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Posted by michael from the meatbots dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "Bringing us one step closer to becoming centrally-controlled meatbots, Japanese scientists have developed a device that produces power from the glucose in human blood. Theoretically, this technology (aka "Dracucell") could produce 100W of power. Of course, it can't produce that much power in practice since your body stupidly wastes glucose in maintaining homeostasis. The scientists propose that this devices could be used to power implanted devices. Now how many of you Slashdotters would it take to power my laptop? I'll buy the cola!"
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  • Some Interesting New Products... (Score:5, Funny)

    by eaglebtc ( 303754 ) * on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:03PM (#6611835)
    This is fantastic stuff! Pretty soon we'll see places like ThinkGeek [thinkgeek.com] selling stuff to boost your glucose levels. I can see the reviews from OverclockedCafe 50 years from now -- "HowTo: Speed up your pacemaker with Glucose!" Plus, with the embedded chips coming our way, we'll probably be tapping our circulatory systems to power in-built PDAs or to watch movies in the palms of our hands on a flexible OLED screen.

    Overclock Your Body NOW! Drink UBER-BLOOD(TM) XP!!

    fp btw.

    • I think the most exciting application will be powering embeded 2.5" 100gb hard drives ;)

    • Re:Some Interesting New Products... (Score:5, Funny)

      by PepsiProgrammer ( 545828 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:10PM (#6611891)
      Wow, using humans as batteries, now where have us well informed geeks heard about something like this before? What a novel idea.

    • Other uses (Score:5, Funny)

      by mao che minh ( 611166 ) * on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:18PM (#6611949) Journal
      You know, some fly-by-night internet "entrepreneur" is going to spin a tale about how this pioneering new technology can help you increase the size of your penis. You watch.
    • Pretty soon we'll see places like ThinkGeek [thinkgeek.com] selling stuff to boost your glucose levels.

      Forget that, man. Do you realize this means I can eat ALL the potato salad I can fit in my stomach. And potato chips and popcorn and pretty much anything starchy. For those of us walking dangerously close to the diabetes line this thing could be great! I could power my laptop AND lose weight at the same time. I can just see the Infomercials now. Of course, we'll need Dan Akroyd to do the voiceover....

  • Two cows (Score:5, Funny)

    by mao che minh ( 611166 ) * on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:04PM (#6611839) Journal
    Leave it to the Japanese to find a way to create usefulness and efficiency out of anything.

    Two cows [lotsofjokes.com]:

    JAPANESE CORPORATION
    You have two cows.
    You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowikimon and market them worldwide.

    • Re:Two cows (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:11PM (#6611901)
      AMERICAN CORPORATION
      You have two cows.
      You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the band, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public buys your bull.

    • Re:Two cows (Score:5, Interesting)

      by BarryHaworth ( 536145 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @11:58PM (#6612825) Homepage
      More to the point, cows (and other animals) will most likely be the first widespread application of this technology. My cat already has an ID chip, but that is completely passive. With a blood battery behind it, I could add a GPS tracker and transmitter, thereby answering the question: what *does* that cat get up to during the day?

      With cows or other large animals, larger devices with more power would be possible. Perhaps a device to summon the cows for round up, or give them a shock if they stray out of bounds.

      I am a Statistician. One false move and you are a Statistic

  • Riding the bus gets more dangerous... (Score:5, Funny)

    by BrynM ( 217883 ) * on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:05PM (#6611843) Homepage Journal
    Headphones on, he sits at the back of the bus. His mind filled with the music he loves as the tape slowly comes to an unexpected halt:

    "'Cause I'm as freeee aaaaasssssss aaaaaaaaaa biiiiiiirrrrrrrrr nnnnnn." -Klick!

    Callously, he eyeballs the passanger next to him. He thinks, "Kinda short, but chubby... About 11 Pints."

  • The Matrix (Score:2, Funny)

    by amerinese ( 685318 )
    has you.

  • Glucose = sugar! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by acomj ( 20611 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:05PM (#6611849) Homepage
    This actually is kinda neat. If it can run on glucose it probably can run on fructose/sucrose/lactose and a lot of other sugars..

