Viruses Engineered to Construct Batteries 127
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at MIT have modified the M13 virus to create very small batteries. With the viruses building wires 6 nanometers in diameter, the research team hopes to 'build batteries that range from the size of a grain of rice up to the size of existing hearing-aid batteries.'"
No support for iPod. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No support for iPod. (Score:2)
Re:No support for iPod. (Score:1)
It's a rather fun technology too, although I advise creating batteries responsibly and only at need, as there's a serious disposal problem. Trust me on this one.
KFG
Re:No support for iPod. (Score:2)
Plot hole closed (Score:1)
Dynamic ICs (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Dynamic ICs (Score:2)
Re:Dynamic ICs (Score:1)
Remember folks (Score:5, Funny)
Your increasing the power capacity.
When will you people LEARN?! (Score:1)
Re:When will you people LEARN?! (Score:1)
Let me ask you though, why does it bother you so much?
You and everyone else knew what I meant so who gains most from you informing us of something I already noticed and ignored?
Manometers? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Manometers? (Score:1)
Environmental disaster looms (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Environmental disaster looms (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Environmental disaster looms (Score:4, Funny)
so don't worry about self powered virus overlords.
Dammit! You ruined it!
Re:Environmental disaster looms (Score:1)
Amusing (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Amusing (Score:3, Interesting)
If these machines can be "manufactured" in sufficiently large numbers, perhaps by some self-assembly process, then you have the power source for a swarm of robot ants or termites, which collectively have the power to transform things on a larger scale.
Re:Amusing (Score:2)
Isn't this illegal? (Score:3, Funny)
Have we really sunk so low as to sink back to using slavery in order to make a few lousy batteries?
Re:Isn't this illegal? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Isn't this illegal? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Isn't this illegal? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Isn't this illegal? (Score:1, Funny)
Free the virus' now man!
Re:Isn't this illegal? (Score:2, Funny)
choice in the matter."
yeah, my favourite bit from TFA:
"The international team of researchers, led by a group at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, used the M13 virus, a simple and easily manipulated virus."
So, it really looks like these evil scientists are exploiting a bunch of stupid virus weaklings.
Anybody kno
Astonishing manotech! (Score:4, Funny)
Each virus, and thus each wire, is only 6 manometers -- 6 billionths of a metre -- in diameter, and 880 manometers long, the researchers said.
It made me chuckle, although I may be easily amused at this hour of the morning.
Re:Astonishing manotech! (Score:2, Funny)
I mean, we all know what a kilobyte is. And by extension, know what a megabyte and a gigabyte is.
We also know that marketeers deliberately do not know what they are, and should be shot on sight. (Where's Cheney when you need him?)
Re:Astonishing manotech! (Score:2)
Of course we do, it's 1000 bytes. Stop pretending you didn't learn SI prefixes [nist.gov] at school just because you're in the US.
Now that units have finally been standardised between data transmission (which has always been using kb) and data storage (which has always been using kib) so that we can finally make the difference between both, you have to moan because you have to learn one ridiculous tidbit of information ?
Or are you stil using GWBASIC because "I know what that i
Re:Astonishing manotech! (Score:2)
Unless it's 1024 bytes... And a megabyte could either be 1,000,000 bytes, 1,024,000 (1,024 1000-byte kilobytes), or 1,048,576 (1,024 1,024-byte kilobytes).
Re:Astonishing manotech! (Score:2)
Huge viruses! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Huge viruses! (Score:2)
At least it's not torgometers.
Do we not learn? (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm. Viruses building batteries? What could go wrong?
Re:Do we not learn? (Score:1)
The batteries could start sending themselves off as mail attachments or use your post office to send out spam.
Lemme see here.. (Score:5, Informative)
Second.. it seems unclear that the virus is actually doing any work..
So basically, it seems they're pulling an Auric Goldfinger on those poor viruses, smothering them with conducting gold metal. Seems a bit misleading to characterize that as making the virus produce wire (much less a battery).
