Bless you, viruses!

Is there anything better guaranteed to ruin your summer holidays than catching a nasty cold? Swimming and living your life to the full become a no-no. I just feel bored, useless, a real vegetable. I wonder how I could do something useful, to contribute to family life, even if I am sick. In fact, the only thing you can do is to sleep like a doormouse and take disgusting medicine to recover... But, how about creating energy thanks to my cold? Will viruses be our future allies to power the world?!

Scientists in the US have developed a way to generate electricity using viruses according to BBC news in an article published last May (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18074644). The principle is quite simple: negatively charged molecules and viruses are connected to particles which increase the voltage of the viruses. These arrange themselves into an “orderly film” called piezoelectric material. By applying pressure on this film, mechanical energy is then converted into electricity. And there you have it!

At the moment, the maximum energy released has only allowed the number “1” on a screen to appear, but the researchers hope to improve this revolutionary technique using nanotechnology.

In my opinion, a new step has been crossed in biochemical energy development. Thanks to these scientists, in the future, we will be able to produce our own energy so as to power our own batteries, generators, devices. Just imagine the number of viruses that are in the air, this potential energy which is right under our nose!

Nonetheless, this discovery implies the use of microorganisms, modified at the atomic scale and which might be dangerous for humans or the environment. Furthermore, creating personal electricity means human body mutations, and these kinds of transformations might be very dangerous...

This extraordinary discovery is only at the research stage, so I’m sure I’ll not be producing personal energy this summer thanks to my cold! However, I’m convinced that further research is a good thing.