The Pursuit To Make The Body A Power Source Moves To The Ear
While medical implants have been getting smaller and more efficient over the year, the batteries used to power them have not. Making them too small, however, severely reduces the expectant battery life and thus ups the likelihood of surgery to replace them. We can’t just cut out and eject power packs Terminator-style, so researchers have been looking at ways the human body could power the devices, and one such way is with our ears.
Our Own Heartbeat Could Power Future Pacemakers
We've already seen scientists propose harnessing glucose within the human body could power self-sufficient medical implants, now scientists have proved our own heart beat could generate enough electricity to power pacemakers.
Scientists Develop Glucose Fuel Cell Which Could Power Medical Implants
Scientists from MIT have developed a fuel cell capable of running on the same sugar that powers the human bodies’ own cells. So far, the fuel cell is capable of generating hundreds of megawatts in power and has the capacity to be able to power highly-efficient medical implants which could be used to allow paralysed patients to move their arms and legs again.