Rather, the viruses were modified to form a suitable substrate to cover with metal and turn into a wire, which is something a bit different.
Re:Lemme see here.. (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Lemme see here.. (Score:2)
Re:Lemme see here.. (Score:1)
Re:Lemme see here.. (Score:1)
If they are wrapping these little bags of water in a full metal jacket and giving them a gold hat then that could theoretically become a mini duracell.
details. (Score:5, Informative)
thanks--and more info (Score:2)
Yeah, that Reuters article was practically useless. The 2003 article at least allowed me to find the more recent one by author, though I can't access the Science article because it was published online only.
I'm wondering where this Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology is located . . . I was at UT from 1996-2002, and I don't remember hearing about it.
So, for those who want i
I need more power, Captain (Score:1)
Argh! I'm Dying (Score:2, Funny)
That sucks.
Re:Argh! I'm Dying (Score:1)
"You know how you remember Elvis? He was found in the toilet with his pants around his ankles and his big fat hairy sweaty king-of-rock-and-roll ass exposed to the world and his final piece of kingly evidence floating in the toilet behind him! Creepy! One of his aids had to walk in and go, 'Damn, Elvis is dead. I'd better flush the toilet. Oh man I should've saved that! I coulda made some money off of that!'" ~ Denis Leary
Re:Argh! I'm Dying (Score:4, Funny)
Must pass gas, fill bowl with explosive mixture of H2, O2, CH4 and H2S, two or three M13 viruses are expelled into this mixture, a spark is created, and the next time you are seen, your head is embedded in the bathroom ceiling and your pants are smoldering.
Now THAT sucks.
You hear... (Score:2)
Beginning of the End (Score:2, Funny)
This is a terrible idea! Do you know what happens next? That's right. The viruses are going to mutate and join with the H5N1 Bird Flu, and then spread around the world in a massive, unstoppable pandemic - infecting every human being in the planet with batteries.
Next, the Internet finally ceases its false-slumber, and fully awakens as the sentient, computerized overlord of the planet. It promptly begins use of some "new form of fusion" it has discovered, combining it with our species' own battery-infec
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:1)
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:3, Funny)
Could you please tell me, because I've had to erase Matrix Revolutions from my memory
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:3, Funny)
If more people realized this, the world would be a finer place.
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:2)
That would be using the Potara earrings, I suppose, rather than the dance?
* now has a mental image of the Kakatrix, or possibly Matrotto, or even Smithokuu, taking over the world with electronic voodoo and implausible martial arts techniques... *
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:2)
And I had no clue what Potara earrings were until I noticed the Kaka and otto and okuu, though I'm just geeky enough to have at least read about the later series even if I wasnt able to see them, becuase I didnt have satellite after leaving home *sniff*
It's worse than you think... (Score:2)
Phase 1: The virus merges RNA chains with the Bird Flu
Phase 2: It then mutates into human, airborne form
Phase 3: Everyone on earth is infected
Phase 4: Suddenly, without warning, the microbatteries kick in, and everyone on earth begins simultaneously dancing the funky chicken
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:2)
I, for one, very much welcome our new digital overlords!
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:2)
I for one welcome the new Eveready virus overlords.
Call me a luddite... (Score:1, Troll)
Is this that good an idea? Is the risk of creating a virus with Cthulhu-knows-what properties that then is accidentally released worth having a cool kind of battery?
Yes, I know, there are "controls in place". But Monsanto had "controls in place" and swore its terminator plants couldn't cross-polinate anything... guess what? they did. (Monsanto then sued the guy whose fields were infected for patent infringement... wouldn't that be awesome, to get infected with a new ElectroVirus and get sued?)
Sometimes it
Re:Call me a luddite... (Score:1)
Sorry, how was that a troll? It's a serious question.
