Researchers Develop Insect Powered Energy Source

cylonlover writes with this excerpt from an article at Gizmag: "Research into developing insect cyborgs for use as first responders or super stealthy spies has been going on for a while now. Most research has focused on using batteries, tiny solar cells, or piezoelectric generators to harvest kinetic energy from the movement of an insect's wings to power the electronics attached to the insects. Now a group of researchers at Case Western Reserve University have created a biofuel cell power supply that relies just on the insect's normal feeding [registration required to download full paper]."

Neo, the Matrix has you!

[gentryx]

How long until we can power devices from human body heat or even by the ATP derived from nutrients in our blood?

Re:Neo, the Matrix has you!

[slackware 3.6]

People are unhealthy enough as it is. I don't think your average american's body can afford to lose any more nutrients.

Re:

[vikingpower]

Amen. That option is definitely for european health freaks and ethiopian athletes only.

Re:Neo, the Matrix has you!

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you kidding?? This is the solution to Obesity Nation Wide! Use your own fat to power all your mobile devices.. i'm down!

Re:Neo, the Matrix has you!

[gentryx]

Yep, I do absolutely agree. Eat as much pizza as you want, but be sure to burn those calories by powering your laptop afterwards. It's a win-win situation!

Re:Neo, the Matrix has you!

[dmbasso]

What calories? Pizza is a vegetable!

Re:

[CastrTroy]

Nobody said that pizza itself it a vegetable. What I believe you are referring to is that the USDA guidelines state that Pizza counts as a serving of vegetables, because of the fact that pizza contains vegetables. What's funny is that even if it only contains vegetables in the "tomato" sauce, that it still counts as a serving. Of course, it's not surprising given their track record which counts ketchup as a vegetable, or french fries for that matter.

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[dmbasso]

There's nothing like a good explication to completely ruin what was already a bad joke! Thank you! :)

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[mcgrew]

Ruining a bad joke is like ruining a turd. It can't be done. A joke that incredibly stupid must be taken seriously, and its spewer stomped on. Not only does pizza have vegetables, but vegetables have calories (how can anyone at /. not know that???)

Anyone know where I can find a good nerd site that keeps out the normtards?

Re:

[slackware 3.6]

Hey you can ruin a turd. Ever been on a walk through the park and you accidentally step on a beautifully coiled piece of art some pooch left? Unfortunately you can't step on a bad joke even though they both smell.

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[Nrrqshrr]

My girlfriend tells me I analyze things way too much... I told her to check /., people here do it for a living.

Re:

[robthebloke]

Despite what MacDonald's claims, fat isn't a substitute for nutrients.....

"nutrients" vs. calories

[jeffb (2.718)]

First, let's skip the term "nutrients", which marketing and new-age blather have rendered meaningless for public discussion. This wouldn't consume vitamins and minerals. It would consume blood sugar or lipids, both of which average Americans have in great excess.

I've been calling for this (blood-sugar power for implanted devices) for decades. It's easy to point out how obvious this solution is, because I'm not in a field that gives me any insight into the actual technical problems.

If I had to power my computing and communication tools from my own body's stores of energy, I'd get to eat a lot more, and I'd probably still lose the spare tire.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[SuricouRaven]

Blood is a rather delicate fluid.

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[Ihmhi]

If we can only weaponize it, Americans would be all over it.

"Paint a target with the LipidLaser 2000 and our global network of satellites will obliterate it from orbit with microwaves! Lose weight AND your enemies!"

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[canajin56]

Yes, because Americans are well known for having low amounts of sugar in their diets.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Are you kidding me? If you could convert unnecessary body mass into useful energy, the average American would become self-sufficient. And probably invincible.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[nickersonm]

It's already been tested in the lab [slashdot.org], or did everyone forget the story from earlier this year? Well, not quite ATP, but a fuel cell utilizing glucose and oxygen at blood concentrations [bbc.co.uk]. It worked quite well in a rat in 2010.

