Very interesting news for mobile computing in the future. Imagine leaving your laptop or pda on, at full brightness and with WiFi connected as long as you want! I wouldn't expect it next year, but it might be a breakthrough that frees us from the chains of the recharger cord.
As it's unfamiliar technology to me, let's quote directly from the source...
Quote:
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A battery with a lifespan measured in decades is in development at the University of Rochester, as scientists demonstrate a new fabrication method that in its roughest form is already 10 times more efficient than current nuclear batteries—and has the potential to be nearly 200 times more efficient. The details of the technology, already licensed to BetaBatt Inc., appears in today’s issue of Advanced Materials.
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Now if you're like me, the first question is not even "when it appears", but what will it do to me!? It sounds dangerous on the surface. We already need to be careful not to put laptops on our laps if we want to stay fertile. And recently there was someone that went poking into an iPod with a screwdriver causing it to explode and sending him to the hospital. (He was okay.) Now we're talking about radiation for consumer devices?
Well, it can't be too bad. For one thing, they list implanted pacemakers as a potential application. For another thing, one of the Slashdot comments says that it might use alpha radiation which bounces off skin and is only dangerous if inhaled. I don't know of too many people that have broken open batteries and inhaled them. Maybe someone who knows something about the technology can tell us more about the safety aspects.
Read all about it at
PhysOrg (via Slashdot).