Sometime in the future: A patient leaves the hospital with a new pacemaker implanted next to her heart to steady its beat. Her older brother, who went through the same procedure a few years earlier, will soon need another major surgery to replace his pacemaker’s batteries. But she won’t. Her device can generate its own electricity indefinitely with sugar and oxygen harvested from her bloodstream.
Scientists are racing to perfect the technology that could make this possible. If they succeed, these “biological fuel cells” could usher in a new wave of medical devices smaller and more versatile than today’s batteries allow.
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