    This of course brings back bad memories of Biology and the "Citric acid Cycle" and ATP..

    • Re:Glucose = sugar! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by ragingmime ( 636249 )
      ...and it probably could be used on things other than blood, right? Does that mean that you could actually run a laptop on a can of cola? In all seriousness, if the technology gets more efficient (by a lot) this might have some interesting implications for cheap fuel cells.

      • Re:Glucose = sugar! (Score:3, Interesting)

        by rew ( 6140 )
        I read the article but I don't know what power levels they achieved: "only very low power levels".

        But current implants are designed to last a couple of years on the provided batteries. So they can't use very much power.

        My 1980 watch used 0.35 microwatts. The battery lasted around a year. I expect implants to use around that level of power (0.5 to 2 times the power, with a 1x to 4x larger battery).... So if the device can be made to provide around that level of power, an implant might not require the opera

    • Re:Glucose = sugar! (Score:5, Informative)

      by BrainInAJar ( 584756 ) on Tuesday August 05, 2003 @12:07AM (#6612876)
      "If it can run on glucose it probably can run on fructose/sucrose/lactose "

      Probably not. Your body doesn't burn fructose specifically, it converts it to glucose first. Sucrose is a fructose molecule + a glucose molecule, so it'd have to be broken apart and the fructose converted. Your body does this all automatically, but then the point is moot, since it can (technically) run off starch as well, starch just being a polysacharide of glucose.

      So in your body = okay, dumping the nanomachines into a vat of fructose wouldn't work.

  • Rusty Glucose (Score:5, Insightful)

    by inertia187 ( 156602 ) * on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:06PM (#6611850) Homepage Journal
    Dr Kazuo Eda, heading the research, said: "It is like the metabolism of food. Human bodies can process glucose and obtain energy. When glucose is oxidised, electrons can be obtained."

    IANAB (I am not a biologist), but if the process our bodies use is different from how this devices creates electricity, isn't there a different waste product? Or can our bodies still use rusty glucose? Or is oxidized glucose harmless waste?

    I guess we just need to combine this technology with a form of fusion, and we're really in for it. Now drink your power aid.

    Mirror [martin-studio.com]

    • Re:Rusty Glucose (Score:5, Interesting)

      by groove10 ( 266295 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:17PM (#6611940) Homepage
      I'm not a biochemist either, but this website [rpi.edu] shows the basic Glycolysis reactions and their output.

      Basically, in this process Glucose + ATP is broken down into glucose-6-phosphate + ADP, giving off a net reaction of energy.

      Without knowing the the reactions in the process that Dr. Eda et. al. have developed, I can only guess that the oxidized glucose will combine with the some other ions (such as a phosphate) and become waste products just liek any other in the body. I'm not really sure what happens to the glucose-6-phosphatea after Glycolysis.

      • Re:Rusty Glucose (Score:3, Funny)

        by kfg ( 145172 )
        It's called "piss."

        You can buy it in concentrated powder form at your local garden store, or apply it to your plants directly.

        KFG

      • Re:Rusty Glucose (Score:5, Informative)

        by The_Spud ( 632894 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @10:01PM (#6612228)
        Actually the reaction you describe is not very efficient and only gives a net gain of 2 ATP ( adenosine tri phosphate)per glucose molecule which the bodies tissues use for energy.

        Glucose + 2 ADP + 2 NAD+ + 2 Pi -----> 2 Pyruvate + 2 ATP + 2 NADH + 2 H+

        Most of the bodies energy is generated by the Krebs ( Citric Acid ) cycle in the mitochondria which generates much more ATP. The glucose-6-phosphate gets converted to pyruvate and enters the krebs cycle. show here [ucsd.edu] This give a net gain of 30 moles atp per 2 moles of pyruvate.

        Incidently if you have sugar by products in your urine you should see your doc as you might have diabetes.

    • Re:Rusty Glucose (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      if the process our bodies use is different from how this devices creates electricity, isn't there a different waste product?

