National Parks and Parks Project

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Batteries are all around us, in things we use all the time, and in all different shapes and sizes, so of course we know exactly how they all work, right? Nope! Not even close! The bizarre breadth of our battery banter includes Ben Franklin, tiny computers, and...shrimp? 

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[Trivia Question]

Oxford Electric Bell battery lifespan

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/52147/what%E2%80%99s-world%E2%80%99s-longest-running-science-experiment

https://archwww.physics.ox.ac.uk/history/Exhibit1.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mystery-continuously-functioning-battery-1840-180954028/

https://x.com/UniofOxford/status/1610593348464640001?s=20

[Fact Off]

Edible battery for sustainability (and maybe child safety)

https://academic.oup.com/jimb/article/45/5/313/5996662

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/05/researchers-craft-a-fully-edible-battery/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36919977/

https://www.popsci.com/technology/edible-battery-prototype/

https://www.connecticutchildrens.org/ear-nose-and-throat/what-to-do-if-your-child-swallows-or-ingests-a-button-battery/#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20about%202%2C500%20kids,stomach%2C%20it%20can%20be%20fatal.

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/08/31/491947946/how-an-edible-battery-could-power-medical-robots-you-swallow

Platypus electroreception study using batteries

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3945317/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-03-12-vw-18644-story.html

https://www.jstor.org/stable/56002?typeAccessWorkflow=login

https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/202/10/1447/8186/Electroreception-in-monotremes

[Ask the Science Couch]

Grid-scale storage with batteries

https://www.iea.org/energy-system/electricity/grid-scale-storage

https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy19osti/74426.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032122001368

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X17304437

https://www.science.org/content/article/new-generation-flow-batteries-could-eventually-sustain-grid-powered-sun-and-wind

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032113005418?via%3Dihub

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rechargeable-molten-salt-battery-freezes-energy-in-place-for-long-term-storage/

[Butt One More Thing]

Microbial battery with exoelectrogens and poop water

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1307327110

https://www.theverge.com/2013/9/19/4747532/scientists-use-poop-to-generate-electricity