Electrified Snail Produces Electricity from Natural Sugar in its Body

Homeland Security News Wire
June 14, 2012

The world’s first “electrified snail” has joined the menagerie of cockroaches, rats, rabbits, and other animals previously implanted with biofuel cells that generate electricity — perhaps for future spy cameras, eavesdropping microphones, and other electronics — from natural sugar in their bodies. Scientists are describing how their new biofuel cell worked for months in a free-living snail in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

An American Chemical Society release reports that in the study, Evgeny Katz and colleagues point out that many previous studies have involved “potentially implantable” biofuel cells. So far, however, none has produced an implanted biofuel cell in a small live animal that could generate electricity for an extended period of time without harming the animal. “The snail with the implanted biofuel cell will be able to operate in a natural environment, producing sustainable electrical micropower for activating various bioelectronic devices,” the authors say.

Read full article

This article was posted: Thursday, June 14, 2012 at 9:00 am

Tags: domestic news

---

---

---

---