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Scientists Implant Biofuel Cells Into Rats
RedmondChris writes "A team of scientists from Joseph Fourier University in France have successfully implanted biofuel cells into rats, generating 6.5 microwatts by harnessing the power of glucose. From the article: 'The device uses enzymes to harvest energy from glucose and oxygen found naturally in the body. Past attempts at using such a device in animals have failed because the enzymes have required acidic conditions or were inhibited by charged particles in the fluid surrounding cells. But Philippe Cinquin and his team from Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, overcame these obstacles by confining selected enzymes inside graphite discs that were placed into dialysis bags. Glucose and oxygen flowed into the device, but enzymes stayed in place and catalyzed the oxidation of glucose to generate electrical energy.'"
... Welcome our new cyborg rat overlords!
http://CryoLANparty.com/ A lan I'm staff on!
Except The Matrix is a The Maze full of rats.
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
I guess its only a matter of time before we have big towers full of humans in glowy red fluid which generate electricity. And hovercrafts, lots of hovercrafts.
If the carbon tax passes, do we tax it based on the amount of carbon in the glucose, or what???
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Nah, it's because the second and third books were written by a different author.
Marty: Are you telling me that this sucker is nuclear?
Doc Brown: No, no, no, no, no. This sucker's electrical. But I need a rat to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.
Wow, a second metabolism for charging my cellphone/laptop/plug-in hybrid? Sounds great! I wonder approximately how many miles of range you could get out of a big mac? "Yeah I better supersize that sucker, i'm headed out of town this weekend!"
Do this to politicians too, and make them finally serve a useful purpose?
i have to wonder what the effects on the host would be. sounds like a really complex way to generate power rath then just burning the fuel to produce steam etc.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Now it's biofuels. You can take the scientist out of the kid but not the kid out of the scientist ... or something....
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
How soon can we hook them up to The Matrix?
"Past attempts ... have failed because the enzymes have required acidic conditions"
Maybe it would work with fatty acids. We could install permanent liposuction ports to our bellies and recharge our cell phones on the go.
... we can attach the lasers to their heads.
Bitter and proud of it.
I've got nothing.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
After reading TFA, I was left wondering if this technique could be used to generate enough power to eliminate or reduce the need to replace pacemaker batteries.
Anyone consider the possibility of a device that not only produces energy from the body, but also uses up glucose? A device that conceivably could both help eat up Glucose and POWER a MONITOR to help see how the diabetic is doing??
I happen to be a highly insulin-resistant Type 2, and this was the first thing I thought of when I read this.
AMMalena (www.Malena.net) "The avalanche has already begun. It is too late for the pebbles to vote." (Kosh, B5)
...at least according to the anime.
I, for one, welcome our new Pokémon overlords!
Customer: Yes, I would like the biofuel cell package installed.
Store Rep: No problem... how much were you looking for?
Customer: I got one of those new holographic iGotta2HavIt's and about 15 pounds to lose....
Store Rep: You want the BF2000.... now of course you will also need the battery pack installed which is this 12 inch long unit we shove...
Customer: Does that come in black?
Store Rep: Lot's of people ask that... yes we do.
"That's a really nice smart phone, man! But doesn't a screen that size really suck power"
"Well, yeah, a bit, but it comes with a 20 rat-power charger. Fifteen minutes in the cage and it's good to go."
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Evil?
So we have gone now from putting a Tiger in your tank to putting Rats in your tank ? Whatever next ? Snakes on a plane ?
if you have sugar in your blood, then cancer will leach it down and then generate it's anti-host viral bodies to subdue the host immune system while it enters in phase with the flesh to lower the PH of the surrounding environment where the leaching parasitism begins.
A team of scientists from Joseph Fourier University in France
So, if these rats mutate into something horrible... would we call it a fourier transformation?
So I only need (3200 watts x 1,000,000uW) / 6.5uW = 492,307,693 rats to power my home!
neorush
Remember: You will not be able to change the batteries on your iRat. There are no serviceable parts inside.
We'll be getting more of this magical product to market, as soon as Steve finishes playing his iPipe.
If your kids go missing, don't worry, Think Furry (TM)
--
Toro
rats undergo a series of scientific experiments through the ages. They'll be the first to get neural implants that highly increase cognitive function. They'll be the first to connect to the internet directly through the brain. Aliens might assume they are more intelligent than us on first glance. Sitting around reproducing, reaping the rewards of science while humans do all the gruntwork...
They have been planning this from the beginning.
Combined with a form of fusion the machines had found all the energy they would ever need
Lets use these rats instead. Crispin Glover can be the villain.
Anyone consider the possibility of a device that not only produces energy from the body, but also uses up glucose? A device that conceivably could both help eat up Glucose and POWER a MONITOR to help see how the diabetic is doing??