      Oh great, so will I need to clean up computer poop all over the house now?
    • I remember in the '80s that the idea of running blood over dissimilar metals to produce electricity came up as an idea to power electronic devices. The problem was, the dissimilar metals were things like Aluminum and Cadmium. These are not metals you would want in your body if you could help it. I wonder what new toxins this invention would introduce in the body.

      Of course, a possible application could be using to power RF tags for endangered species - of course if there is an issue on the toxicity of th

    • Re:Rusty Glucose (Score:5, Informative)

      by caouchouc ( 652238 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @10:13PM (#6612282)
      Your body produces the bulk of its energy by converting glucose to ATP by a process known as chemiosmosis [winterwren.com] (electron transport). It takes advantage of the loosly-bound electrons in glucose, and at one point during the reaction the electrons flow along the inner membranes of your cells' mitochondria.

      The process the researchers have come up with probably uses the same effect to produce a current. The waste product? Urine. The same thing you'd produce if you metabolized the glucose yourself.

      • How about the opposite? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by gad_zuki! ( 70830 ) * on Tuesday August 05, 2003 @12:01AM (#6612849)
        >The process the researchers have come up with probably uses the same effect to produce a current.

        I wonder if this research can lead into the electricity in -> ATP/Glucose out.

        People powering PDAs with a little blood or spit is cute, people running on electricity no farms, no food, no obesity, etc would be revolutionary.

    • Re:Rusty Glucose (Score:5, Funny)

      by WolfWithoutAClause ( 162946 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @11:34PM (#6612698) Homepage
      Oxidation? Yes, actually really nasty stuff is produced:

      2 C2H6O6 + O2 -> 4CO2 + 6H2O

      That CO2 could suffocate you, and H2O is harmful by inhalation and is found in all known cancers!

  • In other news.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by dracken ( 453199 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:06PM (#6611860) Homepage
    ...a bunch of scientists made a realistic virtual world which could be powered by humans hooked on to devices that could produce electricity from the human body. And in other news....agents are looking for a couple of anarchists called morpheus and neo.

    ducks :P

  • some interesting applications (Score:5, Funny)

    by www.sorehands.com ( 142825 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:07PM (#6611866) Homepage
    • Self powered diabetes control systems. You can use the excess glucose into power, and when the level is too low, it can release a reserve of glucose.
    • Weight loss implants. Eat all the chocolate you like, and then use it to start your car.

  • Newest diet fad? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by groove10 ( 266295 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:08PM (#6611869) Homepage
    Want to burn calories while sitting in front of your computer at work? How about shedding those extra pounds while powering your TV at the same time?

    This way people will get an increased metabolism (since some of your sugars are being converted into energy for non-local entities), and they will be able to reduce the number of batteries and other power sources needed.

    Just wait till the come out with some nano-bots that run off this process and will scrub the plaque off your arterial walls. That would be the killer app.

    • This is definitely not an area where anyone would want a killer app!


      Well, now that I think about it, just not for oneself... >:]

      --------
      If I can own an idea, does that mean I can legally claim some portion of your soul once I tell you that idea? Or even if you just come up with it on your own? Heck, who needs contracts in blood... (except the nanobots now)

    • Re:Newest diet fad? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Tuesday August 05, 2003 @12:16AM (#6612920)
      Want to burn calories while sitting in front of your computer at work? How about shedding those extra pounds while powering your TV at the same time?

      This way people will get an increased metabolism (since some of your sugars are being converted into energy for non-local entities), and they will be able to reduce the number of batteries and other power sources needed.

      Just wait till the come out with some nano-bots that run off this process and will scrub the plaque off your arterial walls. That would be the killer app.

