Hamster power

Who hasn't joked about the hamster (or squirrel) on the wheel powering our computer (or car, or something). In this MSNBC article they built tiny little jackets containing nano-wires that generate electricity every time the hamster moves. But don't expect to be powering anything realistic with a hamster. Top power was about the equivalent of 1/20 of an AA battery (so it would take 80 hamsters to power my camera). Scientists hope to come up with a way to mass produce nano-wires to allow them to build a human sized jacket that could run an iPod within 3 years.

(picture from MSNBC article linked above)