Forget monitor, just a bio-fueled sensor that beams readings to an external display device (like your BlueTooth-enabled cellphone?). But: I think you need a good reason to implant any foreign object into the body. I can appreciate the urge if you're a diabetic that would benefit from regular blood-sugar monitoring. But if you're going to implant a sensor for that, why not a sensor that measures a much larger set of interesting blood levels? And at that point, it could be interesting for anyone that wants to know how his/her own body is doing, cold-hard-measurements wise.
Imagine a sort of miniturized chemistry-lab-on-a-chip (I'm guessing there are already some suitable examples in existence) that's inserted in a strategic location. To signal you things like: "now would be a good time to eat a potassium-rich food item", "you're just within the legal limit on your blood alcohol", etc. etc. etc. besides watch your glucose level. If application for diabetics drives this forward: good for you.
Yeah, but how about the quality of the cell?
replacement laptop battery
Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a... battery?
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
can we loose weight from this?
Or a "cure" for Diabetes 1 while powering your iPod like device etc..? If you could relieve the bloodstream of excess glucose in diabetics(I) w/o supplementing insulin(or much less), that's green energy, right? Not trying to be cold hearted; but -any- energy conversion that helps will be good sooner that later...
Hopefully soon! NYC would be a good place to start.
If one rat generates 6.5 microwatts, this current computer requires 650 watt psu, that is ~100 million rats to power my computer without a display...give or take other factors not-considered. Additionally, a single rat consumes lets say hypothetically 200 calories a day (I couldn't find a real number). That means I would need 20 billion calories to power my computer for a day off rats. If the average nuclear power plant produces roughly 1000 MW, and if that energy could be converted to calories to feed rats, that means that a nuclear power plant could only feed enough rats to power 85,000 machines.
That retarded example above, even if the efficiencies were improved and the calories needed per rat were reduced, tells me that that this is not a very efficient way to generate power. I'll stick to other methods for now...
Disclaimer: Yes this is bad science, yes this is bad math, yes sig figs were ignored, yes technology can improve into the future, yes my sources are Google search results, rabble rabble rabble...
We should start a new Slashdot and return control to the geeks. It actually wouldn't be that hard to get some users to
Great. Now future cars are going to be sold as having x rat-power, instead of x horse-power...
The urgent is done, the impossible is on the way, for miracles expect a small delay.
bellybutton.
definitively, the bellybutton
(there was a pun there, but i forgot what it was)
That the end of the hamster wheel as we know it.
Pity of all the effort, science and passion others put into it... So long to you, deep and hamster-wheel inspired phylosophy of life...
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Ahh I see after reading through the thread a 4th time that you may be right. When I read the ggp, I read he was going through his pockets looking for some candy to keep the device one. But if he was going through hit pockets looking to turn on other devices to use up excess glucose, then that indeed would be hyperglycemia. My apologies.
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
Dan "sheesh John you are a pig today, slow down" John "been a busy day, had to recharge my laptop and mobile phone of my Persocharger so now I am starving" Dan " heard Rachael got booked into a hospital because her glucose levels crashed when she forgot to take a mains cable on holiday for her vibrator" Both laugh
scientists from Joseph Fourier University in France have successfully implant biofuel cells into rats
Son, I'm disappoint.
Aachi and Ssipak, here we come. Do you want your Juicy Bar? Then you know what to do.
"Remember when I said I would never lie? Well, that was the first time."
Pinky: "Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?" The Brain: "The same thing we do every night, Pinky—try to take over the world! I finally have the power to do it "
as it is eaten so it shall pass
Figure out a way to build a device the releases the hormones and enzymes needed to trigger lipolysis into the blood stream and then burn the free fatty acids to make energy. The benefits would be immediate.
Of course I'm not certain I could deal with a world full of lean and mean techno-geeks :-)
The Matrix is comming true! Now our machine overlords can make batteries out of humans!
History is so yesterday!
So isteve now has to patent a new technology for his ithing to fight the neverending battery problems. whenever you need to use you ipad you just plug a calble in your.. yeah. user experience.
for the 15.4 million rats in my basement. I can use them to power a 100 W light bulb.
-- Fugacity: Confusing chemists since 1908
To signal you things like: "now would be a good time to eat a potassium-rich food item", "you're just within the legal limit on your blood alcohol", etc. etc. etc. besides watch your glucose level. If application for diabetics drives this forward: good for you.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
This could be very good news for New York City
Gas-powered rats? What's next, turbochargers? How much ratpower does it take to power one of those servers, anyway?
So I could power my TV with only 12.000 rats? Groovy!
For them you need to do a hybrid reclamation of all the hot air they spew. A thermal wind farm is what you're looking for.