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Irish Scientists Discover Method to Produce Electricity From Tears
University of Limerick ^ | Monday, 2nd October 2017

Posted on 10/07/2017 1:55:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway

A team of scientists at University of Limerick has discovered that applying pressure to a protein found in egg whites and tears can generate electricity. The researchers from the Bernal Institute observed that crystals of lysozyme, a model protein that is abundant in egg whites of birds as well as in the tears, saliva and milk of mammals can generate electricity when pressed. Their report was published on October 2 in the journal, Applied Physics Letters.

The ability to generate electricity by applying pressure, known as direct piezoelectricity, is a property of materials such as quartz that can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and vice versa. Such materials are used in a variety of applications ranging from resonators and vibrators in mobile phones to deep ocean sonars and ultrasound imaging. Bone, tendon and wood are long known to possess piezoelectricity.

“While piezoelectricity is used all around us, the capacity to generate electricity from this particular protein had not been explored. The extent of the piezoelectricity in lysozyme crystals is significant. It is of the same order of magnitude found in quartz. However, because it is a biological material, it is non toxic so it could have many innovative applications such as electroactive anti-microbial coatings for medical implants,” explained Aimee Stapleton, the lead author and an Irish Research Council EMBARK Postgraduate Fellow in the Department of Physics and Bernal Institute of UL.

Crystals of lysozyme are easy to make from natural sources. “The high precision structure of lysozyme crystals has been known since 1965,” said structural biologist at UL and co-author Professor Tewfik Soulimane. “In fact, it is the second protein structure and the first enzyme structure that was ever solved,” he added, “but we are the first to use these crystals to show the evidence of piezoelectricity”.

According to team leader Professor Tofail Syed of UL’s Department of Physics, “Crystals are the gold-standard for measuring piezoelectricity in non-biological materials. Our team has shown that the same approach can be taken in understanding this effect in biology. This is a new approach as scientists so far have tried to understand piezoelectricity in biology using complex hierarchical structures such as tissues, cells or polypeptides rather than investigating simpler fundamental building blocks”.

The discovery may have wide reaching applications and could lead to further research in the area of energy harvesting and flexible electronics for biomedical devices. Future applications of the discovery may include controlling the release of drugs in the body by using lysozyme as a physiologically mediated pump that scavenges energy from its surroundings. Being naturally biocompatible and piezoelectric, lysozyme may present an alternative to conventional piezoelectric energy harvesters, many of which contain toxic elements such as lead.

Professor Luuk van der Wielen, Director of Bernal Institute and Bernal Professor of Biosystems Engineering and Design expressed his delight at this breakthrough by UL scientists. “The €109-million Bernal Institute has the ambition to impact the world on the basis of top science in an increasingly international context. The impact of this discovery in the field of biological piezoelectricity will be huge and Bernal scientists are leading from the front the progress in this field,” he said.

The full paper, The Direct Piezoelectric Effect in the Globular Protein Lysozyme, by Aimee Stapleton, Mohamed R Noor, John Sweeney, Vincent Casey, Andrei Kholkin, Christophe Silien, Abbasi A. Gandhi, Tewfik Soulimane and Syed A M Tofail, is published in Applied Physics Letters.


TOPICS: Local News; Science; Weird Stuff
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1 posted on 10/07/2017 1:55:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Maybe there’s a producive use for libs, after all.


2 posted on 10/07/2017 1:57:58 PM PDT by pax_et_bonum (Never Forget the SEALs of Extortion 17 - and God Bless The United States of America.)
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To: nickcarraway

Paging Hillary Clinton’s election-night pillow!!


3 posted on 10/07/2017 1:58:42 PM PDT by workerbee (America finally has an American president again.)
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To: nickcarraway

After what I have lived through, I could probably light up Fenway Park!


4 posted on 10/07/2017 1:58:47 PM PDT by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.)
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To: nickcarraway

No wonder those people starved.


