• Caltech graduate student Habib Ahmad help design and carry out
tests to develop the new rubber chips.     Credit: James Heath
Lab   • The PZT ribbons covering this minuscule rubber chip have
the capacity to harness energy generated from body movements and
convert it to a power source.     Credit: Nano Letters
03/16/2010 22:00:00  Power Walk This Way  Scientists Develop
Device That Harnesses Energy from Everyday Movements  These
boots are made for walking . . . and for powering up your cell
phone?  It could happen, according to a team of Princeton and
Caltech scientists. In a recent paper in the journal Nano
Letters, they report that they have developed an innovative
rubber chip that has the ability to harvest energy from motions
such as walking, running, and breathing and convert it into a
power source.   Score one for the body electric.  "It opens up a
lot of possibilities," says Caltech graduate student Habib
Ahmad, a coauthor on the paper. "We all dissipate energy as we
move our bodies around, and concei