ooo, i’m trying to keep up on Deep Brain Stimulation research (i want one for reasons. they aren’t doing what i want yet, but in about 5 years they should be there) and that sounds like related research
That’s the most common proposal for MHD generators - once it goes thru the MHD proper you use the waste heat to drive a conventional powerplant. Unfortunately MHD requires the production of plasma to be effective, and plasma just does not like to exist, so the engineering practicalities make it… unlikely to ever be even remotely viable outside of incredibly niche applications (non-plasma MHD has been studied, and I believe there are even some human trials, to power implants in the body like pacemakers)
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
Warl0k3@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
I’ll admit I’ve been out of the field for a couple years so my information is going to be outdated, but I believe the issue with using MHD for continuous stimulation is that it generates tiny amounts of power - enough to trickle-charge a pacemaker, but not enough to keep tickling the brainstem with the frequency needed in DBS.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
huh, so you wouldn’t have to plug in and recharge your pace?
Warl0k3@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
I think the idea was to provide a redundant method of charging in case you’re unable or forget to recharge it externally.
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Jesus Christ, I imagined some kind of Matrix scenario when you said human trials.
Warl0k3@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Worry not, the implanted power systems I know of generate at peak a few nanowatts of energy. Enough to tricklecharge a device or run some very very very efficient digital hardware, but no way you’re harvesting that power for anything useful. It’d be far more practical just to have the humans chained to bicycle generators…
T156@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
The oil crisis isn’t quite that bad yet.