Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

Create Account  |  Retrieve Password

Kidney Cells Make Implantable Power Source

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Mon Dec 10, 2007 01:06 PM
from the black-market-batteries dept.
Power Science
Galactic_grub writes "New Scientist has an interesting round-up of patents related to green power technology. The ideas mentioned include an implantable power source made from stacks of kidney cells that could drive implanted devices like pacemakers, a chemical way to purifying hydrogen, a buckyball-based filter for methane fuel cells and an organism that turns grass cuttings (and other bio-waste) into ethanol."
+ -
story

Related Stories

Submission: Kidney cells make implantable power source by Anonymous Coward
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Kidney Cells Make Implantable Power Source 50 Comments More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.
  • 1. An apparatus comprising: at least one cell culture chamber wherein live neurons are maintained and grown; and a means for harnessing the thoughts and ideas generated by the live neurons, said means being connected with said neuron culture chamber.

    Recalling a time when a working example of the device to be patented had to be presented.

    CC.
    • Especially one as dubiously useful as this.

      He suggests that such biobatteries might be ideal for powering devices inserted in the body, such as insulin pumps or pacemakers.

      So you're going to give up part of your kidney for a pacemaker or insulin pump? When they've already solved the rejection problems in far less invasive ways?

      Wake me up when these devices are on the shelf. I'll be dead, but by then they should still be able to revive me.

      Recalling a time when legislatore weren't for sale. When they start wr [slashdot.org]

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Demolition (713476)
        So you're going to give up part of your kidney for a pacemaker or insulin pump? When they've already solved the rejection problems in far less invasive ways?

        I'm not sure what a host's body rejecting an implantable device has to do with biobatteries. As you've said, rejection of the device can be deterred in other ways. It's more likely that biobatteries are being developed so that an otherwise-functional implantable device won't have to be replaced several times over a host's lifetime just because its
        • I didn't see anything in the article to suggest that these would be permanent, either. And it seems that a technology that could convert the kinetic energy of the host's movement to electricity would be a better solution.

          I hope my eye implant (see sig) doesn't break before I die!
          • I refer you to the line in the article [newscientist.com] that states:

            "... if the monolayers are made from immortalised cell lines, the biobattery should live as long as the host."

            If the biobattery will live as long as the host does, then that sounds fairly permanent.

  • Don't use them all together (Score:3, Funny)

    by EmbeddedJanitor (597831) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:11PM (#21644923)
    Green kidneys and stuffed to the eyeballs with grass mulch? No wonder this guy is sick and needs implants. He's lucky he's not dead yet.

  • Proper Ethanol (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Swordopolis (1159065) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:13PM (#21644959)
    The faster we switch ethanol production over to cellulose, the better. It would mean that we're not cannibalizing our food supply to make it, and the cost wouldn't be tied to the rising price of corn.

    Making our ethanol out of the leftover waste materials is probably the only way ethanol will ever take off in this country.
    • I agree. I find it obscene that turning "food" into fuel is subsidised when there are starving people in the world.

    • The faster we switch ethanol production over to cellulose, the better.
      The US should switch to adipose for an almost limitless energy supply.
       
      • I find that obscene because it's basically turning, "food" into, "fuel" in a far less efficient manner than corn-derived ethanol.
        • Is it really that inefficient? They've already consumed the food. So it's already gone, why not get back a little something extra depending on how much that costs of course.
    • It would mean that we're not cannibalizing our food supply to make it,

      If corn were the most efficient way to produce ethanol then it wouldn't matter. Say for instance that hemp were legal, and it was more efficient (actually it is more efficient INMN, but bear with me here. Substitute whatever crop is MOST efficient if you care to research, which I don't).

      The land now used for growing corn would be used for growing hemp. Whether that land is used for corn, hemp, or sawgrass it's land. It doesn't matter if t

    • I wish ethanol would just go away.

      Its a hydrocarbon, just like gasoline. That means when you burn it, ethanol still puts carbon into the atmosphere. Even worse, ethanol production and distribution haven't even gotten off the ground yet and its already screwing up the economy. Corn prices are sky-high on speculation so the livestock end of agriculture has to feed their cattle, pigs, etc. other expensive grains. This is driving the price of meat and dairy up. Farmers are switching their crops over to

      • It puts carbon into the atmosphere, but the carbon was removed from the atmosphere when the feedstock was grown, so there are no net carbon dioxide emissions.