Animal to Computer Virus? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Animal to Computer Virus? (Score:2)
"Well, we could... er... perhaps if we... I got nothing. Dr Wu, any ideas?"
"Tell you what, I'll see if kartack has made any recent posts on Slashdot."
"Ah, now he's always good for a sinister idea. That one about stealing
Re:Animal to Computer Virus? (Score:1)
Re:Animal to Computer Virus? (Score:2)
Viral bling (Score:2, Funny)
Everyone knows a good lookin' virus needs to sport a little bling!
Where is The Article??? (Score:1)
Anybody who has access to Science help, please.
I would really like to encourage posters to cite the primary source of info. Make it a good habit. Please.
How do they train the little critters... (Score:1)
Veeroos (Score:1)
Re:Veeroos (Score:1)
I can already tell today is going to rock...
Re:Veeroos (Score:2)
Re:Veeroos (Score:1)
The original article in Science (Score:5, Informative)
charger? (Score:1)
"Honey, have you seen my nano-battery charger?"
"Have you checked between the keys on your laptop?"
When do you cross the line from nano-manufacture? (Score:2)
Re:When do you cross the line from nano-manufactur (Score:2)
Well, sure, but aside from some basic behaviors like "consuming resource" and "multiplying" I don't think anyone can really say in what way they will be similiar.
First, life does not boil down to "mere" chemistry very well--there are complex behaviors that it doesn't make much sense to try and describe in terms of chemistry (for example, chemistry can describe how DNA works, but it alone doesn't really tell you how a brain is
Need Glasses (Score:1)
Energizer -- they keep jumping, and jumping, and jumping, and jumping,....
Who thinks this stuff up? (Score:2)
Who in the hell comes up with this stuff?!? Honestly, I'd be part in awe and part scared shitless of anyone who's brain functions in that way.
Re:Who thinks this stuff up? (Score:2)
Re:Who thinks this stuff up? (Score:1)
"My battery is dead... Atchoo!"
Re:Who thinks this stuff up? (Score:2)
And I hope for hygiene's sake that you dont meet that person while you're in the shower.
Organic Technology (Score:1)
What would Jack Handy say? (Score:1)
"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it."
Yahoo article misses a point, see original paper (Score:2, Interesting)
You do not need to use viruses to produce small batteries, you need them to improve small batteries.
um, no! for all sooo many reasons. (Score:1, Informative)
Re:um, no! for all sooo many reasons. (Score:2)
Any yes, electron microscopists have been plating metal on biological samples for many years but its a completely different thing going on here. Traditional metal coating involves evap
Re:um, no! for all sooo many reasons. (Score:2)
As for this:
The power available goes down as the third power of the linear dimensions. A virus has about the smallest linear dimension of just about anything. When you take about the smallest number one can imagine, and cube it, you get a breathtakingly small number. That's the watt-hour capacity of a virus, down
Re:um, no! for all sooo many reasons. (Score:2)
>Um, they're making wires, not battery cells with the phage. The phage have exactly 0 volts of EMF and do not use any EMF to enter a cell. There's an intrinsic electrostatic charge on the phage that helps to attach to a cell but that is not EMF.
Sorry to be pedantic here, but yI think you can't have a charge without having EMF.
