Adumbration

It might have been at work where I first saw mention of this story in Gizmag, describing how Evgeny Katz and fellow researchers at Clarkson University have implanted a snail with an enzyme-based biofuel reactor, allowing said snail to generate electrical power though something like the normal digestive process.  Here is the JACS article that forms the basis for the story.

Before long my brain was buring a few calories thinking about how this sort of technology will revolutionize weight loss programs, when people learn how to embed such systems in our own bodies and use them to power all sorts of personal bio-electronics from telescopic vision to wide-band communication.   We may even be wanting to increase our consumption of sugary fluids as the number and power of such devices increases.

This work follows similar research with cockroaches, and Gizmag reports that lobsters are next for Katz and company.  Can humans be far behind?

A little more recently I came upon this story in Technology Review, which describes a team at Autodesk led by Christian Holz who reported implanting macro-sized devices into a cadaver - a button, LED, and touch sensor with Bluetooth communication and wireless charging.

Notwithstanding handwringing by TR and New Scientist over our cyborg future, whatever these devices turn out to be in terms of function, I advise you be able to get an upgrade when the new versions come out.