5 posted on 10/07/2017 1:58:57 PM PDT by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." --Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
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To: nickcarraway

They make pizzaelectricity?

Wait.

Is beer a good conductor?


6 posted on 10/07/2017 1:59:25 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: nickcarraway

Damn. Too bad this wasn’t available the night of the last Presidential Election. We could’ve harnessed enough electricity to last many years...


7 posted on 10/07/2017 2:00:04 PM PDT by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: nickcarraway

University of Limerick .... really?

Hickory dickory dock...


8 posted on 10/07/2017 2:01:15 PM PDT by bar sin·is·ter (Climate Scientology - another example of science fiction morphing into a religious cult)
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To: blueunicorn6

I’ll bet anchovies produce the most pizzaelectricity.


9 posted on 10/07/2017 2:01:45 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: nickcarraway

University of Limerick?

the end of our long blackout fears
is now found in a barrel of tears
just add an egg white
to turn on this light
the better to pour four more beers


10 posted on 10/07/2017 2:02:59 PM PDT by NutsOnYew (If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be.)
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To: bar sin·is·ter
Hickory dickory dock...

"......OH!"

11 posted on 10/07/2017 2:03:25 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: NutsOnYew

Brilliant


12 posted on 10/07/2017 2:03:36 PM PDT by bar sin·is·ter (Climate Scientology - another example of science fiction morphing into a religious cult)
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To: nickcarraway

I always keep a couple of pepperoni pizzas in the freezer in case the power goes out.

Pizzaelectricity - Power For The Future!


13 posted on 10/07/2017 2:03:53 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: blueunicorn6

If the power goes out, how would you cook them?


14 posted on 10/07/2017 2:05:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3588472/posts

Donald Trump Proposes Harnessing Liberal Tears To Provide Clean Energy
babylon bee ^ | December 29, 2016

Posted on 9/23/2017, 7:57:17 PM by Mount Athos

Donald Trump is proposing a plan to provide the nation with clean energy throughout all fifty states.

The plan reportedly includes as a key component the harnessing of the nation’s abundant supply of liberal tears, the flow of which would be utilized to power massive hydroelectric generators installed throughout the nation.

Trump and his advisers reportedly got the idea while watching the nation’s widespread protests against his upcoming presidency, and noticed an abundant flow of salty tears, the energy-giving potential of which was being completely squandered as the teardrops ran off into gutters or evaporated into thin air.

“People say I’m no good on energy. Wrong. I’m great on energy, the best,” Trump said in a press conference to announce his new energy plan.

“Let’s put these tears to work, and let’s make America’s energy great again.”


15 posted on 10/07/2017 2:05:48 PM PDT by Mount Athos (A Giant luxury mega-mansion for Gore, a Government Green EcoShack made of poo for you)
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To: bar sin·is·ter

Now Chuck Schumer can help solve our energy problem.


16 posted on 10/07/2017 2:10:02 PM PDT by Steelfish
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To: nickcarraway

“And what is your Science Fair project?”

“It’s about Pizzaelectricity.”

“I see....How does it work?”

“Well, the theory is that you push on this pizza and it makes the electricity to power this light bulb.”

“Did it work?”

“No, it just shot sauce out all over the floor. The dog thought it was great.”

“I’m glad he did because I’m giving you a D.”


17 posted on 10/07/2017 2:11:41 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: dfwgator

Roseanne Barr naked.... gone!


18 posted on 10/07/2017 2:12:59 PM PDT by bar sin·is·ter (Climate Scientology - another example of science fiction morphing into a religious cult)
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To: nickcarraway

I don’t know.

Electricity and pizzas are phenomena that are hard to understand.


19 posted on 10/07/2017 2:14:39 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: nickcarraway

“It is of the same order of magnitude found in quartz. However, because it is a biological material, it is non toxic “

Is Quartz toxic in the way it’s used?


20 posted on 10/07/2017 2:15:18 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra (Don't touch that thing Don't let anybody touch that thing!I'm a Doctor and I won't touch that thing!)
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