        • 1) When plants die naturally, a significant proportion of their carbon goes into terrestrial carbon sinks instead of the atmosphere. Burning plant material releases stored carbon directly into the atmosphere.

          2) As many on this board have already noted, the modern agricultural process produces a large amount of carbon so ethanol isn't going to be carbon neutral.

    • This doesn't encourage sustainable agriculture. How much ethanol will it take to produce the extra industrial fertilizers that are needed if "leftover waste materials" aren't recycled back into the soil?

  • Mississippi ALready did it (Score:4, Funny)

    by blhack (921171) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:14PM (#21644977)

    an organism that turns grass cuttings (and other bio-waste) into ethanol."
    So they invented moonshine producing rednecks?
    • They actually have a Biowaste Generator plant near Neshoba County I think. The idea is that with all of the pine trees they are cutting down from commercial farms, they'll take the waste bark, etc., and use it in the generator. Not sure though, and I'm not gonna waste an hour looking for the reference.

      Wow a remark that is actually kinda On topic.
    • Moonshine is made of corn, not grass you dumb city slicker! Come out here to corn country and we'll show you some drinkin'! [slashdot.org] We used to have a festival here in Springfield called Lincolnfest, but the yuppies that ran things discontinued it when everybody started calling it "drinkin' fest")

      CHORUS
      Chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug, Make you want to holler hi-de-ho
      Burns your tummy, don'tcha know. Chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug.

      Grape wine in a Mason jar, Homemade and brought to school
      By a friend o' mine after class. Me and him and

      • Moonshine is made of corn ...

        Commonly, but not necessarily.

        I've read (in the Foxfire Books) about prohibition-era moonshiners using store-bought granulated sugar.

        Any substance with a sweet percentage of sugar is subject to fermentation. I ain't never tried turnip whiskey, but hell, I don't see why it couldn't get a guy roaring drunk.

        As for grass clippings, they're no damn good at all, far as I know -- practically no sugar content whatever. Might as well feed horses on the clippings, milk the

  • Yeah but... (Score:3, Funny)

    by j.sanchez1 (1030764) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:14PM (#21644981)
    Do they run Linux?
    • Do they run Linux?

      No, they're BSD. Biochemical Signal Determination.

      And you better hope they have no Open Sores.
      • And you better hope they have no Open Sores.

        Hey, the girls I hang around with [slashdot.org] are clean! And some of them run Linux. And once I made a beowolf cluster of them when I needed some guy's ass kicked.

        It's dangerous mixing nerds, hookers, and alcohol. Things explode.

        -mcgrew
          • Meet my friend Mike [kuro5hin.org]. The link is to an old K5 story about a pig farmer (Mike), a nerd (me), a couple other rednecks, and explosives. No hookers in that one though.

  • Yes, but.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by snl2587 (1177409) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:15PM (#21644985)
    will the technologies be developed in time? Or will the fuel crisis win out and send humanity to the brink of doom?

    Tune in next week for the thrilling conclusion!

  • Oh great (Score:5, Funny)

    by ByOhTek (1181381) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:15PM (#21644989) Journal
    One more reason for them to steal my kidneys if I ever go to Mexico.

  • Tag: coppertop (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ajlitt (19055) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:21PM (#21645103) Homepage
    Interesting, but this [lanl.gov] is worth far more badass points at the retirement community.

  • Matrix (Score:4, Funny)

    by coppro (1143801) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:31PM (#21645257)
    1. We are getting closer and closer to functional AI.
    2. Humans are a source of energy.
    3. I will enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson
    Wait... that's not how it was supposed to happen!

  • Matrix 4 (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Starring Keanu Reeves as the elite-hacker Kidneyo.

  • Methanol not Methane! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by wizardforce (1005805) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:41PM (#21645359) Journal
    Just a note about the fullerene filters mentioned in the article, they do not filter methane they filter Methanol specifically they prevent Methanol from diffusing across the memebrane of the fuel cell thus decreasing the amount of Methanol that is wasted.

  • Duracell Green (Score:5, Funny)

    by hal2814 (725639) on Monday December 10 2007, @01:58PM (#21645585)
    Duracell Green is people!
  • someone tell me that these will NOT be manufactured by Sony!

