Soldiers
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electricity
Knee Brace Charges Your Cellphone
A knee brace that generates enough electricity to power 10 cellphones was demonstrated by scientists recently. The brace harvests the energy of a person's knee braking after taking a step, similar to the way hybrid car brakes collect energy to charge their batteries. The device only weighs 3.5 pounds, and does not need the intense effort that other human-powered energy generators such as hand cranks require. And while the cellphone measurement given by the creators is pretty useless, they do have several practical applications in mind. More »
power up
Soldiers Go Solar
Australian soldiers are now beginning deployment with wearable solar panels. Just like most of us, their military is weighed down by too many gadgets that are consuming too much power. But unlike most of us, their use of night vision is for more than "recreational" purposes. So the government has spent £1million developing a 14- ounce solar panel that's even effective on cloudy days by pulling power from solar radiation (as opposed to mere light). The technology should save battery trips back and forth to base, as well as lighten the overall load of the Iraq-based troops. Now if they can just develop generators powered by pissing oneself, I'm all set to enlist. [dailymail via spluch]
US Soldiers to Get Brain Microchipped to Measure Vitals
The Department of Defense is pursuing a brain-implantable "biochip" that will measure/relay a soldier's vitals on the battlefield (and off). We don't know much from a technical standpoint about the chips, other than they are about the size of a grain of rice and will have the ability to, at minimum, measure oxygen levels in tissue. But the technological breakthrough involved has little to do with the electronics.
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