Wired up for micro-power

A microscopic technology capable of generating electricity from human movement such as walking, waving or even blood flowing has been developed by researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Reminiscent in some ways of UK inventor Trevor Baylis' electricity-generating shoes (abandoned after terrorists used footwear to conceal explosives), the technology - described as a nanogenerator - depends on the special properties of tiny zinc oxide wires.

When subjected to mechanical stress, these wires, only one five thousandth the width of a human hair, generate an electric current.

According to Zhong Lin Wang, lead researcher, the device could be used to charge gadgets such as iPods and BlackBerrys as well as having a impact on defence technology, environmental monitoring and biomedical sciences. "This technology can be used to generate energy under any circumstances as long as there is movement," he said.

The nanogenerator would be useful to troops far from energy sources in the field but having to use sensors or communication devices, he said.

The zinc oxide wires could be "grown" on a variety of surfaces including metals, ceramics, polymers, clothing and even tent material, where the wind could create enough movement for power generation.

Mussel poison fished out

Anyone falling ill after eating mussels - thankfully, a comparatively rare occurrence - can now blame a tiny marine alga called Azadinium spinosum.

The role of the alga in cases of shellfish poisoning has been uncovered by researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, who report their findings in the European Journal of Phycology.

The poison that Azadinium produces - azaspiracid - can cause diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and neurotoxicological effects including paralysis and death.

The identification of the culprit should form the basis of an early warning system for mussel farms. The researchers managed to grow the previously unknown alga in culture and identify it as the producer of azaspiracid, one of a group of so-called algal toxins.

Mussels and other shellfish filter large volumes of these micro-organisms from seawater and the toxins are retained and concentrated in their flesh. Now the researchers are working to establish why the alga produces this poison and its environmental significance.

Wound healing uncovered

The mysteries of wound healing have been further clarified by research that has also found an unlikely link between diabetes and eczema. The work may lead to ways to improve wound healing in diabetics.

Carried out by scientists at the University of California, San Diego, and reported in Nature magazine, the research identifies a protein called caspase 8 that is critical to wound healing - at least, in laboratory mice. This protein is produced overabundantly in diabetics - who typically lack a normal wound response and suffer complications from minor cuts and grazes. But it is deficient in people suffering from eczema whose skin, chronically inflamed, cannot carry out its normal protective function.

The San Diego scientists think that after damage to the skin, loss of caspase 8 from surface cells releases a second protein, interleukin 1-alpha, capable of travelling deep into the skin to stimulate stem cells to produce skin cells to fill and eventually heal the wound.

Cokin Jamora, who led the research, said he hoped it would contribute to alleviating the pain and suffering of millions of people with eczema and diabetes.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009