We humanfolk just got one step closer to becoming Matrix-food. Swiss researchers have developed a way to harness the energy produced by our beating heart — which is around 1-1.5 watts — with what amount to tiny, implantable power plants. Comprised primarily of very small turbines that work much like a hydroelectric generator, when inserted into a human artery, the device taps into just 1 milliwatt of heart-power and can use that energy to power things like pacemakers that would otherwise require replaceable batteries. As long as your heart is beating, the flowing blood will turn the turbine and power the device.

IIIE Spectrum reports that the “heart is a pump in a prime location, brimming with energy for the taking, says mechanical engineer Alois Pfenniger. So together with colleagues at the University of Bern and the Bern University of Applied Sciences, in Switzerland, Pfenniger has tested small turbines designed to fit inside a human artery, like an implantable hydroelectric generator”.

And the first round of results are in. At a recent conference, “Pfenniger presented results from a trial in which a tube is designed to mimic the internal thoracic artery, a millimeters-wide vessel that doctors sometimes cannibalize for surgery because it is redundant,” according to IIIE. “The most efficient of the three off-the-shelf turbines he tested produced around 800 microwatts, which could run devices much more power hungry than today’s pacemakers. Blood-pressure sensors, drug-delivery pumps, or neurostimulators could all benefit from an independent power supply.”

There’s some concern that the device might cause blood clots, but the researchers are optimistic that there are ways to effectively work around such issues.

And while the primary aim is to use energy generated by human organs to power medical devices, the Humanity+ folks and the futurists will no doubt have a field day pondering the possibilities this research might hold for melding man with machine down the line …

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Photo: Alois Pfenniger, ARTORG Cardiovascular Engineering, University of Bern, Switzerland