Human Powered

Dave Burdick

It seems like a lot of speculation about former veep Al Gore running for president{mosimage} in 2008 stems from recent press coverage of his various green endeavors -- particularly his global warming film, "An Inconvenient Truth."

Of course, if all it took to get elected were movies and press coverage, why any old movie star could -- say, wait a minute.

Anyway, the Wall Street Journal has a nice, easy piece on the ifs, ors and buts of a Gore campaign. Wouldn't it be something if Gore came back as the smart, forward-thinking environmentalist that he seems to be in the private sector?

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When you move, it's electric

Dave Burdick

How are "nanogenerators" like aphrodisiacs? They turn body movement into electricity.

{mosimage}
Clever folks at the Georgia Institute of Technology have built a tiny prototype generator that generates electricity through the flexing of zinc oxide nanowires. They're saying that since the stuff isn't toxic, you could arguably implant it in a human muscle and allow human movement to create electricity.

While cool, that's a little creepy, so here's another example from LiveScience.com's story on the tiny powerhouses:

"You could envision having these nanogenerators in your shoes to produce electricity as you walk," [Zhong Lin] Wang said. "This could be beneficial for soldiers in the field, who now depend on batteries to power their electrical equipment. As long as the soldiers were moving, they could generate electricity."

Or, you could envision dancing monkeys wearing shoes with nanogenerators in them. I know which one I prefer.

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Gore v. Clinton in 08?

When you move, it's electric

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