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Scientists Harvest Nano-Power From Hamsters

Posted by timothy on from the diminishing-returns dept.

Al writes "Researchers at Georgia Tech have come up with the ideal way to test a new peizo-electric device that efficiently harvests power from bio-movement — attaching it to a hamster. The device contains a series of zinc-oxide nanowires mounted on top of a flexible plastic surface. As the plastic bends, the wires generate around a nanowatt of power. The Georgia Tech team, led by Zhong Lin Wang, wanted to show that their device could produce power from irregular movements so they attached it to a tiny hamster jacket. They also tried attaching it to a volunteer's finger. Here's a video of the hamster wearing his piezo-power outfit."

9 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Uh oh... by Jaysyn · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope no one tells Minsc!

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  2. Perhaps a tiny bowler hat too? by niro5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am most intrigued by the idea of hamsters wearing jackets.

    1. Re:Perhaps a tiny bowler hat too? by Cornwallis · · Score: 3, Funny

      I was taught it *takes* almost 1000 hamsters to make a jacket.

  3. Re:Finally by snowraver1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    First you would need about 15 billion hamsters for a low power notebook. Your desktop/monitor would likely take around 400billion hamsters (.4 terahamsters) or assuming an average mass of 100g, 40 million metric tons of hamsters.

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  4. I was expecting a hamster wheel... by Zakabog · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was expecting a hamster wheel being used as a generator and thought "Really? That's something new?"

    This technology seems a lot more useful as long as they can get it to scale up nicely. It'd be nice to be able to charge a cell phone from the clothing you wear.

  5. Re:Finally by mr_mischief · · Score: 4, Funny

    It wouldn't take nearly so many if you just burned the hamsters as fuel, but then you'd be better off to just burn the pellets instead of feeding the hamsters.

  6. think about by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 3, Funny

    Think about how much energy could be harnessed if they just hooked these things up to slashdotters forearms. It's mindboggling!

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  7. No....I don't belive it!! It's not possible. by RetroRichie · · Score: 5, Funny

    The hamster generates more bio-electricity than 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTVs of body heat. Combined with a form of piezo-electricity, the humans have found all the energy they would ever need. There are stores...endless pet stores, were hamsters are no longer born. We are grown. For longest time, I wouldn't belive it...and then I saw the fields with my own eyes. Watch them liquefy the dead, so they could be fed intravenously to the living. And standing there, facing the pure horrifying precision, I came to realize the obviousness of the truth. What is The Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dream world, built to keep us under control in order to change a hamster into THIS.

  8. Re:Hamster by tilandal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sure if you plan on powering your MP3 player or phone by walking in a giant wheel.