Well, here’s a way to produce energy using rats. Now don’t go imagining a wall full of hamster-wheels with rats running in them to generate energy. It’s actually the heart-beat and the breath of a rat that can send those sparks flying. Now this does seem weird and fantastical, but with the huge population of rats we’ve got globally, imagine the electricity we could produce with their breath and heart-beats! Dreams aside, researches at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) came up with a way to do so, using a zinc oxide nanowire.

The nanowire when connected to the rat’s diaphragm and placed in a capsule it keep away body fluids, generates electricity by the stretching caused due to the breathing and heart-beat if connected to the heart. Around 4 pico-amps of current at 2 millivolts is generated with the diaphragm technique and 30 pico-amps at about 3 millivolts is generated with the heart, not enough to power up your homes, but a whole lot to raise those eyebrows in wonder. Maybe a frightened rat could produce more energy, with a quicker heart-beat.

[Akihabaranews]