      This could be both a good thing and a bad thing. Firstly it will obviously save lives due to the pure fact of weight loss but will it replace exercise? I've done a lot of running this summer, partially it was to lose about 15 pounds I put on over classes. Now even with those extra 15 pounds I was not what anybody would classify as fat but I was out of shape and found the extra weight was slowing me down. Either way I haven't lost all that extra weight but I don't really care as I have really improved my conditioning (though not to the level of the previous summer when I did a fair amount of running as well). Either way my concern is that this will take away these peoples major stimulus for exercise by making them feel healthy with their smaller cross-section when they are in just as bad shape as before except for a reduced risk of heart disease and maybe fewer joint problems. Also if you consider anorexics(sp?!?) already what will happen when they can do it much more easily and conveniently with one of these devices/technologies I can see this as a huge problem when people run their bodies energy supplies into the ground with the touch of a dial in the pursuit of a pencil thin waist and end up starving to death while on a seemingly healthy diet.

  • stupid body (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:08PM (#6611873)
    your body stupidly wastes glucose in maintaining homeostasis

    My homo-status is NONE of your business.

  • Think about it. Burning extra glucose means it cannot be stored as fat or what not.

    Kinda also revives the coppertop thingy from the matrix though...

    What they really need is an implant that looks like a wall outlet so I can plug my discman into it :-)

    Tom
  • So, does that put a new meaning on "Making your blood boil?" :P

  • I want the opposite (Score:5, Funny)

    by spun ( 1352 ) <loverevolutionary&yahoo,com> on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:09PM (#6611888) Journal
    Give me an implant that uses electricity to create glucose, so that I can plug myself into the wall and not have to stop to eat during those long coding sessions.

  • Hey you Porky! (Score:5, Funny)

    by niko9 ( 315647 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:10PM (#6611895)
    Would the morbidly obese qualify for US Department of Energy rebates?
  • With AI becoming more intelligent, this presents some serious consequences as AI might have another power source. Combine the two, will we have a race of vampire-like androids? If we do:

    I, for one, welcome our new blood-sucking masters.

  • Raising my blood sugar is as simple as a 25 cent cola.

    Being able to make my own power in times of trouble would be priceless.

    (Especially considering how often the power can suddenly go out where I live.)
  • I imagine most readers will want to make some sort of "Matrix" reference (as the article itself does), but this makes me think of Davy Crockett's Vampire Robot Slaves from Matt Crocco's and Liam Lynch's (the Sifl and Olly [sifl-n-olly.com] guys) album "History of America?"

    (Voice of Davy)
    I'm starting to get scared because these
    robots are aware
    that I'm running out of food, blood's
    a bubbling crude
    I'm hoping in the next town there will be
    blood to be found
    If I don't keep them pleased they'll be
    feeding off me

    (voic

  • Ah, so this is how the Matrix used us as energizer batteries.

  • Actual application... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FingerDemon ( 638040 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:18PM (#6611950) Journal
    Well, all the Matrix jokes aside, this does have some potentially excellent applications. I remember the first time I heard someone talking about pacemakers and how the batteries in them wear out. I asked the obvious question, "How do they replace them?"

    It involves surgery. YIKES! Granted, it is probably minor surgery compared to getting the thing put in there to begin with, but knowing it was powered by your own blood would surely be a welcome change to these folks.

    I mean if you think replacing the battery on your motherboard is a pain, think of doing it on an outpatient basis.
    • "Pacemakers ... How do they replace them?" ... It involves surgery ..."

      Pacemakers are now recharged by induction, without surgery ... anyway that's what I've heard.

      • I don't think so. A relative of mine has just had a pacemaker fitted, and replacement of the device is required every time the Li battery goes flat. You couldn't use induction to charge a pacemaker, because the electronics don't react well to strong magnetic fields, which is a problem if those same electronics have the job of making sure your heart beats at the correct rate (or at all).

        Induction is, however, used to communicate with and program the device, since the fields are weak enough not to cause a pr

  • Ahhh, Gordon! (Score:5, Funny)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) * on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:19PM (#6611961) Homepage Journal
    "Ahhh, Gordon, good to see you. We've found a way to keep your HEV charged, but you'll find you need the cola machines more."

  • Pacemakers (Score:3, Interesting)

    by niko9 ( 315647 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:23PM (#6611986)
    Could be used as a source of energy for implantable pacemakers and defibrillators, with the battery as a backup.

