Snail Power

One of the many problems that has delayed progress in the biotech world is the lack of energy needed to power artificial body parts. Over the past few months researchers have been testing a method that has the ability to harvest energy from the electrons inside of organisms, specifically, snails. By placing an electrode, coated with enzymes, inside of snails, researchers were able to harvest electrons from glucose and put them into oxygen molecules, creating a steady current of energy. Although materials are still being chosen to maximize the electrode's harvesting ability, the future for this technology looks bright. Besides the obvious application in biotechnology to source for bionics, spectators believe that the implications of this technology may have many more uses than we can see. With the ability to power any miniature devices, scientists have begun to develop camera and other sensing technology for the purpose of using animals to spy and receive information from places we may not be able to reach. In addition to this, the discovery of self generated energy in general leads to the opportunity for more and more biotechnological inventions. But there are several problems that must be addressed before people make a jump on this creation. First and foremost, technology is the inherent opposite to nature and no one in has been able to create a biological entity that exists coincident with technological parts.

For more information, visit the Wired article.
Picture found here.