I want to work on the software for that project

[Anonymous Coward]

Just so I can say, "My bugs have bugs" :-)

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[TheDarkMaster]

And caution with recursive problems :)

word of the day : Siphonaptera

[Thud457]

prior art [wikipedia.org]

Which means that the animal will have to feed

[Hentes]

Batteries are more efficient in energy/mass ratio than feeding is. Which means, the insect either has to bring food with it, which is inefficient, or have to find some and feed on spot, in which case it can't be remote controlled.

Everything will be great

[binarylarry]

Until someone builds an evolution chamber and a bunch of spine crawlers show up.

I've seen this before on some of the colonies.

PETA protests in 3..2..1..

[uncanny]

Yeah, they want humane treatment for insects too, i have a vegan friend that wont even eat honey or use silk

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[drinkypoo]

They do have crappy silk that doesn't involve killing the worms...

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[harperska]

The vegan (as opposed to vegetarian) "philosophy" prohibits using or consuming anything animal derived, even if the animal itself isn't killed. That's why vegans won't drink milk or eat honey. So even silk that didn't involve killing the worms still came from worms, and is therefore still a vegan taboo.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Where do they think plant fertilizer comes from?

Re:PETA protests in 3..2..1..

[Brian Feldman]

Organic compost of plant matter? Just because, in the U.S.A., agriculture has a hard-on for pollution, chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, does not mean that no alternative exists.

Re:PETA protests in 3..2..1..

[DrXym]

I wonder how many bugs, worms, rodents, amphibians and assorted other animals are killed when some farmer runs a combine or plough over a field during the course of a year.

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[vidnet]

Yeah, they want humane treatment for insects too

I wonder how many bugs, worms, rodents, amphibians and assorted other animals are killed when some farmer runs a combine or plough over a field during the course of a year

Car analogy time:

Yeah, they want humane treatment for humans too

I wonder how many people die on the roads each year

Hah, idiots. They think they can be for driving but against murder. It makes no sense!

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[O('_')O_Bush]

Yet they burn dead animals in their car engines...

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[drinkypoo]

Some forms of vegan don't mind using anything the animal naturally casts off. Or they could be a level five vegan and not eat anything that casts a shadow.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Plants cast shadows last time I checked.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, they want humane treatment for insects too, i have a vegan friend that wont even eat honey or use silk

Really? Wow. I deal with that by not hanging out with fucking lunatics, myself.

Very soon

[koan]

You too can be the "fly on the wall" watching and listening through a tiny video camera and mic attached to the fly.

Yes, but..

[Anonymous Coward]

Can it power my TV?

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[Zephyn]

Perhaps not the TV, but imagine a self powering bug zapper.

A bug

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a bug, and a feature!

Re:

[guybrush3pwood]

You, sir, deserve mod points.

Pretty girls

[programmerar]

In the future, all the pretty girls will have flies circling around them. (remote controlled by /. readers et all).

It might actually turn into sign of desirability. More flies == more fly (pun intended).

Re:

[endloop]

You did not intend that pun, admit it!

Bad Sample?

[adamchou]

The sample age was 45-70 and they found that cognitive decline started at 45? Shouldn't they have started sampling people in their 30's to see a better bell curve?

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[adamchou]

woops, i replied in the wrong article. ignore that

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you over 45?

Re:Bad Sample?

[gstoddart]

Probably a sign of cognitive decline. ;-)

Surprising, but it shouldn't be

[Angst Badger]

So our first steps into bridging the biological/electronic divide involve what is essentially an artificial parasite? Somehow, I fear it will not be long before some medical researcher who has read too much Douglas Hofstadter thinks of taking it to the next level of abstraction by monitoring intestinal health using parasitic instruments attached to tapeworms.

Hmm. Maybe I should write a grant proposal:

[Hartree]

"parasitic instruments attached to tapeworms"

Well, now that you mention it, tapeworms are a lot better at controlling our immune systems than we are...

I for one welcome our new cyborg helminth overlords!

Squeak

[virgnarus]

Finally. I think we've relied on hamsters-on-wheels for far too long.

God shmod, I want my monkeyman!

[Thud457]

Maybe mainstream Western Science will some day catch up with Viktor Grebennikov's work.

So... parasitic implants?

[macraig]

There's the core of an SF-horror movie for ya.