  • ... will get beaten with a large, heavy and blunt object and be sentenced to insanity by joining AOL chatrooms with the nickname "-=lilgrrl13=-".

    Thank you for your attention, carry on minions!

  • Now how many of you Slashdotters would it take to power my laptop?

    Hell, I would use it just to help burn calories and loose weight.

  • Non article readers should note that the systems was developed by Panasonic Nanotech Research Lab, for the purpose of powering bloodborne nanomachines.

  • A bold step forward for Human Case Modding (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Cordath ( 581672 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:26PM (#6612008)
    There are those who mod thier cases and those who mod their bodies... but the lines are blurring. Soon people will be buying LED's and Dracucells to implant under their skin. Just think... You could implant a matrix of LED's in your back to operate like an animated billboard! Who will be the first beach-bum to add a cellular uplink so they can sell ad-space online?

  • I am a (Score:2, Funny)

    by conteXXt ( 249905 )
    "Sir, are you classified at human"
    "Negative, I am a meat popsicle"
  • Bionics, imagine this device power Geordi life VISORS for the blind... or heart implants, you name it.

  • Very useful right away, let alone in the future (Score:4, Informative)

    by Zergwyn ( 514693 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:31PM (#6612039)
    There are already a lot of implantable devices for which power is a big concern. From simple things like pacemakers and sensors to more complex and experimental devices like artificial hearts, everything needs juice. One of the big problems, for instance, with some early devices is that in order to add more juice you had two bad options:

    1. Have some sort of actual device sticking out of the body. This is bad, because it breaches the skin, our natural defensive screen, and such things tend to become very easily infected.

    2. Surgery to replace cells. Again, any surgery at all is going to be both expensive and risk prone.


    More recently, a third option has become available: having fully implanted power system that can be recharged wirelessly, via em radiation of some kind (you can google for it). This is a big gain, because it allows devices that are more power hungry while still maintaining the benefits of not breaching the skin and not needing frequent operations. But it still requires people to remember and have access to the appropriate charging device consistantly. If for any reason some one forgets or can't recharge, the device may shut down, sometimes with fatal results. So having a way to remove one more step for powering these things should really help improve the quality of life for a lot of people today.

    Of course, personally I find this to be a very exciting development for future things as well. When we get to the point of having more optional implants, for things like boosting hearing or vision, a way to power them will be necessary, and if the power requirements are low, then this system would be perfect. Ultimately, widespread adoption of anything, from an OS to a vehicle, is all about making it as easy and intuitive for end users as possible. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on for advanced things like brain-computer interfaces, and people who are interested should look around, as the state of the art has advanced a great deal in the past 5 years. Here are a few links for the curious, and much more can be found with google, of course:

    Graz University of Technology [tu-graz.ac.at]

    Standford/DVA Neural Interface Project [stanford.edu]

    Beyond the Big Barrier(lighter, intro type stuff) [man.ac.uk]
    News Group:
    sci.med.psychobiology [sci.med.psychobiology]

  • lighting! (Score:2, Funny)

    by RyLaN ( 608672 )
    imagine 50-60W worth of LEDs... drink the Mountain Dew and glow green, start to run out of sugar and you'd glow red.. people could start eating when they changed color instead of when they were hungry

  • Homeostasis (Score:4, Insightful)

    by The Famous Brett Wat ( 12688 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:37PM (#6612090) Homepage Journal
    I don't know about you, but I don't consider the maintenance of homeostasis in my body to be a waste of glucose.
  • The submitter got it wrong. This device is in development and they can only generate extremely low power levels. They are developing the process. Here was my (rejected) post:

    Scientists at Matsushita [mew.co.jp]'s Nanotechnology Research Laboratory in Japan are developing a power generator that uses blood to produce electricity [smh.com.au]. It emulates the process the body uses to convert food into energy. The scientists say the "bio-nano" generator could be used to run devices embedded in the body, or sugar-fed robots. Dr. Kazuo

  • This was done long ago (Score:4, Funny)

    by Boyceterous ( 596732 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:40PM (#6612107)
    when Uncle Fester was able to light that incandescent bulb in his mouth!

