I’m sure we’ve all seen the rapid growth of smart devices as, at least a little bit, intriguing. Smart phones, smart televisions, smart pet feeders, and smart automobiles were all in the “way in the future” category not too long ago. Human inventiveness and ingenuity have driven these ideas, and more, and have created the technology needed to accomplish these devices.
Things like processing power and chip size come to mind. What once took rooms full of computers the size of refrigerators now resides in the smartwatch on our wrist. The same goes for data storage. Hard drives used to be huge (and expensive) and now reside in flash drives and memory cards the size of an American dime.
Perhaps, at least to me, one of the most interesting advancements is that of power supplies. We have moved from a corded “plug-in” world to a battery-powered world for our devices which has allowed for a lot of freedom and flexibility. A new battery has been designed that is, in my opinion, pretty amazing.
Folks in Singapore with the Nanyang Technological University have designed a very small battery, micrometers thin. It can be charged by human tears, and they are putting it to work to power smart contact lenses. Read more about it at the Interesting Engineering website.
What other applications can you think of that these micrometer batteries could be used? Let me know in the comments below.
