Scientists and designery tech-types are always looking for sustainable energy sources, so hats off to whoever decided that they could literally harness the power of a jaw to power headphones or Bluetooth devices.
Made from a piezoelectric material called PFC, which produces electric charge when it is stretched, the chinstrap goes around your chin (duh) and you stretch it with your jaw.
The researchers from the Sonomax-ÉTS Industrial Research Chair in In-ear Technologies in Montreal, Canada (let’s call them ‘those jaw guys’ for short) found that the most charge they got from the device was 18 microwatts, reports MailOnline. It’s not a lot but they’re excited because renewable energy is in high demand and short supply right now.
Though we’ve witnessed the sorts of gurns that could grind through marble, there are some other valuable sources of human power we should really begin to harness, such as:
Pins and needles
That fuzzy feeling that shoots all over your body does no good to anyone. If there was some sort of portable mill that could tick round with every sharp-numb sensation we get after we cross our legs for ages, then maybe there would be some use to pins and needles beyond being a good excuse for not walking anywhere.
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Eye twitches
Myokymia is when your eye, or entire face, just twitches for basically no reason whatsoever. If entire face shudders can’t be used for some sustainable energy, then we demand a cure for this ridiculous sporadic condition.
Stomps
Everyone likes a good ragey stomp when they're annoyed, so how about putting a sort of pedometer-fuelled stomp-surge device within the heels of our shoes, so all that anger can literally be turned into good vibes?
Children
Anyone who’s had to corral any children into any orderly fashion will realise that Weetabix, rice cakes, carrot sticks and whatever else parents are feeding their kids these days converts into actual proper energy. And if anyone has told you that children don’t break a sweat, they’re lying. We’re not directly suggesting that entire schools of children should be put onto giant treadmills, but perhaps it’s time to think of ways to make their annoying fidgets give a little back to the National Grid.
Orgasms
We wouldn’t want to miss out on them because sometimes it feels like they’re the best thing in the world, but all of those tingles could surely do something useful – beyond making us feel good, right?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.