  • Stop following me! (Score:5, Funny)

    by winkydink ( 650484 ) * <sv.dude@gmail.com> on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:47PM (#6612147) Homepage Journal
    Now how many of you Slashdotters would it take to power my laptop?

    Too many I suspect until geek hygiene improves dramatically.

  • Unfortunately, people beat me to the obvious Matrix jokes. But ah well.

    If they can figure out a way to get a reasonable amount of power without adversely effecting your health, this could be most excellent. I don't think we'll be powering our laptops and cell phones with this, (although a cell phone doesn't suck that much power) but for powering a pacemaker, as someone else suggested, this would be quite useful.

    Also of use would be powering the so-called "Soldier of the Future". If our military is

  • to start pumping out more low power chips! Feynman gates anyone?

  • Damn you, homeostasis!!! (Score:3, Informative)

    by TheMonkeyDepartment ( 413269 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @09:58PM (#6612202)
    DAMN YOU, HOMEOSTASIS!!!! You ruin all my hopes and dreams!

  • 2000 calories/day - watts. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Vellmont ( 569020 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @10:06PM (#6612246) Homepage
    Theoretically, this technology (aka "Dracucell") could produce 100 watts. power.


    In other words, on a 2000 kilocalories/day diet...

    1 kilowatthour = 860 kilocalories.
    2000/860 = 2.3 kilowatt hours
    2300 watts-hours/24hours = 96 watts.

    Pretty amazing that we humans only run on 96 watts of power.

  • Low glucose levels are not a good thing, ask any diabetic. The first thing that tips you off is a headache. 100 watts is one heck of alot of drain. Though I dought whether this level of out put can last for more than a few seconds considering the human uses only a fraction of that to power muscles and biosystems combined. Even when we are working really hard our bodies are extreemly thrifty. As glucose levels drop we become dizzy and disoriented. If the liver can keep up glucose production then the effect p

  • why the premise of the Matrix is so dumb (Score:5, Funny)

    by peccary ( 161168 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @10:17PM (#6612298)
    the efficiency of conversion of biomass to energy by the human metabolism is very, very, poor. It's not that the oxidation of glucose is so inefficient, it's that there's so much energy spent digesting food to glucose in the first place.

    Chickens and rabbits do much better. But then, what kind of a movie would it be if Keanu Reeves was trying to free acres and acres of penned hens? I know, it's about his speed. He'd probably get an Oscar for best supporting actor.

    Er, as I was saying, the human body is not a very efficient producer of energy, and the amount of fossil fuels used to produce our food is staggering.

    What would be more useful, in terms of the worlds energy demands, is if these guys could *reverse* the process... By putting energy IN to the metabolism, synthesise glucose from H20 and C02. Ideally, the energy source would be good old solar insolation on exposed skin.

    So, lay around in the backyard naked for a few hours and save the money you would have had to spend on doughnuts.

    This isn't too incredibly speculative, plenty of organisms do this already. The downside is, you'd probably be green, but if everyone was green, it wouldn't be so bad.
    • I don't know why they used the idiotic plot device of the Matrix using people as human batteries. It would've been far more believable if they had the plot be that the Matrix was using the extra processing power of people's brains (whether there really is any extra or not in reality) for its own purposes. It would let people use just enough to live in the Matrix and take the rest. Sort of a giant SETI@home type system. Disconnect enough people and you'd have the Matrix singing "Daisy" before long. Plus
  • I wonder if this could replace dieting as a new drug to lose weight. All you need are some nanomachines that run on this and use up the excess energy. They could putter around your bloodstream cleaning plaque from your arteries and fixing that whole "heart murmur from being so obese" thing, all while burning more calories than you would excercising.

    Or, for those of us that are more concerned with being weak & a bit chubby (rather than dangerously obese), they could build muscle tissue (easiest way I'

  • How many (Score:4, Funny)

    by Molina the Bofh ( 99621 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @11:15PM (#6612594) Homepage
    I can see the jokes already:

    How many airplane pilots does it take to power a laptop?
    None. The use of laptops and other portable electronic devices is strictly prohibited during take-off and landing, acording to FAA regulations.

