I know virtually nothing about this, but wouldn't adding resistance to our blood flow through our veins be a bad thing? Not to mention the risk of it ripping out, or jamming.
Plus whatever atrophying might hapen to the segment of vein that is under less pressure now that some or all of the flow is being rerouted through the device.
The way the artist portrays it is as a means to collect power from the body to be used elsewhere, which I think is just a somewhat naive idea of how things work. The problem with that, is that energy was already extracted by our body from the food we eat, and this is just re-harvesting it (in absurdly small, rather useless amounts) and causing further loss. It's better for powering small things that are going to be a part of our body from that point on.
I think of it like adding an LED to a fan in your PC tower and running it off the existing power supply, rather than trying to use that fan to turn a generator and run your fridge.
The difference between this idea and something like solar power, is that the energy being collected is IN ADDITION to the current energy draw of the system you're collecting from, rather than energy that would have been lost if it had not been collected.
Ya I saw this earlier and thought it was too easy to take pot shots at to bother posting it here. I mean few HUGE flaws: it's transdermal AND directly into your veins. Heart bacterial infection anyone? if anything catches it, you're now spraying blood, even if it's a little, you're leaking. as the turbine spins it could produce bubbles which I don't think I need to explain why that's bad and even if it didn't implanting it would be a pain. The anchor could cause internal bleeding if it's moved too suddenly by riping a vein open. Generally it's a poor design. Chemical harvesting would make for far more ideal power sources, especially something that produces a natural body waste product. Also I fail ot see the point of this. TO power your ipod? or what? Is it making you high? doesn't really seem to have much of a purpose other than to be weird looking. Artists come up with some weird shit sometimes.
It looks cool, but then it's supposed to given that it's just art. It's commentary on how hungry we are for new ways to power our world; I don't think it's supposed to be an actual power source...
At least that's how I read it. I was very surprised at the number of people (on the IFLscience page) who seemed to think it was supposed to actually be a viable tech.
Comments
Pretty cool. Looking forward to seeing how we harness this power and what we do with it.
The way the artist portrays it is as a means to collect power from the body to be used elsewhere, which I think is just a somewhat naive idea of how things work. The problem with that, is that energy was already extracted by our body from the food we eat, and this is just re-harvesting it (in absurdly small, rather useless amounts) and causing further loss. It's better for powering small things that are going to be a part of our body from that point on.
I think of it like adding an LED to a fan in your PC tower and running it off the existing power supply, rather than trying to use that fan to turn a generator and run your fridge.
The difference between this idea and something like solar power, is that the energy being collected is IN ADDITION to the current energy draw of the system you're collecting from, rather than energy that would have been lost if it had not been collected.
At least that's how I read it. I was very surprised at the number of people (on the IFLscience page) who seemed to think it was supposed to actually be a viable tech.