out! The best we can hope for is deca-efficient.
and they haven't actually built anything yet, except full scale models (whatever that means).
Creating 1:1 scale battery models is one of my hobbies. I find that tubes from toilet paper rolls work well as a base for models of D cells. Large drinking straws are a good starting point for AAA cells. Old laundry detergent boxes are great when you want to move to more advanced projects like automobile batteries.
Come on. It's not THAT bad. They did do this in secret.
Well, until they went to the press...
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Huh? - You must have missed the death of western manufacturing in the 80's-90's.
Robotic factories, robotic warehouses and Chinese peasants ARE doing all the work! The rest of us are sitting around in office blocks posting to slashdot.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
What's next? Adware Batteries? Free power, only you get to watch adds on your portable tv, or listen to ads on your radio... oh wait... never mind...
WAIT!... Let's call Eveready and Duracell say we are consultants from Symantec, Mcafee or Sophos and we are here to create a strategy to help them win in this market space. A virus based battery... let's push out a pattern for that one boys...
PROFIT!
01110010 01101111 01100010 01101111 01110100 01110011 00100000 01110000 01101111 01110011
01110100 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110011 01101100 01100001 01110011 01101000
01100100 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111
EOF
Slashdot is a poor substitute for Daiquiris, but the combination is a good idea. Cheers!
Blank until
Publish it, get peer reviews and THEN post on Slashdot if reviewers don't tear it apart completely.
it's got electrolytes.
mov ax,4c00h
int 21h
Finally a good use for nanotubes: building full scale models of nano batteries!
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
I've found a box of matches to be a perfect model for laptop batteries.
Re:For the last fucking time...
Oh, good, that means you're gonna shut up about it now?
Modding Trolls +1 inciteful since 1999
Paraphrasing the original:
"Make a product or it never happened"
http://www.dieblinkenlights.com
I see them all the time, and generally they're followed by a few dozen posts complaining about slashvertisements....
your lego battery wouldn't even work in theory.
I thought it was possible to make ANYTHING out of lego.
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Sorry, I'm only a 1336 h4x0r.
You don't get Daiquiris where you work either, huh? Your job must suck as bad as mine. They want to stick us with kegs of Guiness here.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
Brawndo - the Thirst Mutilator - it's got electrolytes!
Gryphoenix
1) What could possibly go wrong?
2) Grow virus, Stir in cobalt oxide and gold, Add electrolyte, Invent cathode, ...,
PROFIT!
3) I for one welcome our new secretly developed, Army-funded, virus-based, electricity producing overlords.
4) But will it run Natalie Portman's vibrator?
Obi-Wan: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were sudden
YOU may be in an office block, but *I* am in my parent's basement, with the rest of /.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
Uh, they did? The article says they wrote a paper about their anodes and electrolytes (I expect the electrolyte isn't such a big deal).
So they made some viruses that are supposed to make little wires. Then they used the viruses to make some little wires. Then they wrote a paper. Then they worked on some more viruses to make some other wires that could be used as the other necessary component of a battery. And they're writing another paper.
That really sounds like pretty much how it's supposed to happen.
I think the poster was using a definition of secrecy along the lines of "not yet in Popular Mechanics." Now where did I park my secret car?
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Some projects require nano legos apparently.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
Apparently you have never observed legos under an electron microscope.
They are MADE of nano-legos.