Magnetic Bacteria as an electricity source

athon · 12th May 2006, 06:58 PM

http://www.wired.com/news/technology...?tw=wn_index_2

My question; what is a 16 year old doing reading Nature?

Athon

CapelDodger · 12th May 2006, 07:16 PM

If this is kosher, serious kudos for Kartik Madiraju.

These bugs have to eat to do their thing. If they can eat mashed slugs then even more kudos to Kartik Madiraju. (I hunt and kill slugs by torchlight, it would be so elegant ...)

Dilb · 13th May 2006, 12:04 AM

I don't understand what he did. The bacteria have tiny magnets in them, making the bacteria part irrelevant. So a small cube of tiny magnets is somehow spun by putting metals at two ends of the cube. How is it spinning? Aparently the bacteria will align themselves with an external magnetic field and move along field lines, but I don't see how he could have used that to generate power continuously.

Also: I read an issue of Nature at 16. Then I decided it was overly technical and went back to New Scientist/Scientific American. But I did get to correct my biology teacher by showing an article on the newly discovered 22nd naturally occurring amino acid.

12th May 2006, 06:58 PM	#1
athon Kowalski TLA Winner Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Upside the Inside Posts: 8,705	Magnetic Bacteria as an electricity source http://www.wired.com/news/technology...?tw=wn_index_2 My question; what is a 16 year old doing reading Nature? Athon
	__________________ "Whether you're soar-away Sun, or BBC 1, misinformation is a weapon of mass destruction." 'Mass Destruction', Faithless

12th May 2006, 07:16 PM	#2
CapelDodger Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Cardiff, South Wales Posts: 14,000	If this is kosher, serious kudos for Kartik Madiraju. These bugs have to eat to do their thing. If they can eat mashed slugs then even more kudos to Kartik Madiraju. (I hunt and kill slugs by torchlight, it would be so elegant ...)
	__________________ It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward - Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so - William of Conches, c1150

13th May 2006, 12:04 AM	#3
Dilb Muse Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 547	I don't understand what he did. The bacteria have tiny magnets in them, making the bacteria part irrelevant. So a small cube of tiny magnets is somehow spun by putting metals at two ends of the cube. How is it spinning? Aparently the bacteria will align themselves with an external magnetic field and move along field lines, but I don't see how he could have used that to generate power continuously. Also: I read an issue of Nature at 16. Then I decided it was overly technical and went back to New Scientist/Scientific American. But I did get to correct my biology teacher by showing an article on the newly discovered 22nd naturally occurring amino acid.
Dilb Muse Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 547