Finding toxins with mussels. Free Technical Library News

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Finding toxins with mussels

27.03.2021

American scientists have developed a Fitbit water quality detector that monitors mussel activity.

When mussels feed, they open their shells, but if there is something harmful in the water, they immediately close. In the new system, the developers observe the behavior of the mussels to determine how often the mussels close their shells, at what speed, and how they coordinate with each other.

Specifically, the system uses two inertial measurement units (IMUs) on each mussel. Each of the IMUS includes a magnetometer and an accelerometer: your smartphone probably has these too and monitors its movement from place to place.

One IMU is attached to the top shell of the mussel, the other to the bottom. This allows researchers to compare the movement of the halves of the shell relative to each other. In other words, it allows the researchers to determine if the mussel closes its shell accurately.

When placed in a natural environment, the data collection system is solar powered and transmits sensor data wirelessly. The developed type works on four mussels connected to the system, but can handle dozens.

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Random news from the Archive

Smartphone charger converts household noise into electricity 23.08.2014

Researchers from Nokia and Queen Mary University of London have created a working mobile phone charging system using sound waves. This was reported by the resource Gizmag.

The very idea of such a system was proposed in 2010 by Korean scientists. It was supposed to work using the piezoelectric effect: nanowires based on zinc oxide should convert vibrations caused by sound into electricity. But only now, European engineers have managed to reach a current strength of such a level that it turned out to be quite sufficient to charge mobile devices.

Like colleagues from Korea, scientists from Nokia and the University of London used a sheet with zinc oxide nanorods: they generate an electric current by bending under the influence of a mechanical load (for example, sound waves).

The researchers sprayed liquid zinc oxide onto the surface of the plastic sheet. The plastic sheet was then placed in a mixture of chemicals and heated to 90°C. As a result, zinc oxide was transformed into a "forest" of nanorods. Then the sheet was placed between two gold electrical contact panels made of gold (in order to reduce costs, the developers suggest making them from ordinary aluminum foil).

The resulting prototype device is equal in size to some smartphones and can generate an electric current of up to 5 V on everyday noises (music, voices, the hum of cars). For comparison, Korean researchers in their experiments managed to achieve a voltage of only 50 mV. The source does not report on the strength of the current in the circuit, but it is mentioned that the energy received is quite enough to infect a mobile phone.

"Being able to eliminate the use of batteries in mobile phones by taking advantage of the energy scattered around is just an amazing idea. We hope we can bring it closer to implementation in practice," said Dr. Joe Briscoe, lead author of the project.

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