We don't have smart kids? MIT students invent shock absorber - generates electricity

[dc dalton]

No THIS is using your noodle ... these students saw that shocks on a car are always being compressed by bumps in the road and figured they could generate electricity from it:

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/03.09/shocks.html

[LastManOut]

This is one of those "why didn't I think of that" inventions.

[Legion_Prime]

If the trucks a-rockin, we're just uh . . . chargin the batteries!

[ungawa]

Another pebble on Mount Everest.

Every little bit counts or the death of a thousand cuts?

Every little bit does NOT count unless it achieves a goal alone or in aggregate. There IS always cost, however.

Every Dane can spend 24/7 making bubblegum in their homes and using it to plug dikes. At the end of the year they are all starving, people in Africa are dying due to lack of medicine the Danes once sent, the country is invaded, and the dikes still break. And the invaders are not pleased.

[Pa. Patriot]

Obviously Home schooled

[dc dalton]

Well all I can say is that while we beat on the younger generation for being 'sheep' I have to say stories like this make me proud. My son (the shining star of my life) is one of these forward thinking AMAZING kids that not only say "what if" but they also say "how can I make it better" .. THESE are the kids we can count on!

Screw the idiot children, some of us parents killed ourselves to make sure our children added to society and to those parents I say THANK YOU!

[dman]

This younger gen, may not be as physical,but they are so smart,it's frightening.They've learned to work smarter,more efficient,and less,the bastards,I'm still bustin my ass !!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[GoldWinger]

For the most part, the students at MIT are not kids, they are adults. They are also not the run of the mill young person who can't do arithmetic without a calculator, they are the crème de la crème of the young people.

However, it is a great idea. Ungawa misses the point that if large numbers of vehicles are equipped with this device, vast amounts of energy will be saved but it has to start somewhere.

Ungawa, dikes in Denmark? Didn't know that the Danes were famous dike builders.