Running Hamster Powers Tiny Generator Thursday, February 12, 2009 Print ShareThis Wikimedia Commons A hamster runs on a wheel in his cage. Researchers have shown that a nanogenerator can be driven by low-energy, irregular biomotion, including that from a hamster's running and scratching, Technology Review reported. A team at Georgia Tech put a small jacket on a running hamster and harvested its energy as it ran and scratched itself. They also put a nanogenerator on a person's index finger and recorded how much power was generated while it was tapped on a surface. The generated energy measured a nanowatt. Zhong Lin Wang, who leads the research group, says in theory, this should make it possible to make an implantable version of the nanogenerator, Technology Review reported. He predicted that in the five to 10 years, they can boost the power output and it could be woven into jackets and be used to charge batteries for portable elctronic devices.