Protecting furry pets from static electricity during thunderstorms [new patent]

Earthing mats (a.k.a. ElectroStatic Discharge – Safe Mats) are commonplace in the electronics industry, where sensitive components need to be protected against potentially damaging rogue electrostatic discharges (ESDs). Not so common, though, for protecting furry pets in the home. But this may now have changed. Inventors Thomas J. Gaskill (Haddonfield, NJ), and James S. Gatti […]

Electrical power from coffee and coffee grounds, more or less

Two coffee/caffeine/electricity-generation studies to consider: “Direct power generation from waste coffee grounds in a biomass fuel cell,” Hansaem Jang, Joey D. Ocon, Seunghwa Lee, Jae Kwang Lee, and Jaeyoung Lee, Journal of Power Sources, 296 (2015): 433-439. “Caffeine Improves the Performance and Thermal Stability of Perovskite Solar Cells,” Rui Wang, Jingjing Xue, Lei Meng, Yonghai […]

The photovoltaic effect of “ferroelectric” bananas [new study]

Building on the work of Prof. James F. Scott, FRS of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge UK, who showed that : “[…] ordinary bananas exhibit closed loops of switched charge versus applied voltage that are nearly identical to those misinterpreted as ferroelectric hysteresis loops in crystals.” See: ‘Hysterical ferroelectric banana misinterpretations’, November, 2015) Muhammad Ismail and colleagues […]

Shocking fish therapy for hemorrhoids (and other ailments)

If you were unfortunate enough to be suffering from hemorrhoids, would you consider applying 350 volt electric shocks to the affected area – supplied via an electric fish? Improbable though it may seem, such practices were well known in Roman times – predating modern TENS machines by some 2000 years. “Ecclesiastes 1:9 states that there is […]

Improbable Research