Mini ‘wind farm’ could capture energy from microbes in motion

Chaotic swirling becomes synchronized swimming to rotate turbines, simulation shows

wind farm

PINT-SIZED POWER  Computer simulations show how the motion of swimming bacteria could be harnessed to generate power using a device like the wind farm shown above — but on a microscopic scale.

Kim Hansen/flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Fluid filled with lively, churning bacteria could one day become a small-scale power source.