Snails in a race for biological energy harvesting

Bioengineers are getting better at replacing and enhancing body parts, but so far they´ve struggled to power implantable bionics without resorting to clunky batteries. Recently, researchers have turned to blood as a power source, because it carries energy in the form of electron-rich molecules like glucose and delivers it to all parts of the body. Chemist Evgeny Katz of Clarkson University, in Potsdam, N.Y., and his colleagues tested a new kind of fuel cell that, when implanted in Neohelix albolabris snails and immersed in the snails´ blue, blood-like hemolymph, produced a small, steady supply of electricity over a period of months.