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Published online 7 February 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.558
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Shake a leg to power your phone
Electricity can be produced using the mechanics of human walking.
A new device that straps to your leg can extract enough energy from your walking motion to power ten mobile phones — and the developers say that you'll barely notice the extra effort it requires.
Max Donelan of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, and his colleagues say that their device should capture even more power, at a lower energy cost to the wearer, once it is improved beyond the current prototype.
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As a runner and a backpacker, I'd like to know if this burns extra calories. Sounds like work to me. Jimmy T. Hats www.jamestwohats.com