Forget faster chips—fit a jet engine to your laptop and watch it fly.
MIT research scientists are working on a turbine the size of a shirt button that
one day may power portable computers and mobile phones for hours on end. So far,
the researchers have made a 4-millimetre turbine wheel and the bearings the
wheel will sit on. Next comes the compressor and generator. Eventually, all the
components will be combined on a chip to make a generator that weighs less than
1 gram and produces more than 10 watts of electricity.
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Mind
‘Remarkable’ discovery upends our understanding of how brains store memories
News
Humans
DNA reveals a society organised around women in pre-Roman Britain
News
Physics
Quantum entanglement is key to solving 250-year-old maths problem
News
Space
The most breathtaking photos of the total solar eclipse
News
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles