[Red Badger]

Agriculture Ping!................

[dfwgator]

[Bayard]

Dirt farming tech.

[Ikeon]

The cell is the size of a sofa , takes 2-4’unobtanium rods, and generates 0.00001 watts.

[fireman15]

If only the people who couldn't charge their Teslas in Chicago knew that they could have got them going with a bag of potatoes, some galvanized nails, copper coated coins, and a little wire...

Cheap Tesla battery replacement

[Wuli]

The money quote about the applicability of the “dirt” fuel cell:

“We can use very simple engineered systems to capture their electricity. We’re not going to power entire cities with this energy. But we can capture minute amounts of energy to fuel practical, low-power applications.”

In sum - limited applicability.

[Gene Eric]

“So uhh... where’d you get the dirt?”
“Yucca Mountain”

[I want the USA back]

All caps in the headline. Use of the word “incredible.” Claiming to run on dirt.

After a headline like that I’m not very much inclined to believe anything the article says.

[fightin kentuckian]

Researchers my foot. Since when did researchers ever invent anything the free market could use. All useful inventions were invented by a hard working entrepreneur building a better mouse trap.

[fedupjohn]

Probably from a Federal Grant and the last lines of the study will be.

Further Studies Needed. ie. More Grant Money

[PTBAA]

Set them up in DC for a perpetual energy supply.

[daku]

Think of these poor microbes, what happens to the microbes ?
MLM

[lurk]

Isn’t it more efficient to create farms of unconscious people and plug them into the grid?

[stylin19a]

Their lead sentence from their abstract

Abstract
Human-caused climate degradation and the explosion of electronic waste have pushed the computing community to explore fundamental alternatives to the current battery-powered, over-provisioned ubiquitous computing devices that need constant replacement and recharging.

Wonder if it has to be implanted below the frost line...

[catnipman]

“NORTHWESTERN RESEARCHERS INVENT AN INCREDIBLE POWER-GENERATING FUEL CELL THAT RUNS ON DIR”

Awesome! My lot just happens to contain a YUGE amount of dirt! AND, if i run out, it’s easy enough to get plenty more!

[Gaffer]

If they could find a way to do this with processed trash waste from compost-producing plants many county waste handling departments have gotten taxpayers to fund that would be a good thing, I guess.

[moovova]

"Be back shortly, hon. Gotta run to Lowe's and buy some fuel."

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Solar panels don’t work well in dirty environments because they get covered with dirt”

EUREKA! I've got the solution! We'll bury a fuel cell IN the dirt.

[Libloather]

Isn’t that where ze bugs live? Gonna have to pick one or the other.