Free Republic

The simple mention of the word "radiation" often evokes fear in people. For others, it's fun to think a little exposure to radiation could turn you into the next superhero, just like the Hulk. But is it true basically everything around us is radioactive, even the food we eat? You may have heard bananas are mildly radioactive, but what does that actually mean? And despite us not being superheroes, are human bodies also radioactive? What is radiation? Radiation is energy that travels from one point to another, either as waves or particles. We are exposed to radiation from various natural...

Engineers at Duke University have designed a breakthrough gadget that 'harvests' background microwave radiation and converts it into electricity, with the same efficiency as solar panels. The development, unveiled on Thursday, raises exciting possibilities such as recharging a phone wirelessly and providing power to remote locations that can't access conventional electricity. And the researchers say that their inexpensive invention is remarkably versatile. It could be used to capture 'lost' energy from a range of sources such as satellite transmissions, sound signals or Wi-Fi. The Duke engineers used metamaterials, which their press release describes as 'engineered structures that can capture various...