Self-winding watch just got smaller

[El_Machinae]

... a lot smaller.

Researchers have demonstrated a prototype nanometer-scale generator that produces continuous direct-current electricity by harvesting mechanical energy from such environmental sources as ultrasonic waves, mechanical vibration or blood flow.
...
Providing power for nanometer-scale devices has long been a challenge. Batteries and other traditional sources are too large, and tend to negate the size advantages of nanodevices. And since batteries contain toxic materials such as lithium and cadmium, they cannot be implanted into the body as part of biomedical applications.

Because zinc oxide is non-toxic and compatible with the body, the new nanogenerators could be integrated into implantable biomedical devices to wirelessly measure blood flow and blood pressure within the body. And they could also find more ordinary applications.

“If you had a device like this in your shoes when you walked, you would be able to generate your own small current to power small electronics,” Wang noted. “Anything that makes the nanowires move within the generator can be used for generating power. Very little force is required to move them.”

http://www.gatech.edu/news-room/release.php?id=1326

They seem to be small chips that can provide a current by harvesting the mechanical energy that they're surrounded by. It's quite easy to think of a thousand places you'd want a small powersource to power some electronics. My bias is to think of devices that could be put into the body that they transmit data about their environment, but that's just me.

 

[Irish Caesar]

You have good taste in internet websites.



But really, that is quite awesome.

 

[Urederra]

Now I can see that nanotechnology can be useful. Nice find El_mach.

 

[skadistic]

So we can power MP3 players with our heart beat?

 

[Masquerouge]

That's a very cool article!

The singularity is near!

 

[El_Machinae]

So we can power MP3 players with our heart beat?

I don't know if that would be enough power; but I think that self-winding devices could result (like MP3 players being charged by your walking).

... it's just another discovery I wasn't expecting. I'm looking forward to my spray-on solar cells, really. I just found out that my local powercompany will allow residential consumers to sell back into the grid. Yowza.

 

[El_Machinae]

For Masque: apparently, these people have increased the information available to the public (http://www.singinst.org/). I'm not really a believer in the idea of a singularity event occurring; I recognise the idea of accelerated change, but am skeptical on the idea of greater-than-human intelligence.