“When your smartphone goes dead maybe you should cry a bit harder”
A group of Limerick-based scientists have discovered a way to harvest electricity from human tears, saliva and milk. The research team, based at the Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, discovered how to produce electricity by applying pressure to a protein, called lysozyme, found in egg whites, as well as in tears, saliva and milk of mammals-but in its crystallized form. If this can be harvested effectively it could become a new fuel source for all kinds of implanted devices.
By applying pressure to a film of lysozyme crystals squeezed between two glass slides, the team measured it producing a form of energy called “piezoelectricity”, where an electric charge accumulates in response to applied mechanical stress.
If future research is able to take advantage of this discovery, the team anticipates that a new era of flexible, energy harvesting electronics could become possible. This could include new kinds of implants that release drugs in the body, controlled and powered by sensors that detect lysozyme under the skin. Lysozyme may be employed as a biodegradable, piezoelectric, and antimicrobial additive/coating to conventional implants.
The protein was once investigated by Alexander Fleming as an antibiotic before he discovered penicillin, but the evidence of piezoelectricity from crystals of lysozyme was identified recently.
Next time your heart breaks and your eyes start welling up into quivering pools of hurt, don’t just wipe those tears away: press them!
REFERENCE
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/10/03/scientists-produce-electricity-from-tears.html