    Exploding cellphones are only funny on "Will it blend" and MythBusters.

    I have no way to describe what exploding implants would be like... but I can see a whole new level of airport security coming. The stunt with the shoes was .. well, odd. I don't know how the script will read for the terrorist who goes to the bathroom in first class and triggers his kidney?

    oh, and the really really bad sequel to 'Snakes on a Plane' is obviously on the way...
    • someone tell me that these will NOT be manufactured by Sony!
      Exploding cellphones are only funny on "Will it blend" and MythBusters

      Sony - the only company that installs rootkits on its exploding batteries!

      -mcgrew [slashdot.org]

  • Paying the Cost to be the Boss (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby (173196) on Monday December 10 2007, @02:31PM (#21646041) Homepage Journal
    These are all interesting and valuable technologies for extracting and using energy. But of course they all consume some of the energy they help produce and deliver. Making that delivery system less efficient in order to use it at all.

    But existing fuels have the same problem. Is there anywhere that shows how much energy is consumed by extracting petroleum from the ground, getting it to a ship or pipeline, refined into products, then across to where it's burned for power? How much gasoline is burned driving to a gas station to fill up? How about the energy required to build and maintain the infrastructure, or even explore for new fields? Some of these losses are small, but they all add up. How about for coal and natural gas?

    Once we know the "energy budget" of each kind of energy system, we can actually make sensible choices. Gasoline has some of the highest energy density of any fuel, but its pollution has extremely high energy costs to recover from. Maybe some of these other systems are better net propositions. Or maybe they just look good on TV, until you see all the costs that actually goes into using them.
    • Is there anywhere that shows how much energy is consumed by extracting petroleum from the ground, getting it to a ship or pipeline, refined into products, then across to where it's burned for power?

      Damned good questions. Sorry I don't have answers -- other than the obvious generalization, "We used up the cheap and easy oil, now we're going after the expensive oil".

      I do, however, recall reading somewhere on the web (sorry, can't find the link) that an estimated 70% of U.S. oil consumption goes to the
      • I didn't even include in the energy budget the energy spent on war to keep those petrofuels flowing, which is a much smaller amount for the renewables that usually can be produced entirely inside the US. Which is an investment in the US that can be exported peacefully, rather than an investment in Arabs that requires perpetual global warfare.
  • You gotta be kidneying me...
    Real, live Human Beans... Self-stocking power, self-stalking fart generators...

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Lets see what we can deduce about the poster above:

      1. not fat, otherwise it would be a very hypocritical post
      2. doesn't smoke, so same as #1
      3. his parents didn't love him, otherwise he might be less of a dick
      4. barely graduated from high school, otherwise he might have a larger vocabulary
      5. must I list any more, its this kind of person who's the real "fucktarded" one... jeez i sound dumb just making fun of the use of that non-word
    • the vast raw power of irrationally ultranegative trolls

      • the vast raw power of irrationally ultranegative trolls
        Strap a heatpipe to their head & mouth, then use that to power a stirling engine?

        It would also help society to quickly mark out the irrational trolls (as opposed to the rational ones).

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      So just let the fucktards with the fucking weak genes eat god-damned fucking shit and fucking die...
      Another plus of that is there will be no fucking shitdot sheeple to fucking post anymore.

      GO AHEAD FUCKING FLAME AWAY OR WASTE YOUR GODDAMNED MODPOINTS FUCKTARDED SHITDOT SHEEPLE!

      Translation: "People with medical problems are genetically inferior to members of the master race, like myself, so they should die out. But unfortunately this important fact will never be known, because the other slashdot users all ha
    • Must... resist... must not... bite... this trolll [kuro5hin.org]... OH FUCK IT!

      By the time you die of a heart attack, you've either reproduced or you're not going to. Evolution is about fucking, you stupidly rediculous troll.

      -mcgrew

    • Re:water necessary... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by ricree (969643) on Monday December 10 2007, @02:34PM (#21646081)
      Sure, but in areas like that you're going to see a lot better returns on solar power than areas with high rainfall will. In that respect, this sort of technology will be a complement to solar power. In other words, areas with lots of rain and cloud cover will have more available biomass for fuel, whereas areas without the rainfall will see much more output from solar generators. Ideally, it should balance out, although in actual practice it will certainly be more messy than that.

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.