Bio-Batteries: Power From the People

December 20, 2007

This week, I wrote about a pacemaker powered by heartbeats. But biobatteries don’t stop there. Simon Levinson, a biophysicist at the University of Colorado Medical School in Denver, proposes that charged particles, called ions, naturally present in cells could be harnessed to make miniature batteries that power insulin pumps or pacemakers. A short description of the invention is here, and his patent can be read here.