The diagrams of phages I've seen show a lunar-lander-like phage, with the leg's pads having t
An example of how not to do scientific journalism (Score:1)
Ah, brings back the memories... (Score:5, Informative)
Here's some background for the interested:
M13 is a filamentous bacteriophage. It infect E. coli bacteria and creates a latent infection where the E. coli ends up pumping out hundreds of new M13. Unlike most bacteriophage, the infection is not lethal to the host. The M13 phage itself is thread-like in structure. At the core is the a circular, single-stranded DNA genome arranged in a linear shape. (imagine grabbing a rubber band at both ends and stretching it out so that it's a very elongated and narrow oval) There are 5 types of coat proteins that then coat and protect this DNA. Here's a link to a decent site about M13: http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~mgonzalez/Micro5 21/Lambda/M13.html [ohio-state.edu]
One, G8P, is present in thousands of copies and coats the DNA in a spiral fashion. A pipe cleaner is a fairly good representation of what the phage looks like. At the ends, the other 4 types of proteins form end caps. On the end that infects bacteria, a protein known as G3P is present in 5 copies and mediates the atachment of the virus and its incorporation into the bacterium for infection. G3P is important because it's fairly exposed at the end of the virus. Also, experimentation over the years has found a 'permissive' region in G3P. A permissive region of the protein structure that is tolerant to the addition of new amino acid sequences that do not badly disrupt the normal protein function. Therefore, one can genetically engineer M13 to put a small chunk of new protein into this site and the virus is still capable of infecting bacteria and replicating. The inserted bit of protein is also known to be exposed at the end of the virus.
M13 is available in commercially generated libraries where tens of millions of randonly generated DNA sequences have been inserted into M13. These 'libraries' are then infected into bacteria and amplified. The resulting phage are then sold to researchers who want to find pecific protein sequences that bind to certain targets. Mostly, these targets are biological in nature. For example - to try and find peptide-based drugs that bind to and inactivate a particular cellular receptor. Here is a link to a commonly used commercial library (I used to use it and I know Belcher's group did too) http://www.neb.com/nebecomm/products/productE8120. asp [neb.com] The link also has lots of pretty pictures and the like about how phage display screening works in more detail that I've got below.
Essentially, what you do is take a substrate of interest, in this case, cobalt oxide and mix it with a sample of the library. You use incubation conditions where regular M13 doesn't stick to the CoO. If any of the library phage stick you know it is probably because those particular phage have a protein insert which binds specifically to CoO. You do a few rounds of binding and washing to get the strongest binders and then sequence the cobalt oxide binding proteins you've recovered.
You can churn out hundreds of sequences this way and start building up a library of proteins very specific to a particular inorganic substrate. You can, for example, create proteins that bind to only platinum versus gold and palladium, cupric oxide versus cuprous oxide, etc. There is even evidence that you can discriminate various sizes of nanoparticles and bind to particular crystalline faces of materials this way. I even heard a rumor a few years back of being able to distinguish p and n-doped
Re:Ah, brings back the memories... (Score:2)
Looks like they're mixing gold and CoO here. Unfortunately the abstract doesn't really explain how that's being done. It sounds as if they're seeding CoO growth directly on the phage (some materials can use M13 as a growth seed for crystal formation) and are then attaching gold nanoparticles to gold b
Heh. From the article, ... Introducing Manometers! (Score:2)
FTA,
"Each virus, and thus each wire, is only 6 manometers -- 6 billionths of a metre -- in diameter, and 880 manometers long, the researchers said."
Wow. Only 6 manometers! I wish I knew what a manometer was.
Go Reuters.
You will all be assimilated . . . (Score:1)
Good idea! (Score:1)
deeper details, virus battery (Score:1)
Re:So what? (Score:4, Funny)
But RTFA, But these are hearing aids for viruses.
Much smaller see? Tiny little ears.
Re:So what? (Score:1)
Re:So what? (Score:2)
Re:So what? (Score:2)
Not everything has to be 'biggest EVER' or 'smallest EVER' to be impressive, you know.
Re:How many strands of M13.... (Score:2)
Re:iPod Pico (Score:1)
Not a joke. It was only a short time ago, when discussing human usable interfaces right here on Slashdot, that I noted the basic workings of the iPod would soon be embeddable directly into the earbud.
In the first gen the main unit will look like an old fashioned, behind the ear, hearing aid, connected to a commom earbud by a single wire that can pass invisibly behind your head, under your hair. It will only hold about a half hour of nonrandom
Re:iPod Pico (Score:2)
Or one could go all-out and directly stimulate neurons in the cochlea [wikipedia.org], like cochlear implants do.