    How many MIT students does it take to power a laptop?
    Ten. One to blood power it while the others project a more efficient system.

    How many Peta members does it take to power a laptop?
    Two. One to power it and another to make sure they're not using the blood of any animal.

    How many quantum mechanicians does it take to power a laptop ?
    They can't. If they know where the power cord is, they cannot locate the plug. (BTW, where in the body would a power plug fit?)

    How many Heisenbergs does it take to power a laptop?
    If you know the number, you don't know where the laptop is.

    How many women does it take to power a laptop?
    No way. It's a man's job.

    How many amish people does it take to power a laptop?
    None. Amish people don't believe in Laptops.

    How many Sysadmins does it take to power a laptop?
    I'm sorry, that's a hardware issue and we can't help you with it. You'll have to get a hardware tech to power it. Good luck.

  • Check out the title bar... (Score:3, Funny)

    by trisweb ( 690296 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @11:43PM (#6612749) Journal
    "Slashdot | Powered by Blood"

    'Nuff said.

  • Good for low power devices (Score:3, Informative)

    by Little Brother ( 122447 ) <kg4wwn@qsl.net> on Tuesday August 05, 2003 @12:19AM (#6612930) Journal
    OK, as many (perhaps to many) of you have pointed out, using enough glucose out of the human bloodstream to get 100W would be a bad thing(tm). However, the story isn't talking about taking 100W from the bloodstream, its talking about making devices that can transform glucose from many sources into electrictity. One of the mentioned applications is sugar-powered robots, in this situation it wouldn't be a problem to draw 100W, also let's not forget about larger than human sized animals. You probably wouldn't be nice if you got 100W even from an elephant, but slightly smaller amounts of power should be ok.

    Most importantly, the whole laptop thing is a joke, this is not intended to power a laptop people. If used inside the human body, this would be to power nanomachiens (almost no power drain) and medical implants (which don't draw huge amounts of power either).

  • I don't think so. (Score:3, Funny)

    by mrselfdestrukt ( 149193 ) <nollie_A7_firstcounsel_com> on Tuesday August 05, 2003 @12:25AM (#6612957) Homepage Journal
    You said "watching movies in the palm of your hand..."
    Sorry dude, but I need my palms while watching movies. Ok, I can sacrifice one palm. nevermind.

  • The power cell itself just cured diabetes and more (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gte910h ( 239582 ) on Tuesday August 05, 2003 @09:52AM (#6615061) Homepage
    I wish I had the money to patent these ideas. Instead I will disclose them so the whole world can use them if no one already filed a patent.

    This is the cure for diabetes(sp?) as its an insulin replacement. It can keep the bloodstream below a certain glucose level with the greatest of ease, just burning off power doing something dumb (or useful, it doesn't matter). Just implant a device or series of devices that detect gluecose levels, and the device(s) stays idle or working in a low power mode until levels reach a certain level, then they burn off that excess gluecose until the blood is reduced to an optimal level. This is probably controlled by a slightly more complicated algorithm, but this should get the idea out.

    It also is a GREAT and I do mean GREAT wieght loss aid. It can use up excess energy that the body takes in sending the body into ketosis, thereby getting the Atkins type diet, while eating whatever you want. There is also studies that show if you eat at "starvation" levels your whole life (when ketosis should be happening rather constantly) you increase your lifespan by 20% or more. Therefore, this is also an anti-aging device while being a near perfect diet.

    The diet application does not require going into ketosis. It could just use much of the gluecose, thereby making it as if the person ate a smaller meal.

  • Should use more than glucose (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mnmn ( 145599 ) on Tuesday August 05, 2003 @09:59AM (#6615111) Homepage

    This should be improved to use fats and lactose etc from the blood as well. I dont mind driving a small car powered by myself which is powered by Burger King. You get to eat all you can and you get to lose weight while speeding. I think I'll start a trucking company.

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