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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

That's "Rays," as in, "Stingrays":

Scientists from the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center in Japan removed the electric organ from a torpedo and chemically stimulated the organ by injecting a solution of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine though a syringe [phys.org]. They were able to achieve more than a minute of continuous current, with a peak voltage of 91 mV and 0.25 mA of current. By increasing the number of syringes, they achieved a peak voltage of 1.5 V and a current of 0.64mA.

The environmental impact of electric power generation is a pressing international concern. There are mandates to reduce the environment impact of power generation, leading to a push away from conventional thermal and nuclear power. Recently, biofuel cells such as glucose fuel cells and microbial fuel cells have been developed to meet these mandates. However, the performance of these fuel cells remains inferior to conventional systems.

Nature, researchers recently found, may be able to teach us a better way. Scientists from the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center (QBiC) in Osaka began work to develop a new type of electricity generator, based on the knowledge that electric rays known as torpedoes can beat other systems by generating electric power with near 100% efficiency. The torpedo has electric organs with densely-aligned membrane proteins that convert the chemical energy of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into ion transport energy, and a nervous system that controls the whole process.

So what they need now to meet their power needs is an...array?

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